Total Worker Health: A Small Business Leader Perspective

Details

• Personal Author:
  Newman, Lee S. ; Schwatka, Natalie V. ; Tenney L ; Thompson J
• Description:
  Total Worker Health (TWH) frameworks call for attention to organizational leadership in the implementation and effectiveness of TWH approaches. It is especially important to study this within in the small business environment where employees face significant health, safety, and well-being concerns and employers face barriers to addressing these concerns. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how small business leaders perceive employee health, safety, and well-being in the context of their own actions. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 small business senior leaders and used a qualitative coding approach to analyze the transcripts to determine the frequency with which leaders discussed each code. When we asked leaders about their leadership practices for health, safety, and well-being, leaders reflected upon their business (65%), themselves (28%), and their employees (7%). Leaders rarely discussed the ways in which they integrate health, safety, and well-being. The interviews demonstrate that small business leaders care about the health of their employees, but because of the perceived value to their business, not to employees or themselves. Thus, they may lack the knowledge and skills to be successful TWH leaders. The present study supports a need for continued small business TWH leadership research. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Behavior
  • Health Promotion
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  • Small Business
  • Staff Development
  • Workplace
• Keywords:
  • TWH
  • Total Worker Health
  • Small businesses
  • Safety practices
  • Safety climate
  • Health promotion
  • Work environment
  • Work organization
  • Work operations
  • Work practices
  More +
• ISSN:
  1660-4601
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  15
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20053517
• Citation:
  Int J Environ Res Public Health 2018 Nov; 15(11):2416
• Contact Point Address:
  Natalie V. Schwatka, Center for Health, Work & Environment, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, 13001 E. 17th Pl., 3rd Floor, Mail Stop B119 HSC, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
• Email:
  Natalie.Schwatka@ucdenver.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing ; Services
• Performing Organization:
  University of Colorado Denver, Aurora
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• End Date:
  20260831
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/216253/cdc_216253_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 430.76 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:90d7ac3ec80f84d48d16c3bddc9d5c092086eb81fa7b9bb4f12fb5591ee05b92462bbd5367e6a262049a39c1c3807a857c707341682bb8923956a94c79b0dfa7