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Welcome by the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion ENWHP has been working towards its mission of "healthy employees in healthy organisati
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Welcome by the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion
ENWHP has been working towards its mission of "healthy employees in healthy organisations" since it was established in 1996. By carrying out a number of joint initiatives and by developing good practice criteria for WHP, the network has become a frontrunner in European Workplace Health Promotion.
In our newsletter we like to give you an overview of ENWHP’s activities and the activities of our National Contact Offices (NCOs), combined with general info about workplace health promotion (projects, publications, events etc.)
Please contact us with any and all of your questions at: enwhp@prevent.be
The ENWHP Secretariat |
News from ENWHP
ENWHP at the Chronic Diseases Summit
The Secretariat of the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion was present at the first European Chronic Diseases Summit on "Addressing the medical, social and economic burden of chronic diseases in the EU" (3-4 April 2014 - Brussels), with an info booth about the 9th ENWHP initiative (PH Work) and the results of its closing conference in October 2013: "Workplace Health Practices for Employees with Chronic Illness". The conference proceedings are available here or can be dowloaded as PDF (4,5 MB).
ENWHP at the European Parliament
Representatives of ENWHP also attended the meeting of the European Parliament Interest Group on Mental Health, Well-Being and Brain Disorders about "Alcohol and mental health - the EU response" (11 February), and the European Parliament policy round table on "Depression in the Workplace - Assessing progress in integrating depression in EU occupational health and safety legislation" (8 April) - sponsored by H. Lundbeck A/S. Presentations and recommendations of the latter are available via our website.
Changes @ ENWHP
▪ The European Network for Workplace Health Promotion would like to oficially welcome on board
a new National Contact Office, the Croatian Institute for Health Protection and Safety at Work (CIHPSW). We are happy to have Croatia as a new EU Member State with us!
▪ Relations Network Denmark has joined ENWHP as a partner in its mission towards
"healthy employees in healthy organisations". |
ENWHP invited to speak at event on mental health
A seminar on "Improving Mental Health in the Workplace: Towards Better Prevention and Inclusion in Europe" took place in Brussels on March 25th. 50 people from across Europe - practitioners, policy makers and academics - heard presentations on the EU strategy on mental health, the costs of mental illness, preventing mental health problems, and promoting health and well-being.
The seminar, organised by Public Policy Exchange, allowed a lot of time for discussion and lively debates about the desirability of more regulation or legislation, the real costs of mental illness to employers, and what can be done to ensure return-to-work or recruitment of people with mental health problems. Dr. Richard Wynne, the Irish ENWHP representative, presented a paper on the current framework for mental health in the EU and referred to the work of ENWHP on mental
health during the 8th initiative. |
ENWHP - official partner of the Healthy Workplaces Campaign (2014-2015)
On 7-8 April 2014, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) launched a two-year campaign: "Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress". The prevalence of work-related stress in Europe is startling: 51 % of workers find work-related stress to be common in their workplace, and 4 in 10 workers think that stress is not handled well in their organisation. However, together employers and workers can successfully manage and prevent work-related stress and psychosocial risks; the campaign aims to help companies do just that.
The European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP) will become an official campaign partner in this EU-OSHA campaign, because its members believe that the mental health and well-being of employees is crucial to the success of an organisation. The 8th ENWHP initiative "Work.
In tune with life. Move Europe" focused on mental health (promotion) at the workplace and developed tools for employers and employees.
The EU-OSHA campaign also features "European Good Practice Awards", which welcome applications from European companies and organisations who are implementing measures to successfully manage stress in their workplaces. More info? Click here. |
News from the National Contact Offices
Six factors to create job satisfaction (Denmark)
More and more employees experience work-related stress, which leads to an increase in long-time absences. Employees also notice that managers often have difficulties preventing stress and coping with stressful people. However, there is a simple method describing six well-being factors that create job satisfaction - in Denmark, they are called "The 6 Best Bets".
The six well-being factors are 1) influence on own work,
2) see the meaning of the work, 3) predictability at the workplace, 4) social support from managers and colleagues, 5) reward and recognition,
6) appropriate requirements. The Relations Network, a new partner of ENWHP, has developed a
tool to have a dialogue about the 6 factors. The tool takes the pulse of the current well-being and creates new ideas on how to improve well-being at the workplace. It does this by involving the employees in the actual work. |
INSHT will recognise good practices on WHP (Spain)
In partnership with the Spanish Ministry of Health, the National Sports Council and the Autonomous Communities, INSHT (NCO Spain) has launched a procedure to recognize good practices on workplace health promotion in companies. This procedure is based on the ENWHP quality criteria. The main objectives are to foster WHP interventions at company level,
to promote a health culture, and to make available tools and support for WHP to the main stakeholders involved. To become a good practice, companies have to adhere to the Luxembourg Declaration and fulfil the self-audit Quality Criteria Questionnaire online. A company with a score higher than 75 is eligible to be recognized as good practice, and will be invited to apply for the good practice certificate. INSHT has also put online the ENWHP self-audit questionnaires to evaluate the quality of WHP interventions on mental health, stress, physical activity, nutrition, tobacco, age management and chronic illnesses. Additionally, the Spanish NCO will foster the creation of a network of healthy companies. |
Involvement of ANACT and ARACT in French cancer plan (2014-2019)
In France, the new "Plan Cancer 3" states that the occurrence of cancer has a significant impact on a person's professional / work situation. The plan takes on four objectives with regard to this matter: 1) To perfect the offer of solutions adapted to the individual situation of each cancer patient, 2) To sensitize companies on the benefits of keeping a cancer patient in employment or supporting his / her return-to-work, 3) To make progress in the territorial coordination of the multiple actors involved in continued employment, and 4) To enhance, disseminate and further develop the knowledge gained on job retention and return-to-work. ANACT (NCO France) and ARACT Aquitaine (Associated ENWHP Member) have been integrated in the French cancer plan and will develop an organisational approach to ensure job retention of cancer patients. Furthermore, they will collect and list the good practices on keeping employees with chronic illness at work on their websites. More info... |
 Copyright picture - www.antena3.ro |
WHP in Romanian rural areas – new developments
Workplace health promotion activities continue to gain ground in Romania. A new project implemented by SC DAD Expertise SRL - an active company in adult vocational training, technical assistance and consultancy in project management - in collaboration with Romtens Foundation (NCO Romania), will address the critical necessity of WHP actions in rural enterprises during the next 18 months. The objective of the project, which is titled SPOR - Orientation and Training Services in Rural Areas, is to promote integrated interventions that are active, innovative, flexible and designed to facilitate labour market access. The project entails 5 training courses on WHP for managers from rural areas, who wish to enclose such activities in their enterprises and a study visit to companies in Italy that unfold WHP activities. The project is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) through the Sectorial Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007-2013. |
HCW Immunization Promotion Toolkit (Romania)
The Promotion of Immunization for Health Professionals in Europe (HProImmune) is an initiative of the Greek Institute of Preventive Medicine, Environmental and Occupational Health - Prolepsis, in partnership with 9 other organisations from 7 countries. The project is co-funded by DG SANCO's Public Health Programme 2008-2013, and discusses the issue of communicable diseases to which Health Care Workers (HCWs) are exposed. In order to control vaccine preventable diseases, HProImmune aims to promote vaccination among HCWs by means of a HCW Immunization Promotion Toolkit. The pilot phase will also test if hospitals are suitable as settings for effective immunization programmes. The Romtens Foundation (NCO Romania) is responsible for the evaluation of the toolkit and the piloting activities in Romania. |
News related to WHP
Global Healthy Workplace Awards & Summit Shanghai
On 9-10 April 2014, the second edition of the GHWAwards Summit took place in Shanghai, China. Employers from 33 countries vied for the distinction of being considered among the world's healthiest workplaces. The submissions were reviewed by an international panel of health and well-being experts from
5 continents, including ENHWP co-chair, prof. dr. Karl Kuhn. The winners were announced at the summit: IBM (USA) leads among multinational companies, Telefônica do Brasil (Brazil) represents the best among large employers, and Spokane Regional Health District (USA) excels among smaller employers. GE China was recognised as having the best workplace health programme in China. All of them are examples of the vital role the workplace can play in improving the health and well-being of employees. The next Global Healthy Workplace Awards & Summit will be organised in Brazil (Florianopolis, 18-19 May 2015). More info... |
Publications of interest to our readers |
UK needs to tackle high cost of mental-ill health
Mental health issues cost the United Kingdom around GBP 70 billion every year - or roughly 4.5% of its GDP - in lost productivity at work, benefit payments and healthcare expenditure. Better policies and practices by employers and the health system are needed to help people deal with mental health issues and get back to work, according to a new OECD publication titled "Mental Health and Work: United Kingdom".
The publication is one in a series of reports; 5 other reports looked at the situation in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland. Countries still to be considered by the OECD are Australia, Austria and the Netherlands. The reports cover issues such as the role of the workplace, the institutions providing employment services for job seekers, the transition into permanent disability and the capacity of the health system. |
Conference proceedings European Work Hazards Network
On 4-6 October 2013, the European Work Hazards Network hosted its 13th EWHN Conference. The European Work Hazards Network (EWHN) aims to improve health and safety standards. The proceedings of the 13th conference are now available online. The workshops at the conference tackled the following topics: 1) Occupational cancer prevention, 2) Assessing stress risks at the workplace, 3) What has HR and personnel management got to to with health and safety at work, 4) Transfer of risk and global solidarity, 5) Working hours / work-life balance, and 6) Sickness absence management / rehabilitation. |
Upcoming events
ENWHP side-event at XX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2014
The XX World Congress will be held in Frankfurt (Germany) on 24-27 August and carries the title "Global Forum for Prevention". The 2014 World Congress is organized jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV). Discussion - debate - action: this is the focus of the congress. Over 4.000 experts from all over the world will be discussing the latest OSH developments and trends. The European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP) will host a side-event on Sunday, 24 August. The ENWHP side-event will include a workshop on job retention and return-to-work of employees with chronic illness - with reference to our latest initiative (PH Work), and is open to the public. More info & a preliminary programme will follow...
Short listing of events
▪ Swiss Public Health Conference 2014 - Public Mental Health (Switzerland, Olten, 21-22 August 2014), in collaboration with the Swiss Mental Health Network. Renowned experts from Switzerland and abroad will inform on the state of current research and give presentations relevant to practice.
▪ National Conference on Workplace Health Promotion - Health for all ages: what can employees and employers do? (Switzerland, University of Fribourg, 3 September 2014), organised by Health Promotion Switzerland (NCO Switzerland).The conference promises high-level speakers, knowledge that can be translated into practice and opportunities for networking.
▪ 2. Dreiländertagung Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung 2015 (Austria, Bregenz, 26-27 March 2015). This conference allows for an exchange on current developments in the world of work, and for discussing future challenges and strategies for workplace health promotion and psychosocial health in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. BKK (NCO Germany) and Health Promotion Switzerland are part of the Steering Committee. For more info, contact Silvia Moser Luthiger. |
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