Workplace Health and Workplace Wellness: Synergistic or Disconnected?

Abstract

Workplace health and wellness is paramount in many businesses and industries, for economic and social reasons. Workplace wellness programs have emerged to meet this need. This paper pursues a deeper understanding of the relationship between workplace health and workplace wellness initiatives in Australia. Based on a survey of published literature, Bayesian networks are developed to describe and quantify factors that contribute to each of these components of workplace efficiency. Workplace health was found to be a complex system of acute and chronic occupational medical conditions, as well as lifestyle factors. Successful wellness programs were found to be those that have a high level of participation and positive financial impacts, and are integrated into business strategy and company culture. It was observed that many workplace wellness programs tend to target non-occupational health risks and that there is an opportunity to address other critical components of worker health risk factors. The outputs of the Bayesian networks can provide an interrogative monitor of workplace health and the potential impact of corresponding wellness initiatives, facilitating the development of more targeted and cost-effective programs.