Do health policies established by the food industry and associated companies influence their work environment for the benefit of employees?

Abstract

Aim: To explore the efficacy of current wellness programmes in the New Zealand food sector at altering the work environment for the benefit of employee health. Background: Nutrition-related non-communicable diseases are becoming the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand and the food industry is often criticised for the role they play in creating and promoting a food environment of poor nutritional quality. Response to this criticism includes dedication by food companies to community health, often focusing internally on employee wellness programmes. Methods: A cross-sectional mixed-methods study was utilised with two study phases. In phase one, 22/103 (response rate 21.4%) food sector businesses completed a Workplace Environment Audit (WEA) survey electronically. In phase 2, three focus groups were held consisting of employees (n=20) from four of the workplaces that completed the WEA survey (response rate 18%). The survey data was analysed using descriptive statistics and SPSS software. The focus group transcripts were analysed using NVivo and thematic coding. The two sets of data were then compared via methodological triangulation. Results: The quantitative survey data revealed an average score for the WEA of 46%, indicating an average commitment by the food sector to health-promotion in the workplace. Significantly more nutrition-related initiatives were offered in the workplaces (p=0.00) and larger companies scored higher than smaller companies (p=0.63). The qualitative focus group results revealed that employees felt workplace wellness programmes increased productivity, improved their physical health, allowed work-life balance, promoted social interaction and provided health-related education. Barriers to participating in programmes were identified as lack of time, working in a blue-collar position and working externally to the main office. Methodological triangulation found dissonance between the data sets for the themes of communication and company size. Conclusions: Workplace wellness programmes are accepted and enjoyed by employees in the New Zealand food sector. Applying the socio-ecological theory in future planning and expansion of these programmes would incorporate key aspects of successful programmes such as work-life balance, effective communication, organisational support and continual evaluation. Moving forward, employee wellness initiatives should be monitored in the food sector to measure commitment to internal health-promotion.