Workplace health promotion at the health resort and in the workplace: a pilot project with companies from the Rottal-Inn district.

"With Bad Birnbach to a health-promoting company - big.KMU"

01.03.2024

Description

The project big.KMU aimed to develop an overall concept for workplace health promotion (WHP) at the health resort and in the company, and to implement it in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the district of Rottal-Inn. In addition to the health resort Bad Birnbach and the Rottal Terme Bad Birnbach, the Handwerkskammer Niederbayern-Oberpfalz and the BARMER health insurance participated in the project, together with the Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research (IBE) of the LMU Munich.

The WHP concept, developed within big.KMU, comprises the components of a previously validated health-promoting measure at the health resort, combined with company-specific offerings and elements. This approach considers the specific conditions, structures, and processes present in each respective company. Moreover, the provision of needs-based health services by BARMER was incorporated.

In the initial phase of the project, a needs analysis was conducted through two main avenues: firstly, through planning discussions between management/owners and project partners, and secondly, through the administration of employee surveys and group interviews with employees (July 2021 to January 2022).

Subsequently, employees and project partners developed concept ideas and solution approaches for health-promoting offers and measures and for the conditions in the participating companies in moderated workshops between January 2022 and April 2022. Over the 13-month implementation phase, the WHP concept was implemented comprising a health-promoting measure at the health resort combined with company-specific health-oriented offers/measures, was applied (May 2022 to May 2023).

The implementation phase in the company and at the health resort was accompanied by a continuously conducted process and results evaluation (longitudinal study with six survey dates). The findings were incorporated into the development of a continuation strategy in order to anchor the WHP concept in the companies on a long-term basis (May 2023 to December 2023).

The aim of big.KMU was to enhance the accessibility of WHP for SMEs and to establish the health resort Bad Birnbach, in collaboration with the regional health provider Kurmittelhaus Rottal Terme Bad Birnbach, as a reliable provider and external partner of WHP for local SMEs in rural Rottal-Inn on a long-term basis.