This title implies that we have a new organizational template for organizations, but unfortunately, we do not. The mission of the Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces (“Center”) is to create a Center that is based on the best known science across multidisciplinary fields regarding factors that significantly impact employee health and well-being. It may take years, or it may only be a matter of getting a diverse set of experts together to talk and integrate their knowledge into a coherent and practical organizational strategy. The Center is striving to fulfill its mission by gathering all the known facts and research findings across a wide range of academic and research fields, identifying gaps in our existing knowledge, supporting interdisciplinary research to narrow those gaps, and integrating all known science into a coherent picture of how a healthy workplace looks, feel, operates, and stimulates healthy work behaviors, habits and personal lifestyle choices. Once this template is developed, the Center will disseminate the template and serve as an enabler of researchers and practitioners dedicated to addressing the nation’s health crisis and facilitating effective organizational outcomes and employee behaviors.
Even without a template, there is a lot to say about healthy workplaces, fortunately. This paper presents a brief summary of major findings regarding employee health and well-being based on the scientific literature, and summarizes current and emerging approaches to preventing illness and injury in organizations, promoting health and well-being in the workplace, and mitigating health problems through organizational programs. I also offer suggestions for new research and new approaches to research on employee health and well-being in order to significantly improve our chances of turning the corner on growing health crisis. But first, let me describe the size of the problem we are facing.
