This article features in IAWHP’s latest Worksite Health International Publication. Click here to download.
August 2014

The Global Healthy Workplace Awards (GHWAwards) recently completed its second year with the Global Awards Summit in Shanghai, China, on April 9-10.

The awards program recognizes employers of all sizes and types (non-profit, for-profit, NGOs, government agencies, etc.). The program is truly global having attracted applications from 49 countries over the last two years and with an international panel of workplace health experts from five continents as jury.

The advisory board includes the following organizations:

+ International Association for Worksite Health Promotion (IAWHP)
+ International Organization of Employers (IOE)
+ International Institute for Health Promotion (IIHP), at American University, Washington, DC
+ European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP)
+ Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO)
+ People in Aid
+ Catholic Medical Mission Board

2014 Global Healthy Workplace Award Winners

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME): Spokane Regional Health District (USA)
SRHD is a local public health agency with 250 employees who serve a population of more than 400,000 in Spokane County, Washington. The Living Well Program has a 15-year history and enjoys strong leadership support and active involvement. SRHD has developed policies, system and environmental changes that have greatly enhanced the way employees embrace safe and healthy choices.

Large Enterprises: Telefônica do Brasil (Brazil)
Telefônica was a semi-finalist last year and reapplied with a stronger program. Telefônica has developed its own self-managed health insurance plan, with broad coverage all over Brazil. One of the outcomes of the comprehensive “BEM PERTO” program is that health insurance fees are only 7.8 percent of monthly payroll, whereas the average among other Brazilian enterprises is 15 percent of payroll.

Multinational Enterprises: IBM (Global)
IBM has a long-standing tradition in creating healthy workplaces throughout the world and continues to drive an integrated approach to workplace health. IBM has established 10 global priorities for health promotion, which are applied to its many employees globally. For example, IBM uses social analytics technology to capture “Mini Pulse” feedback from employees as they interact with health programs.

*The Global Healthy Workplace Awards (GHWAwards) programme is co-hosted by i-genius (UK) and International Health Consulting (Germany/USA).

Creating a Global Awareness

The Global Summit attracted employers of all sizes, health system leaders, universities, policy leaders, NGOs, and world-renowned award judges and speakers amid a two-day packed agenda on topics ranging from addressing public health promotion in China, to mental well-being and happiness at work, to creating healthy workplaces for NGO workers.

The GHWAwards program is committed to advancing and convincing employers of the value of investing in the health of their employees. Overall, one can see a global increase in awareness and popularity of the HWP Model with national awards programmes (e.g. Brazil), certifications (e.g. Spain), professional associations (IAWHP) as well as enterprises all aligning with the model. This development is very encouraging as a comprehensive and integrated approach to healthy workplaces is gradually taking hold globally.

The 2015 Global Healthy Workplace Awards Summit will take place in Florianópolis, Brazil, on May 18-19 (co-hosted by SESI Santa Catarina) and 2016 in Thailand (co-hosted by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation). In addition, regional seminars are offered to highlight good practices within the given region and transfer learning to the country level, e.g. last year for Latin America in São Paulo, Brazil and later this year on September 29 for North America in San Diego, USA in conjunction with the HERO Forum.