Unique Barriers to Workplace Health Promotion Programs by Wage Category: A Qualitative Assessment of Secondary Data

To understand barriers around accessing or using workplace health promotion (WHP) programs among workers in different wage categories.

We conducted qualitative analysis of responses to three open-ended questions about WHP program participation, collected as part of an existing WHP program evaluation. Setting: A large mid-western university.

Of the 20,000 employees emailed an online survey, 3,212 responded (16.1%). The sample was mostly female (75%), white (79%), and comprised of staff members (84%). The average age was 44 years and 67% had annual incomes <$75,001.

We used NVivo-12 Plus and two coders to apply Grounded Theory on the open-ended questions and identify emergent themes.

Although most respondents were happy with the program, differences across wage categories emerged around time, financial incentives, commute, workload, and organizational policies/support. Employees at all wage levels were enthusiastic about creating a culture of health but needed different cultural supports to do so. For instance, higher-wage workers needed to overcome self-made time constraints, while lower-wage workers needed supervisor support to overcome coverage constraints that prevented participation.

The unique participation challenges experienced by employees in different wage categories provide justification for WHP programs that can better accommodate the participation barriers of all employees. While some programs may simply require more flexible offerings, supervisors may need to be trained to support and foster healthy environments.