The Campbell Institute released a white paper called “Workplace Wellbeing: Bridging Safety and Health” at the NSC Congress Monday. 

The paper details how a culture of health and safety relies not only on a strong safety program, but one that focuses on worker wellbeing. At a media roundtable Monday morning, Joy Inouye, research associate for The Campbell Institute, discussed the white paper as well as the importance of employee health and wellbeing. 

Integrated health and safety, or wellbeing, is at the intersection of health protection, says the Campbell Institute. It’s the blending of health and safety programs to enhance overall worker wellbeing and prevent workplace injuries and illnesses. Wellbeing includes physical, mental, emotional, social and economic health. 

There are five key takeaways The Campbell Institute wants companies to consider in the pursuit of putting a wellbeing program in place:

1. Pilot health and wellbeing programs with stakeholder input
2. Craft good communication
3. Experiment with incentive structures
4. Engage employees with incentive structures
5. Connect wellbeing to safety

“You just have to try things,” Inouye said regarding starting a program. She said companies should find the right balance between participation-based incentives, which works to get more people involved, and outcome-based, which is often most effective. 

She said the primary motivation to start a program is not to get return on investment but to move beyond compliance-driven programs and foster better communication.