Running head: APPLYING A SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL MODEL TO A HEALTH ISSUE 1

Improving Employee Health:

Application of a Socio-Ecological Model

Brianah Williams

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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Prioritizing the health of our employees is just as important as providing excellent

customer service and support to satisfy our customers. Dr. Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock, has

asked me to assist with improving the health of our employees in my role as a health educator

and believes the most beneficial approach to improving employee health is physical activity.

Overstock provides employee benefits such as an onsite health clinic, fitness center with group

fitness classes and trainers, indoor bike storage, employee wellness program and more

(Overstock, 2017). Our goal is to increase the proportion of employees who engage in aerobic

physical activity of at least moderate intensity for at least 150 minutes per week, or 75 minutes

per week of vigorous intensity, or an equivalent combination (CDC, 2015). The recent health

risk appraisal completed by the employees showed that only about 22% of employees met the

goal. This paper will use the socio-ecological model to discuss this current situation and a

recommended intervention to achieving this goal.

We will start with the intrapersonal level. While the services may be available to

employees, they may not be knowledgeable that those services exist. They could be

knowledgeable that the services exist but they may have a certain attitude towards it. Such as,

they may not have time during their work day to utilize the fitness center or participate in the

group fitness classes. They may also not have basic skills on how to properly operate the

equipment in the fitness center or how to use the indoor bike storage.

Families, friends, and social networks are important at the interpersonal level. Our

employees may not have the support they need from co-workers or supervisors to take advantage

of using the fitness center or participating in the company’s wellness programs. Employees may

not have a relationship supervisors that motivate them to utilize the fitness center or become

active in the wellness programs we offer. Employee leisure time can be spent engaging in
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physical activity in the fitness center and exercising together, providing social support for each

other. Thus, creating strong social networks is vital at this level.

Organizations and social institutions make the biggest impact at this level. Company

organizations like the wellness programs we offer are not be advertised enough to promote

employee physical activity. Lack of advertisement and participation in these company

organizations is a reason employees don’t utilize the fitness center in their leisure time.

At the community level, we rely on relationships between organizations. We need

organizations within our community in which we work together. There is a need for a

community of employees working to improve their health. If there isn’t a close-knit community-

felt atmosphere, employees may not feel this issue is important.

Our company policy is imperative at the policy level. Our company lacks policies that

mandates all employees must engage in physical activity while on the job. With no policies in

place, employees do not feel obligated to participate in the group fitness classes with the personal

trainer or actively participate the company’s wellness programs.

Physical environment is crucial. There isn’t adequate lighting outside at night, employees

may not feel it is safe to go for a walk on their break or lunch hour. Our physical environment

plays a big role at this level because if employees do not feel comfortable in our company’s

environment the chances of them excising at work is extremely low.

Culture at our company is very important. We haven’t emphasized enough that we are

creating a culture that our company cares about improving the health of our employees. We are a

passionate group of creative people who love and believe in the work we do (Overstock, 2017).

We must show our employees that we’re about healthy and fit employees or employees may not
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feel inclined to exercise at work even if we do provide beneficial services like wellness programs

and fitness centers.

For our company to realize we need to improve the health of our employees through

physical activity is one step towards the theory of a solution. At the interpersonal level, we

should encourage employees to motivate one another to engage in physical activity. Most

importantly, having the supervisors utilize the fitness center with the employees is a great

approach because ideally the supervisors set the tone for their unit employees. At the

organizational level, we need more in-company organizations geared towards healthy employees.

For example, gather some members from the organization and post infographics around the

company to encourage and motivate employees to engage in physical activity. At the community

level, we need to get our competitors involved and have a competition on which company’s

employees have the most steps in a week. This positive interaction is motivating and encourages

employees to take more steps, thus improving the health of employee’s one step at a time. At the

policy level, we can provide employees with an extra 30 minutes of paid time to utilize the

fitness center.

We are dedicated to improving the health of our employees. I believe our employees will

appreciate these approaches and will feel valued. If we act as health is a value, our employees

may see health as a value and prioritize it above other issues they may face. With these

approaches, I am certain we can increase the proportion of adults who engage in physical

activity, working to meet our goal. Our sales may also increase because of public recognition and

employee praise regarding our efforts to improve the health of our valued and appreciated

employees. Our diligent efforts will surely create a better culture for our company ultimately

increasing physical activity and improving the health of our employees.

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References

Careers at Overstock. (2017, August 17). Retrieved from https://www.overstock.com/careers.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How much physical activity do adults need? (2015,

June 04). Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of

Health and Human Services; 2015. Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm

Cottrell, R. R., Girvan, J. T., McKenzie, J. F., & Seabert, D. (2015). Principles and foundations

of health promotion and education (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.