serves to identify suggestions on improving working conditions which are detrimental to health so that improvement can begin.
Health circles are add hoc committees which include employees, superiors and representatives of all other groups and functions involved (company doctor, human resources department, works council, occupational safety etc.). They have meetings of limited duration in which they construct and prioritise a catalogue of identified stresses and suggest ways for addressing them. The findings of the circles are reported back to the working group which uses them as a basis for initiating decisions.
The adjacent figure shows a simplified model of this procedure.
Initially, the framework for implementing the health circle must be energetically championed by people within the company with support from outside experts, if necessary. The procedure begins by setting up a working group in which all stakeholders, including decision-makers, are involved. The working group conducts a needs analysis, modelled on the appraisal reports drawn up by statutory health insurance agencies in connection with the analysis of sickness-related absenteeism. The analysis helps to pinpoint problems within the company, which should be the starting points for planning measures. Subsequently problem areas, i.e. departments or plants with above-average sickness-related absenteeism, will be identified for the consideration by health circles.
Suggestions from the health circles make it possible to tackle stressful working conditions and provide for health promotion through a continuous process of improvement. The health circle approach has been successful in many Germany companies. The health circle philosophy is consensus-driven and depends on a constructive relationship between the social partners. Evaluation studies on health circles testify to their high level of acceptance. Data on the implementation of their improvement proposals demonstrate their effectiveness.
QUALITY ASSURANCE AND INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Linking of quality management and corporate health promotion is another step in corporate stress prevention. It is distinguished by the fact that it includes central organisational structures and processes.
Recently, occupational safety and health agencies and the public health sector have initiated a discussion on the connection between corporate health promotion and management systems, particularly quality systems, in Germany and in other European Union countries. Using an approach based on the European Business Excellence Model, Germany has led the European network for corporate health promotion in developing European quality criteria, which served to identify and document successful models in nearly 20 countries.
