Health Promotion in the Workplace

The project Health-Promoting Workplaces is based on the same ideology as the Directorate of Health’s project on Health-Promoting Community and Health-Promoting Preschools, Primary and Secondary Schools and is hosted at Directorate of Health’s website.

The aim of the project is to promote better health and well-being of employees in the workplace, prevent burnout and reduce dropouts from the labor market.

Standards were formulated for health-promoting workplaces as well as a way of disseminating information to make it easier for workplaces to create a health-promoting work environment and thus work systematically towards a good workplace culture.

The website heilsueflandi.is has access to an interactive website where companies in Iceland are given the opportunity to work on their own health promotion in the workplace.

Since the collaboration began, AOSH, VIRK, and the Directorate of Health have held a morning meetings on health-promoting workplaces, where the emphasis has been on education about factors that promote well-being in the workplace.

Below are recordings from the meetings:

• Promoting health in the workplace – introduction of standards for health-promoting workplaces – Alma Möller, Director of Health, Ingibjörg Loftsdóttir, Division Manager at VIRK and Inga Berg Gísladóttir, Project Manager at the Directorate of Health.
• Staff well-being and ways to prosperity – Dóra Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir, Division Head at the Directorate of Health, Gunnur Líf Gunnarsdóttir, Director of Human Resources at Samkaup and Hildur Atladóttir, Head of Health at Ísal.
• Remote work and location work – Threats and opportunities Hinrik Sigurður Jóhannesson, Human Resources Manager, Advania and Árelía Eydís Guðmundsdóttir, Associate Professor at the University of Iceland.
• Burn-out – What have we learned that is useful to us now? – Christina Maslach Professor (emerita) at Berkeley University, California and Linda Bára Lýðsdóttir, Division Head at VIRK.
• Positive practices in a health-promoting workplace – Key lecturer Professor Illona Boniwell.
• Do teamwork and well-being go hand in hand? – Henning Bang Professor at the University of Oslo and Valgerður Hrund Skúladóttir, founder and CEO of Sensa.
• Are fruit baskets and fitness grants enough? – Karolien Van Den Brekel, general practitioner and doctor of psychology, Sigríður Kristín Hrafnkelsdóttir from the Directorate of Health and Jóhann F. Friðriksson from the Administration of Occupational Safety and Health.
• Happiness in the workplace is a serious matter! – Vanessa King at Action for Happiness, Dóra Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir, Division Head at the Directorate of Health and Ingibjörg Loftsdóttir, Division Head at VIRK.