Background
Ethical considerations of worksite health promotion
Worksite health promotion has become more common in Western countries over the past years. A paradigm shift from occupational health to employees’ health contributed to this phenomenon [1]. Traditionally, the focus within the occupational setting used to be on reducing the harm of work (i.e. health protection), but nowadays, there are also more initiatives aimed at the promotion of health, e.g. lifestyle interventions [1]. Worksite health promotion is expected to occur even more often in the near future [2]. In addition, the WHO [2] has indicated the worksite is one of the priority settings for health promotion in the 21st century. The setting and social network of the worksite is considered to lead to a potential large reach of individuals, which results in high expectations of health promotion in the occupational setting [2,3].
The worksite seems to be considered as a rather trouble- free or even favourable domain for health promotion. However, the suitability of the worksite for health promo- tion can be disputed [4,5]. The worksite is, in fact, not pri- marily intended for promoting health, but for working and for earning a salary [5]. A complicating factor of worksite health promotion is the relationship between the employer and the employee. Worksite health promotion assumes a shared interest in employees’ health, but employees have a dependency relationship with their employer; the employee depends on the employer with regard to aspects such as income.