Healthy in everyday working life

In the project seminar “Health & Fitness Management - Implementation of Health Programs”, led by Dr. Jessica Helten and PD Dr. Helmut Strobl, Master's students of Sports Economics work on practical issues in cooperation with companies and institutions with the aim of promoting the health of employees in the best possible way. Last summer semester, 17 students took part in the seminar and worked on various topics for three cooperation partners: TenneT TSO GmbH, an insurance company and the University Health Management Department at the University of Bayreuth.

The students have now presented the health programs they have developed and discussed them with lecturers and the TenneT project team at a final event at cooperation partner TenneT.

The “Work-life balance for employees” project focused on the compatibility of work and childcare. The students first identified the greatest challenges for (expectant) parents by means of a company-wide employee survey. From the findings, they were able to derive specific recommendations on how companies can (even) better support (expectant) parents. These include, for example, the expansion of in-house childcare during vacation periods lasting several weeks and the expansion of childcare services in the area through increased cooperation with external providers.

The “Health promotion for hard-to-reach target groups” program focused on people who work at remote locations and/or in the field. They are often unable to take part in courses and programs offered at company headquarters. In order to prevent these employees from feeling disadvantaged, the students recommend informing employees in the field specifically about existing health promotion offers through their own communication channels and creating even more opportunities for exchange and getting to know each other as part of team events.

The students also focused on “health promotion in the predominantly sedentary working day at an insurance company”. To this end, the students independently filmed and recorded videos and developed a set of exercises for taking active breaks during long online meetings. In an on-site workshop, managers received specific training on the measures developed. The concept is now to be introduced in the company in the long term.

In the “FlexYourMind” project, measures to promote exercise, concentration, well-being and mental health in young adults were developed by students for students. Among other things, short videos were made and a homepage with information was designed. These can be accessed and used directly and easily via QR code while studying in the university library. An evaluation revealed a high level of student interest in the measures developed - although it still takes some effort to actually carry out the measures in a full library room.

The results of the project teams are now being summarized in a final report. Among other things, this will contain recommendations on how the measures can be implemented and consolidated in the future. The practice partners are taking up the results with the aim of continuing and implementing what has been developed in the long term. Some of the questions that have arisen from the ongoing projects will be taken up in the next project seminar and explored in greater depth.