An employee-centered framework for healthy workplaces modeled through a third-party certification program for improving farmworker conditions

Case studies from five farms certified by the Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) inform a worker-centered framework for workplace health promotion in a new article published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research. EFI is a third-party verification and consumer labeling initiative aiming to improve farm working conditions, food safety, environmental stewardship, and business outcomes for participating farms. In the article, researchers apply the EFI framework to more traditional workplace health promotion (WHP) and occupational health and safety (OHS) programs. The framework includes three components: (1) integration of WHP, OHS and wellness in addition to economic, environmental, and consumer health, (2) promoting employee leadership and voice in workplace health systems, and (3) encouraging structural change to improve worker well-being. The article was written by Heather Zoller from the University of Cincinnati, School of Communication, Film & Media, Ron Strochlic from the Nutrition Policy Institute at the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Christy Getz from UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. The research was funded by the Berkeley Food Institute, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Waterhouse Family Institute.