Small and micro-enterprises (SMEs) account for 96 per cent of all companies in Germany and employ over 40 per cent of the total workforce. They therefore play a central role in the economic structure as well as in shaping working conditions for a substantial share of the workforce. As regards occupational safety and health prevention, SMEs are often assumed to have shortcomings due to a lack of resources, limited implementation of formal health and safety requirements, and difficulties in accessing health promotion measures. In reality, however, the world of small (< 50 employees) and micro-enterprises (< 10 employees) is highly heterogeneous, with working, operational and health conditions varying significantly depending on the sector, the tasks and the employees’ skill level. This heterogeneity has been largely overlooked in research on occupational health and safety. Furthermore, insufficient attention has been paid to the impact of SMEs’ particular social relations on workplace health management.
The research project aims to investigate the specific requirements, conditions and design options for an effective and sustainable occupational health management (OHM) in SMEs. The focus is on how informal negotiation processes unfold within SMEs and which particular opportunities and obstacles arise in this context for occupational safety and health prevention. We are also interested in how the personal health orientations and life experiences of employees and managers shape working conditions and occupational health issues in SMEs, and how this could be reflected in the outreach strategies of institutional health actors, particularly statutory health insurance.
The empirical study is based on a comprehensive, multi-level analysis that distinguishes across sectors, tasks, company size and employee groups. Occupational health management requirements, needs, and conditions in SMEs are examined at four levels:
- work and task level (activities, job demands, working and employment conditions)
- organizational level (types of organisation, organisational cultures, social relations within the organisation)
- personal health orientations and biographical experiences of employees and managers
- collaboration between internal and external institutional health actors in health management
Empirical analysis will be based on comparative case studies at company level. These will include workplace observations, employee interviews, as well as expert interviews with managers and various company health actors, combined with expert interviews with external health policy actors, such as representatives from statutory health insurance associations, German Social Accident Insurance Institutions, labor inspectorates, private providers of health-related company services, as well as trade unions. Through this combination, the project will provide an in-depth, context-sensitive analysis of workplace realities and the specific conditions faced by both internal and external actors. The project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the particular requirements and conditions for effective health policies in small and micro-enterprises and aims at developing appropriate target-group specific strategies and action approaches.
