March 25, 2025
Understanding the needs of small Latino-owned businesses for workplace wellness programs
Workplace wellness programs can assist in improving employee health and well-being. Not only do they benefit employees, but they can also have a good return on investment for employers, boosting morale and retention while decreasing absenteeism and turnover. Often these programs are built for larger companies that have the resources and personnel to manage them. So, what adaptations should be made to workplace wellness programs for small business employees and employers reap their benefits? The Latino Workplace Project, led by researchers from the Health Equity Action Research Team (HEART) within the Health Promotion Research Center aimed to find out.
Understanding community needs
HEART collaborated with small (10 employees or less) Latino-owned businesses to identify key barriers and facilitators to adopting health promotion interventions in their businesses. They also focused on determining how Connect to Wellness, a workplace wellness program tailored to small businesses, could be adapted to make it more applicable for Latino-owned businesses both culturally and structurally. “The goal was to understand what helps or what makes it hard for businesses to adopt a workplace wellness program that will benefit the individual, their families, their customers and employees,” said Amy Hernandez, research coordinator for the project.
Trust: the key to success
To make the project a success, team members needed to build trusting relationships with community members. “There’s a lot of mistrust within the community of outsiders coming into the businesses and community and offering services. Business owners aren’t as open to hearing about new projects or resources because they’ve been disappointed so much in the past,” said Hernandez. To combat this mistrust the team partnered with Benton-Franklin Health District, that already had working relationships with both the community and the research team. “We built trust by being transparent about the projects goals, limitations and funding of the project,” said Daisy Para-Padilla, policy analyst in the Equity and Engagement Program for Benton-Franklin Health District. “We followed through on promises and made sure to keep community updated every step of the way.”
HEART also brought on team members with direct ties to the community, who conducted in-person outreach, “We showed up with our UW lanyards, introduced ourselves in person,” said Mirima Flores Moreno, 3rd Year PhD student and graduate research assistant for the project. “It was special to conduct research in my hometown—it was fulfilling to show up and show the community that we were there to support its needs.” With their existing connections to the community, the team was able to partner with other trusted community organizations and members to push the research forward.
Workplace wellness programs for the collective
The research team shared findings with participants and the broader community through infographics and by creating a resource poster. “We presented the information in a way that was easy to understand in both English and Spanish,” said Hernandez. “One business owner displayed the resource poster for customers to see,” said Flores Moreno. “It was rewarding to see the trust in our work, and it really emphasized the importance of collective care to the community.”
HEART aims to find funding to implement the Connect to Wellness adaptations identified by community members. “We hope to make culturally relevant changes that shift the focus of Connect to Wellness from a siloed individual employee to a broader multigenerational view,” said Para-Padilla.