Outreach

Informing workplace best practices and policies based on research findings

The Center’s outreach efforts focus on our research-to-practice goals, coordinating activities that support sharing research findings to inform both practice and policy. The Center’s overall outreach strategy includes development and sharing of resources that support widespread adoption, reach, and sustainability of policies, programs, and practices that advance integrated approaches to worker safety, health, and well-being. These resources are then shared with researchers, practitioners and policymakers.  

The Center’s outreach strategy includes four pillars: Implementation, Education, Policy, and Communication.

Implementation

To achieve our outreach and dissemination goals, the Center partners with public and private organizations to promote implementation of effective, evidence-based policies, programs, and practices that improve working conditions to support worker safety, health, and well-being. Examples of these include: 

• SAIF’s Worker well-being in five easy steps, online training and resources developed in collaboration with Center researchers, available in English and in Spanish 

• Accelerate Health Outcomes at Your Organization, online training developed and delivered in collaboration with HealthPartners of Minnesota, accompanied by an Action Planning Worksheet  

Education

The Center provides educational opportunities and training through in-person and online courses, workshops, seminars, and conference presentations. We train and mentor students, pre- and post-doctoral fellows, faculty, and others through academic courses, research projects, outreach efforts, mentoring and experiential learning opportunities. Our publications, seminars/webinars and conference presentations provide additional education and training opportunities for researchers, practitioners and students. Examples of these include:  

• Harvard MOOC: Improving Your Business Through a Culture of Health 

• Seminars and Webinars: please contact us if you are interested in hosting a seminar or webinar featuring a Center researcher  

Policy

Critical to the Center’s work is the identification of evidence-based workplace and public policy implications of our research, developed by our research team with input from external policy experts.   

• Policy Implications of Center Research: Each Center research study includes an examination of policy implications, ensuring that findings inform both public and organizational policies.   

• Center Policy Working Group: The Center’s Policy Working Group examines policy implications of our research and practice, exploring and sharing how the Center’s findings can inform both public and workplace policies.  In collaboration with Center leadership, these external policy experts work to define policy priorities, determine critical policy research questions, identify public and organizational policy implications of research findings, and craft policy guidelines. 

Communication

The Center seeks to increase the availability of and access to the Center’s evidence-based resources and research findings, with the goal of facilitating adoption of best practices. Examples of the Center’s communication and dissemination efforts include: 

• Publications in peer-reviewed academic journals and other key sources of information 

• Annual Reports are shared with the public each October to provide updates on our research studies and outreach activities

• Newsletters published semi-annually focus on the Center’s most recent research findings, new resources, as well as upcoming seminars and conference presentations