The workplace has an important influence on the health trajectories of individuals due to the amount of time spent in this sphere daily and over the life course. Work related factors such as injury, poor ergonomics, exposure to hazards etc. all have health implications during the course of life. The workplace is thus an important arena for population level health promotion. Recent times have seen much emphasis on ensuring healthy working lives. Examples inlude creation of many international and national policies, employers’ growing interest in work place health promotion (WPH) and large resources invested in WPH. Research however shows that utilisation of some WPH packages is relatively low. One such package is the provision of wellness subventions for employees in many Swedish workplaces. Managers are often charged with the responsibilities of WPH and have direct contact with employees. The aim of this study therefore is to investigate managers’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators of WHP package uptake among employees.

Method: A qualitative method based on semistructured interview questions was used. Participants include managers at medium to large scale private companies in central Sweden. State owned companies were excluded in order to ensure homogeneity in terms of structure and policy. Not more than one manager per company was interviewed, giving rise to a total of nineteen respondents. Data was analyzed using content analysis. Results: A total of three themes and nine sub themes emerged. The first theme deals with factors at the individual level, sub themes include work-life balance, individual resources and individual attitude. In the second theme which relates to the Structure of WHP packages, sub themes including design and delivery of WHP, information flow and type of external collaborators/partners involved were identified. Company culture and leadership is the third theme, sub themes are leadership style and health perspective of management; existence of enabling environmet and support for management.

Conclusion: Modifiable factors at organisational level can lead to improved design and delivery of WPH packages. These modifications may be crucial in addressing barriers at individual level with lots of potential to improve utilisation.