Piggyback Promotion in the Workplace

The Pollin Center invited hundreds of workplaces throughout the country to join our efforts to raise awareness of women’s heart disease. Fifty seven companies and organizations accepted the challenge, taking on the mission to communicate our campaign messages to their employees and customers, using the communication infrastructure within the company.a

A wide range of participating companies, public and private, large and small, invested in our goal of raising awareness and saving lives.  Many well-known companies including El Al, Ben Gurion University, Tel Hashomer Hospital, Tara and Strauss dairy companies, Bank Hapoalim, and Sano took part in this effort, as well as the  official Israeli Civil Service Commission , many governmental offices, and two leading women’s organizations, Naamat and WIZO.a

Each workplace sent their employees campaign material created by the Pollin Center, ranging from health tips and teasers to in-depth articles. Companies used assorted platforms to voice the urgency of recognizing and responding to heart attack symptoms in women.  Some workplaces posted digital banners on their web sites or social media; some chose to add relevant information to their internal newsletters.   Other venues included employee WhatsApp groups, web portals, email groups, and staff meetings.  In addition, companies shared the link to the campaign’s landing page and Facebook/Instagram posts, encouraging employees to actively engage in the campaign and inflate the heart balloon in Rabin Square.a

Five enthusiastic workplaces chose to take the campaign even further, disseminating an employee survey to examine their current awareness of heart disease in women including gender-specific symptoms. These companies will be able to use the survey results to illustrate the initial lack of awareness among the employees’ prior to the campaign, and then re-issue the survey to assess the campaign’s effect.a

By choosing to partner with and recruit workplaces to join our campaign, we were able to provide targeted and focused information to tens of thousands of employees. We also succeeded in promoting health, particularly women’s heart health, opening the door to future in-depth joint activities and policy changes, and creating healthy work places and healthier employees.a