At the beginning of the year we often make lots of good resolutions, such as doing more sport, eating more healthily, less stress. In most cases we only keep them for the first few weeks - if at all. The staff at the University of Magdeburg benefit from the perfect conditions for following through on the promises they make to themselves, and actually doing something for their health all year round. Silke Springer, who studied Health Promotion & Management is responsible for this and for 10 years now has taken care of our wellbeing here as the Occupational Health Management coordinator. In the latest episode of “Listening to the University”, she talks about the aims, endeavors and challenges of her work and gives us an overview of what is available to the staff.

Our guest today

...is Silke Springer, Occupational Health Management Coordinator here at the University. Her work involves organizing the Health Days and courses as well as planning the in-house flu vaccination program.

 *the audio file is only available in German

The Podcast to Read

Intro voiceover: In die Uni reingehört. Der Podcast zur Arbeitswelt an der OVGU.

Ina Götze: A very warm welcome to the fourth edition of “Listening to the University” - not with my colleague, Dirk Alstein, today, but instead with me, Ina Götze; I work in the MCM as web editor for press and publicity, and for the New Year we decided to devote our podcast - appropriately for the time of year and the fact that many people have made resolutions - to the topic of Health Management. Some of us have no doubt promised ourselves to do more sport, eat more healthily and let less stress into our lives. And to help us keep our resolutions beyond the first few weeks of the year, today we have THE expert in this area as our guest: a very warm welcome to Silke Springer!

Silke Springer: Hello, it's great to be here.

Ina Götze: You are the university’s Occupational Health Management Coordinator.

Silke Springer: Yes... that is... I have actually been at the university now for 10 years, was hired as Health Management Coordinator, or I think even officially Health Manager, and I take care of all the programs that are available in the context of health and health promotion. That includes, for instance, organizing the Health Days that we have every year or every two years, different courses, health-related training, flu vaccination programs that we have here, employee massages, and the university relay that I organize every summer. Apart from that, I sit on various committees where health aspects are relevant, on the Health & Safety Committee, in the psychological stress risk analysis project group, and yesterday I joined the integration team for the first time; so everywhere where health matters crop up.

Ina Götze: Plenty of work then!

Silke Springer: Usually (laughs)

Ina Götze: So today’s question is: “How healthy is the university?” Of course that makes me wonder: has the university been ill, are there a lot of sick notes? Why do we have a Health Management post? After all, it isn't a statutory requirement.

Silke Springer: That’s right; it isn’t a statutory requirement, but many universities do have one now, and before that many companies. Occupational health management has actually been on the radar for 20 years now. But it wouldn’t be true to say that the university was all that unwell. If we actually look at the sickness levels, they really aren't that bad. What do I mean by “not all that bad”? They are actually relatively low. But it has to be said that there was probably an under-recording of sickness levels, especially among the academic staff, who are not required to clock in and out every day, who naturally are here a lot during semester time, but who are not necessarily on campus during the semester breaks, because, perhaps, they are conducting research, are away at conferences somewhere or maybe because they might actually be ill. We just don't know. That is why for starters the sickness rates seem low. Which is a good thing, but perhaps cannot simply be accepted at face value.

Basically it is the case, and often discussed in the media, that psychological risks and stresses have increased in recent years; stress levels, burnout, all these subjects that you can see being talked about in the papers, online and on TV. And, of course, demographic change is affecting us too. The trend is for our employees to be older. As one gets older, the risk of chronic diseases also rises. These usually have longer periods of downtime than would, for example, be the case with a simple cold. And all of these are subjects that Health Management ultimately has to deal with.

The pivotal point for health management here was actually illness, to a certain extent. Namely the Occupational Reintegration Management scheme that we have here at the university. This always becomes involved, or is activated, if employees are sick over a longer period of time, more than six weeks within a calendar year. It was introduced here in 2005, introduced very well and in a very structured way and the people who were in charge of this area in Human Resources, said, actually, it would be better to deal with the issue in advance...

Ina Götze: ...to bolt the stable door before the horse has bolted...

Silke Springer: ...exactly. And so they began to put initial measures in place. First there was a staff survey to ascertain everyone’s health status, and to find out what the staff wanted, then first of all came the employee massage program, I think, then initial training courses. And at some point this became something that was no longer just a side job for the Human Resources department, and so they said, “we need somebody now who has responsibility for this”, and there were probably some discussions in the Health Working Group and so on, until approval was gained for creating a post to take care of it all. As I said, that was in 2009. I was fortunate to be appointed in this role and since then it has been my main job, and as a result, of course, a little bit more is possible.

Ina Götze: Structure and continuity.

Silke Springer: I hope that there is a little more structure to it now, yes. I do my best! (laughs)

Ina Götze: It is noticeable, I have to say. As you’ve already said: there are training courses concerning healthy eating, there is an eye school - I find that at first that sounds very funny, but it is actually true that if you spend the whole day looking at a screen, you have to do eye exercises so that you don’t end up completely blind later on - and there are mindfulness courses; so lots and lots of measures. Who, exactly, is able to make use of which offers?

Silke Springer: Fundamentally, every employee is able to take advantage of every offer. I am actually responsible for the employees. At present or for a couple of years now, student health management is also being developed at many universities. To date - and there are no plans to change this - that is not part of my job.

So, the employees can take part. One measure for which there has been a lot of uptake, is the employee massage, from the very start, and also the health-related training courses that continue to go well. And of course we have the traditional topics too: from overcoming stress, time management, conflict management which is also very popular at the moment; and then eye school - eye school is always jam-packed. A really great measure. We also have an excellent trainer who does it.

In fact, anyone can take part who has the time, who is able to fit it into their work situation. I try to make something available for all target groups, for all time slots. I probably haven’t succeeded completely, but everyone has to have something to aim for.

Both: (laugh)

Ina Götze: Which brings us to resolutions. That fits, wouldn’t you say?

Silke Springer: Right!

Ina Götze: While we are on the subject of diversity, I myself make use of a variety of programs, for example, “Wake-up Fitness”, with colleagues. Hello everyone! It’s fun to work up a sweat with them every Tuesday. The Break Express, for example - I confess at this point - I once left before the end, because to me, in fact - I am really sorry, because the trainers are really dedicated and motivated - but for me it was simply too gentle. And then I locked myself in my office... (laughs)

Silke Springer: (laughs)

Ina Götze: ...because I couldn’t say no. (laughs)

Silke Springer:That shouldn’t really be the aim, that people have to hide from us in their offices. (laughs)

Ina Götze: So, have you noticed that certain programs are not as much in demand? Or are there, like the eye school, some that are really big hits?

Silke Springer: There actually are some big hits, like the eye school, but, like you just said, not everything is for everyone. Break Express is consciously, in quotes, “gentle and low level”, because we specifically want to reach those people who do little or no sport, who perhaps due to health limitations don’t feel confident in joining an exercise class, because they perhaps don't want to be the worst, and we said to ourselves that it would be great if the trainers could go to the people in their offices and do a few relaxation and loosening up exercises, just to winkle out some of the typical back and neck problems a little bit, for the time being. Of course we won’t rip up any trees with this, but it helps for the moment, and it might even be a way for some of getting in to doing more sport over the longer term. So we need to try to find those people where they are and help them along a bit. There are really, really sporty people, who of course take part in the staff relays every year and so on, who run and scoot about, who practice beforehand. That’s easy. I don't need to make an extra effort to bring them along. They’ll come without much encouragement. For us it’s more a matter of getting hold of those people who don’t take so much care of their health, of getting them interested and motivated somehow at a lower level.

Ina Götze: ...of hooking them in. I can understand that. And I think that that is the crux of the matter, really having a little something to suit every need.

Silke Springer: Exactly. But actually it isn’t always so easy.

Ina Götze: We always have a little chat in advance so that we have a rough idea of where this journey will take us. You also told me that there is something for the management team. What kind of training is available to them?

Silke Springer: Of course the management team are really extremely important in Health Management in general, because the managers are, of course, the people who shape the working conditions of their staff. There are even studies that show that managers take their sickness levels with them, so a manager with a low departmental sickness level, if they move to another department will probably reduce the sickness level to a lower level, but it also goes the other way round. So they have a very big impact on these aspects through a) how they actually lead, whether they are responsive to their people, if there is a reasonable level of communication, if people’s work is valued appropriately, if agreements are made and then acted upon and so on. For this reason, four years ago now we fortunately succeeded in firmly establishing this management training, at least for the managers in administration and the central services. This includes subjects such as management that takes the health of employees into consideration, but also, how do I deal with, for example, psychologically stressed employees or even employees with a psychiatric illness, how can I address issues like this, because keeping quiet and looking the other way helps nobody, leading to people drifting on to sick leave. On the one hand, [we cover] topics like this, in order to train people in dealing with their staff, and where possible to improve things, but on the other hand for the managers themselves too, in order to give them the tools for better dealing with their own stress because they often find themselves being a little bit like the meat in the sandwich, where somebody else is sitting on top issuing certain instructions that they have to pass on to their colleagues, so we try to help them to help themselves too. And that is actually one of the most important topics in health management. I am pleased that it is well established now in the administration and central services, we really need to do more in the faculties next, to help the professors etc., who are always a relatively difficult customer group, alas, when it comes to these subjects.

Ina Götze: ...because they are elusive or not so...

Silke Springer:...hard to reach or sometimes perhaps not all that amenable; so far they haven't tended to come of their own accord. In this case we probably need to organize our programs differently, implement them differently, individualize them. There is, of course, also always the issue of how can I, as a manager... or how prepared am I, for example, to open up in a training course, to say that I’m finding it difficult to get to grips with certain things. Logically and understandably, in certain management positions that is not at all easy. In such cases it is perhaps better to offer individual coaching or something like that. Then in this respect we, or I, am out of it, that is more a matter for personnel development. Ms Frosch also has responsibility there. She has already done a podcast here too. These subjects intertwine. Luckily, we all keep in contact.

Ina Götze: So, a call to all managers, and to the professors too...

Silke Springer: ... yes...

Ina Götze: ...please, feel free to get in touch if there is anything you would like.

Silke Springer: Right! Having requests... that is where the GEPSY survey comes in too. A lot of wishes have been expressed, both by the staff and, of course, the managers also. We are currently in the process of looking again at these results and on a wide range of levels - not just me with contacts but others too - in order to determine what measures are needed and in future to continue to implement them.

Ina Götze: At this point GEPSY gets a brief mention again because: actually we have talked about GEPSY in every podcast so far. GEPSY was a staff survey where every employee of the university was surveyed regarding stresses, appraisal etc. And now we have the results, and they are being evaluated and it is fascinating how many people at the university are actually involved in it.

Silke Springer: Yes, because the whole survey was designed in this way from the very beginning. So there is actually a project steering group, where the university physician is involved, Health & Safety is involved, of course the university’s leadership team is also included, again via the steering committee - the Chancellor and the President also take part in these meetings, Human Resources are there too, the staff council, must, of course, always be involved too, the project team, me as the Health Management Coordinator. So a lot of people who are looking at this from a variety of perspectives and who, naturally, will ultimately go back to their departments with these results and attempt to derive and implement measures which sometimes will be really small, really simple and quick to implement, but there will also be many results that cannot be so quickly and easily implemented - concerning digitization, all possible things, communication, transparency of information, which in the context of a university isn’t always all that easy to organize... I’m sure I don't need to tell MCM. That is a process that we will be working on for a long time to come and probably will also never be complete. These surveys must, after all, be repeated after a certain period of time, so that we can see if the measures that we have implemented have achieved anything. So, this is a topic that will stay with us.

Ina Götze: Then I think we ought to do a GEPSY Special here some time. (laughs)

Silke Springer:That might be something to think about.

Ina Götze: But today, to begin with, we are talking about health management. I would also be interested to know: which programs do you actually make use of yourself? Where will we find Silke Springer? On which course?

Silke Springer: I’m mostly to be found in my office! (laughs)

Ina Götze: (laughs)

Silke Springer: Because a lot is organized there centrally. That's where I am. Yes... which offers do I take advantage of myself?... that’s difficult! To an extent I take part in health-related training courses a) from personal interest and b) also, of course, to take a look at the trainers and see whether what they are doing corresponds with what we had in mind. Last year I took part in the university relay for the first time.

Ina Götze: [squeals]

Silke Springer:Otherwise I have only ever organized it and then at some point we decided that we had to have our own team! I made it to the finish line too!

Ina Götze: (laughs)

Silke Springer: I was really proud of myself. Of course I’ve also taken advantage of the staff massage offer, too, a couple of times.

Ina Götze: I’ve never done that. It makes me so mad!

Silke Springer: Yes. It’s here in this building.

Ina Götze: It’s here in this building and still I haven’t managed to get there yet.

Silke Springer: Well, I can only recommend that you do. It will do you good, a 20-minute massage. Of course I also take up the offer of a flu vaccination. That is also a really simple measure. It is classic occupational health management, classic prevention, ultimately. I go and get a jab and avoid getting the illness. And, in case of doubt, it is something that has a very tangible impact on sickness days afterwards. Yes.

Ina Götze: And if anyone is interested in the courses, they can find them all online. Is it possible to register for them online too, or do certain things have to be applied for?

Silke Springer:Both.: wherever possible, I try to have all of my programs on the website too. We have our own occupational health management website: www.ovgu,de/gesundheit. All the essentials are on there. As far as the training courses are concerned, they are all set up in Moodle. All of the training courses can be found there, including the subject-related and health-related training courses, and you can register directly online for them, but of course you need to fill in the application for them too. Some things run directly through me. I always try to communicate that, try each time in the staff newsletter to draw attention to the things that are currently going on and also to let everyone know who is allowed to take part.

Ina Götze: Who, how, what, when, where... so make sure that you read the newsletter!

Silke Springer: Right!

Both: (laugh)

Ina Götze: If you had to sum up, at this point, can you say that the programs are beneficial? That we are becoming healthier here at the university?

Silke Springer: Becoming healthier is always so nice and easy to say. That is... yes, one cannot always define it so easily, what does “healthier” mean? Do we measure it by sickness days? Which tends to be a rather sickness-specific way of looking at things. I tend to look at it the other way around, look at wellbeing, do I feel well, do I like going to work, am I motivated to go to work? In fact, the feedback that I am getting, which is individual and specific, says that people are glad that these offers are available, that they like to go along, that they also have a direct benefit. In the context of GEPSY - there it is again! - we also carried out a “before and after” survey for some individual training courses. What knowledge and skills did you have before the course on topic XY? How did things look five or six weeks later? And we definitely noticed an improvement there. Therefore, yes, I think that the university is a bit healthier. Of course we would have to or could, of course, offer a lot more things so that afterwards we could see the effects more clearly.

Ina Götze: You yourself - since we were talking about workloads - have a 30-hours a week post...

Silke Springer:Yes.

Ina Götze: ...and have to - excluding the Medical Faculty - devise, organize and evaluate all of these offers for 1800 employees. Do you have any colleagues? Or do you have to do everything by yourself?

Silke Springer: I do have colleagues, of course. There are lots ... we are a university, there are actually lots of positions that are concerned somehow with health topics or health programs in the broadest sense, the university sports center occurs to me first and foremost here, that offers a whole host of sports courses. Of course I work closely with them. And also when it comes to the university relay, the bicycle action days or the Academic Bicycle Challenge, that we had last year. In that case, the Sustainability Office was also involved, and the Families Office, we even held a family cycle ride. Otherwise I am always, of course, in close contact with the Occupational Health and Safety department, to explore whether there are overlapping areas, for instance the first thing that occurs to me now is ergonomic workplace layout, where we also work together a lot. There is the university physician, who, in turn, takes part in the Health Days, then, of course, the health insurance funds, as partners too, who actually finance many of our measures, especially when it comes to continuing education, management training etc. We have quite a lot paid for by the health insurance funds. It runs very smoothly. I hope that I haven't forgotten any important people just now.

Ina Götze: At this point, if so, please don't be upset! That was not my intention.

Both: (laugh)

Ina Götze: Before we almost come to the end and to our most popular category, I would also be interested to know what plans are in the pipeline for 2020? What can we look forward to? Is there anything new? So that we can turn our good intentions into action, of course.

Silke Springer: Plans for 2020. So, first of all, I am actually very busy at the moment with revitalizing, reorganizing and reshaping the seasonal offers. And of course, in spring it will be time again to plan the whole bicycle campaigns again. Then, from April, I think, registrations begin for the university relay race. We really support that very well Last year, together with the University Hospital and Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, we had over 100 teams. There is actually a lot of work to do for it, to support all these people, procure t-shirts, sort out the right sizes, and everything. That all needs coordinating.

A lot will probably also come from GEPSY, a lot in the area of further training in its broadest sense. At the moment we are looking very specifically at that and drawing our conclusions.

One subject is, of course, cooperation with the gyms. Last fall we began to set up initial cooperation agreements so that we can offer something to the employees who say, “I don't have any time” or “it doesn't fit in with my schedule to do something here during working hours”. I always say that to me it is unimportant where people do their sport. If they do it here at the university sport center, that is of course nice; we have lots of great offers. But if they say, “I prefer to do it after hours”, I will try to set up a cooperation to enable them, for instance, to go training at a cheaper price, for example. Of course now I have received many inquires saying “my gym isn’t included and ...”

Ina Götze: From me too! (laughs)

Silke Springer: Exactly. (laughs) And so I will just have a look at that and see how the cooperations are going so far, which gyms we could bring on board still, whether we also need to get other providers involved. There are now also many app-based things where I can take out a membership and then do my sport in different places. That will definitely be a subject of interest and a focal area this year again too. And then, of course, I always look forward to people coming to me and suggesting offers that we can set up or if they have heard something and we can look to see if we can get something off the ground.

Ina Götze: Gyms, I think - you have to praise them sometimes -...

Both: (laugh)

Silke Springer: Of course!

Ina Götze: ...a really nice cooperation...

Silke Springer: Appreciation, that’s important!

Ina Götze: Appreciation, (laughs) exactly!

Silke Springer: Just saying thank you. (laughs)

Ina Götze: And now GEPSY looks even better. Because it simply provides the opportunity to do something for ourselves beyond our working hours.

Silke Springer: Exactly. And if it is on the weekend. Not everyone can manage it during their normal working day, plus kids etc. and with everything that everyone has to organize and do.

Ina Götze: And with that we come to our “Long story short” section.

Silke Springer: OK.

Ina Götze: We have talked in a lot of detail, and now it would be nice to sum up the important points again. I will give you the start of three sentences and I would like you to complete them, where possible in one sentence, although it will be ok if it turns out to be two.

Silke Springer: I’ll give it a try!

Ina Götze: (laughs) Are you ready?

Silke Springer: Yes.

Ina Götze: The university is healthy because...

Silke Springer:The university is healthy because first of all it is a comparatively big employer that actually offers great conditions. We have a tremendous amount of offers here on campus which are close to the people who make use of them. It is up to every individual to take advantage of them, but it is definitely possible to do a lot for one’s health here.

Ina Götze: The biggest misconception about my work is...

Silke Springer: I get some funny inquiries quite often. Then I have to say, “Hey, I’m not a doctor, I’m not a physician, I am also not the person who runs the aerobics course.”

Ina Götze: (laughs)

Silke Springer:Of course I do have a certain basic knowledge of all these things, but many seem to think that I am also the person who does everything and that I have super in-depth knowledge of everything. No, my role as I see it is more of a coordinating, organizational role, and I am happy to explain that again if need be! (laughs)

Ina Götze: A quick look back at our pre-recording chat. Our colleague, Dirk Alstein, actually described you as the Jane Fonda...

Silke Springer: ...yes the Jane Fonda of the university...

Ina Götze: !

Silke Springer: (laughs heartily)

Ina Götze: I thought that was great, but...

Silke Springer: ... I think I need to work on myself a bit more. I think she was somewhat fitter than I am. (laughs)

Ina Götze: Ah, they were different times! But actually, as we have just discussed, the topic cannot simply be reduced to this. It is so very much more.

Silke Springer: No, health is not only sport. It is a matter for every individual. A lot of factors influence it, including in the social, physical and psychiatric areas and everyone needs to find, somehow, their piece of the cake, so to speak, that does them good and helps them find a way to overcome the stresses of everyday life.

Ina Götze: The last question: if I had one wish for the university’s occupational health management, I would wish for...

Silke Springer: I would wish that I sometimes had more time to do the things, to put in place the offers, that I have in my head. Often there are not enough people to do everything. So I would wish, perhaps, for more support possibilities so that we could offer more. And another subject that I touched upon briefly beforehand: student health management. Employees are part of the university, of course, but so are the students. For me that too would be a longer-term goal, that we perhaps could sort out some things... perhaps it wouldn’t be me putting them in place, but instead somebody else who deals specifically with the topic of student health management.

Ina Götze: That rounds off the topic of intentions nicely and brings us to the end. Thank you very much for coming here and talking and answering my questions.

Silke Springer: Thank you for having me! (laughs) It was very interesting.

Ina Götze: Yes, I thought so too! Thank you too for listening. If there is anything you would like to see taking place in terms of Occupational Health Management, then please contact Silke Springer. If you have any ideas or wishes concerning topics that we could deal with here some time in future, please send an email to And otherwise, we’ll see you again in March. Until then, have a nice time!

Intro voiceover: In die Uni reingehört. Der Podcast zur Arbeitswelt an der OVGU.