Co-founders and directors John C Erfurt and Andrea Foote carried out demonstration research in automobile plants, post office branches,departments of public works, and small businesses. This research looked at the cardiovascular risks and substance abuse issues of employed populations. With the support of such major concerns as General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Detroit Edison, MichCon, and other major corporations and health insurance companies, the projects resulted in almost 50 publications.

In the early 1990s, the Worker Health Program broadened the focus of its programs by blending their interests in cardiovascular risks and substance abuse into a comprehensive wellness approach. The program also looked at the organization of health care delivery and the stated goal of the prevention of disease.

Major accomplishments included the design of worksite identification and intervention protocols to deal with health problems (both CVD and substance abuse). In 1995, the Worker Health Program's two decades of research culminated in the publication of a step-by-step manual for worksite wellness. Published by the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NIH-NHLBI), the manual disseminated the WHP model nationally.

From 1990 to 1999, the WHP was instrumental in developing national standards for worksite wellness programs. These standards were adopted in 1999 by the Association of Worksite Health Promotion (AWHP) with the cooperation of many national organizations.