“Employee well-being outcomes of individual-level mental health interventions: Cross-sectional evidence from the United Kingdom.” Labor Relations Journal, happiness enthusiast and researcher Dr. William Fleming found that workplace wellness programs don’t actually improve employee happiness. This confirms what we’ve all known for a while: these programs are primarily performative gestures to make leaders feel better about themselves. So at least someone’s mental health is improving.
First of all, I have to point out how great this guy is. That’s not ironic.
As you can see from the screenshot above, he’s all about happiness.
Below is a summary of the study, which is based on survey data from 46,336 workers across 233 organizations in the UK.
Initiatives to promote mental health are formally recommended for all workers in the UK, with many practices targeting changes to individual workers’ resources. Although existing evidence is generally positive about these interventions, there is growing disagreement over concerns that individual-level interventions may not be compatible with working conditions. To contribute to the debate, this article uses survey data (N = 46,336 workers from 233 organizations) to assess the range of common individual-level wellbeing interventions, including resilience training, mindfulness, and wellbeing apps. participants and non-participants. Even when multiple indicators of subjective well-being were taken together, participants did not appear to be better off. Results are interpreted through job demands and resources theory and selection bias in cross-sectional results is investigated. Overall, the findings suggest that the intervention did not provide additional or appropriate resources in response to job demands.
In other words, wellness programs do not “undo” the damage caused by stressful work environments. So what happens? The existing evidence base suggests that organizational-level efforts, such as improving scheduling, management practices, staff resources, or customized job design, are a good place to start.
2019 harvard business review The work makes an important distinction between: employee Health and business benefits. Naturally, the workplace is better when employees are happy. Better business. ” is the tagline of a service that sells psychiatric services, coaching, and mindfulness to employers, but is yoga on the job helping employees?
Charlotte Lieberman wrote: HBR:
From the mine to the boardroom, the motivation for employers is simple. It’s about keeping workers healthy and keeping company costs down.
But just because these programs improve business outcomes doesn’t mean their primary purpose is to improve employees’ daily lives. For prospective hires, his five-star Glassdoor reviews, which mention perks like free kale salad and on-site massages, stand out like a glittering constellation. But to employees, these benefits can feel like an implicit deal. I interviewed Ben, a designer and programmer with bipolar disorder, who works for a company that offers a variety of wellness benefits, including cooking events (including fresh arepas!) and weekly afternoon yoga. “Company newsletters emphasize that these things are meant to offset work stress, while also reinforcing the idea that work stress is an inherent byproduct of being good at your job and working hard. “We are strengthening it in a roundabout way,” he told me. “These things are often sold as extravagant bribes to meet demanding expectations.”
And she says skeptically:
Personally, I don’t believe that lunchtime yoga and mason jars of trail mix are the antidote to the global workplace stress and burnout epidemic. Despite all this attention (and money) being spent on workplace health, the jury is still out on whether these programs are truly beneficial to our health. A recent study of more than 30,000 U.S. warehouse workers found that employees who participate in workplace wellness programs have lower absenteeism, medical costs, and job performance compared to those who don’t. They found that although they reported no significant differences, they reported higher rates of some positive health behaviors. , it’s the same as engaging in regular exercise.
A good place to start is 150 push-ups and 1,200 sit-ups per day.
Dr. Fleming said of his research: This study examines benefits interventions across hundreds of workplaces, complementing trials often conducted in single organizations, but the lack of benefits suggests that employee benefits It suggests that more motivation is needed when it comes to improvement. We hope these results will spur further research and employer action. ”
read more: Research finds no evidence that individual-level mental health interventions improve employee well-being [Phys.org]
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