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Yoga Classes And Stress Trainings Do NOTHING For Employees! Here’s Why And What Companies Should Do Instead.
[See video at bottom of text]
1. What Works:
Volunteering: The only intervention found to have a positive impact on well-being, likely due to its nature of providing meaning, purpose, and a sense of belonging.
Leadership Support: Effective well-being initiatives require genuine support from leaders, including their active participation, modeling of well-being behaviors, and fostering a culture that prioritizes employee well-being.
Addressing Work Itself: Improving the actual work conditions, reducing unnecessary stressors, ensuring fair pay, and treating employees with respect and recognition are fundamental.
Managerial Approach: Training managers to be more human, supportive, and capable of building high-quality connections with their teams. This includes facilitating good relationships, removing work barriers, building trust, and aligning work with employees’ strengths.
2. What Does Not Work:
Individual-Level Interventions: Programs aimed at fixing the individual, such as mindfulness, stress management, and resilience training, were found to be ineffective in improving workplace well-being. Some interventions, like mindfulness and time management training, were even found to make things worse.
Surface-Level Solutions: Initiatives that do not address the root causes of workplace dissatisfaction, such as excessive workloads or poor management practices, are ineffective. These can include well-being apps, financial well-being programs, and other similar interventions that place the onus of well-being on the individual without changing the work environment.
3. Key Tools / Questionnaires for Measurement:
Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): Used to measure mental well-being levels among employees.
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale: Measures levels of psychological distress, indicating how unwell people are.
Engagement Scales: Assess how engaged employees feel at work.
Life Satisfaction and Work Satisfaction Measures: Evaluate the overall satisfaction with life and work, respectively.
Perceptions of Organizational Support: Questionnaires that gauge employees’ views on whether they feel supported by their organization, including beliefs about managerial support for mental health and well-being.
This summary encapsulates the essence of what works and doesn’t in workplace well-being initiatives, highlighting the importance of systemic changes over individual-level interventions and the critical role of leadership and managerial practices in fostering a healthy work environment.
Tim HJ Rogers
Consult | CoCreate | Deliver
I support people and teams to grow, perform and succeed unlocking potential as a partner Consultant, Coach, Project and Change Manager. Together we can deliver projects and change, and improve the confidence, capacity, drive and desire of the people I work with.
ICF Trained Coach | MBA Management Consultant | PRINCE2 Project Manager, Agile Scrum Master | AMPG Change Practitioner | Mediation Practitioner | BeTheBusiness Mentor | 4 x GB Gold Medalist | First Aid for Mental Health | Certificate in Applied Therapeutic Skills
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