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Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace

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Excerpted from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/brain-reboot/202309/creating-psychological-safety-in-the-workplace

Have you ever found yourself holding back a brilliant idea out of fear of ridicule or dismissal by your colleagues? This hesitation signifies a lack of psychological safety in the workplace. But imagine a different scenario—a workplace where you feel comfortable expressing your opinions openly, regardless of their imperfections. A place where you trust that your team members will listen respectfully and be receptive to your feedback. This is the kind of workplace where psychological safety thrives, the kind needed for employees and businesses in times of transformational change.

Psychological safety in the workplace is a critical factor for promoting employee well-being, job satisfaction, and productivity. Practically speaking, it means individuals can share opinions, ask questions, and express concerns without facing negative consequences. When employees feel psychologically safe, they proactively solve problems. Executives see innovation, job satisfaction, and higher returns. But how can an organization achieve psychological safety?

Psychological safety in the workplace

According to a study by Rockmann and colleagues (2019), workplace psychological safety is closely related to brain functions, enzymes, and processes that regulate emotions and cognitive processes. The amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and hypothalamus are key brain areas involved in psychological safety and emotional regulation. The amygdala, an almond-shaped structure located deep within the temporal lobe, plays a crucial role in processing emotional information, particularly fear and threat detection (Phelps & LeDoux, 2005). When employees feel psychologically unsafe in a workplace, the amygdala can become overactive, leading to heightened emotional responses and a heightened sense of threat.

The prefrontal cortex, located in the front of the brain, involves cognitive processes such as decision-making, impulse control, and working memory. It regulates emotions, particularly negative emotions such as anxiety and fear (Davidson, Putnam, & Larson, 2000). When employees feel psychologically unsafe in the workplace, the prefrontal cortex can become less active, impairing their ability to regulate their emotions and making it more challenging to think clearly and make effective decisions.

The hypothalamus, located in the brain’s center, is critical in regulating the stress response (Ulrich-Lai & Herman, 2009). When employees feel psychologically unsafe, the hypothalamus can activate, releasing stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Over time, chronic activation of the stress response can lead to physical and mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, and burnout (McEwen, 2007). Therefore, promoting workplace psychological safety is not only crucial for employees’ well-being, but it can also lead to increased productivity and organizational success (Edmondson, 2018).

Enzymes such as monoamine oxidase and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) regulate emotional responses in the brain. Monoamine oxidase breaks down neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, crucial in regulating mood and emotional responses. COMT breaks down dopamine, which regulates emotional responses and reward-based learning. These enzymes can be influenced by environmental factors such as stress and social support, which can impact emotional regulation and psychological safety in the workplace.

The Practical Value of Psychological Safety

Businesses operate in an ever-changing landscape and a heightened level of transition. To manage the speed of change and keep costs in control, the best executives want every employee working as part of a team. They want teams to become more engaged in error prevention and for solutions to challenges to quickly emerge. To achieve that kind of speed and focus, psychological safety encourages honest feedback, quick adaptation, and personal growth to remain relevant in the market. Consequently, employees are more likely to contribute and help without needing to be asked to do so.

Strategies for Creating Psychological Safety

Creating psychological safety requires ongoing effort and commitment. Here are some tips to help you achieve it:

  1. Start with Leadership. Leaders set the tone. Effective leaders play a crucial role in fostering psychological safety by modeling desired behaviors, including acknowledging their own mistakes and demonstrating vulnerability.
  2. Encourage Open Communication. Active listening, non-judgmental feedback, and respectful communication contribute to an environment of psychological safety. Share stories and examples of how psychological safety has improved workplaces, recognize and encourage open communication, and engage employees in collaborative problem-solving.
  3. Foster Inclusivity. Encourage cognitive diversity as a driving factor for innovation. Create a workplace that celebrates and embraces cognitive differences, where everyone feels capable of sharing their ideas. Train employees to recognize and mitigate cognitive biases that can hinder critical thinking and data processing.
  4. Continuously Improve. Create an environment where it’s acceptable to make mistakes and learn from them. Regularly evaluate policies and practices to ensure that they support psychological safety, making changes when necessary.

Remember, creating psychological safety is an ongoing process that requires commitment from employers and employees alike. To foster a workplace culture that values psychological safety, promotes well-being, and drives business success is an intentional act of leadership.

Denise Cooper is a executive trainer, author, podcast host, and Chief People Operations at Custom Health and Founder and CEO of Remarkable Leadership Lessons, a company that assists senior-level business leaders and managers in raising their game. Katrina Hardie is a Workplace Wellbeing Culture Consultant who helps individuals, leaders, and teams recognize how their work environment impacts their health, well-being and performance and teaches them methods to turn this around in a sustainable way.

References

Rockmann, K. W., Ballinger, G. A., & Buckley, M. R. (2019). Managing for team psychological safety. Organizational Dynamics, 48(1), 6-15.

Phelps, E. A., & LeDoux, J. E. (2005). Contributions of the amygdala to emotion processing: From animal models to human behavior. Neuron, 48(2), 175-187.

Davidson, R. J., Putnam, K. M., & Larson, C. L. (2000). Dysfunction in the neural circuitry of emotion regulation—A possible prelude to violence. Science, 289(5479), 591-594.

Ulrich-Lai, Y. M., & Herman, J. P. (2009). Neural regulation of endocrine and autonomic stress responses. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(6), 397-409.

McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: Central role of the brain. Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873-904.

Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. John Wiley & Sons.

6 habits of emotionally intelligent leaders

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Excerpted from https://factorialhr.com/blog/emotionally-intelligent-leaders

When you hire managers in your business and consider the traits of a good leader, make sure you also think about emotional intelligence, not just hard skills and qualifications. An emotionally intelligent leader can help you nurture a motivated and loyal workforce and drive your business forward.

Let’s take a look at 6 common traits and habits of emotionally intelligent leaders so that you know what you should be looking for. These are also fantastic traits that you should encourage your existing managers to develop so that they can keep up with the evolving modern workforce.

Practice active listening

Of all the leadership qualities that a manager might possess, this one is potentially the most powerful for making employees feel valued and heard.

An emotionally intelligent leader is very good at active listening. They pay attention when someone is speaking to them and give them their undivided attention. They listen to the message that someone is communicating, but they are also good at detecting tone and body language. This helps them understand what employees are thinking, even if an employee finds it difficult to express themselves. As a result, employees tend to warm to emotionally intelligent leaders as they meet three basic human needs: belonging, respect and accomplishment. In contrast, if employees feel they are not being listened to, they are more likely to develop a sense of mistrust towards their manager.

Although listening may seem like an easy thing to do, many leaders actually find it quite difficult. This is especially true when a leader is stressed or distracted. That’s why emotionally intelligent leaders are so effective: they can give employees their undivided attention even when they are busy. Why? Because they are better equipped to handle emotions like stress or feeling overwhelmed.

Cultivate self-awareness

Emotionally intelligent leaders are good at cultivating self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand your own emotions, behaviors, beliefs, and values. Leaders who are self-aware understand that their emotional state has a direct impact on the performance of their team. They have the right cognitive skills to transmit positivity, inspire confidence, and energize their team. This gives them a powerful degree of influence over the emotional pulse of the team. They can then use this influence to drive positive outcomes.

Self-awareness is a highly valuable skill in the modern workplace. This is because employees these days increasingly value the development of workplace relationships founded on trust and transparency. Self-awareness also enables emotionally intelligent leaders to cultivate authentic relationships with remote employees, despite the distance.

Set boundaries

A good emotionally intelligent leader is able to establish and stick to clear boundaries. This includes setting clear boundaries between leading and managing. It also includes setting personal boundaries.

Setting boundaries is important as a leader. Boundaries define clear guidelines for what is accepted and what is not. Leaders with this emotional intelligence skill understand where their attention is needed, which behaviors they should nurture in their teams, and which tasks they need to delegate. Employees understand their role and that of their manager. And this is important for departments, especially those with high workloads.

There’s another important reason why boundaries are essential in the workplace. An emotionally intelligent leader that has set clear boundaries is able to create a certain detachment between what is happening and what they can do about it. This gives them valuable time and space that they can use to form a response based on logic, not emotion.

Manage emotions

As we mentioned at the start of the post, a big part of emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage emotional responses. Instead of reacting in the heat of the moment, an emotionally intelligent leader can take a step back from their emotions and regulate them.

Don’t confuse this form of leadership with not experiencing emotions, however. Quite the opposite, in fact. Emotionally intelligent leaders are highly in tune with their emotions. They are just better at managing them. And this means that they are far less likely to let negative emotions like stress and anger influence those around them.

Even when faced with a challenging situation, they can self-regulate their emotions and form more objective reactions based on reason. As a result, they transmit a sense of calm and composure which reassures their team and instils a sense of trust and confidence.

Continuously learning 

Emotionally intelligent leaders are open to developing their emotional intelligence skills. They recognize their abilities, but they seek continuous development as they understand that there is always room for improvement. As a result, they tend to proactively seek opportunities to challenge their existing perspectives and step out of their comfort zone.

An emotionally intelligent leader will often have a natural curiosity about what others think and feel. They value every interaction as an opportunity to learn. This makes them very open and approachable, not just in the eyes of their team but in the workforce in general. And this is one of the key foundations of building a collaborative workforce with a strong sense of organizational commitment.

Practice empathy and compassion

Finally, emotionally intelligent leaders are experts in showing empathy and compassion. They understand what others are feeling both from a cognitive and emotional perspective. If an emotionally intelligent leader asks you how you are feeling, they are probably not just being polite; they have a genuine interest in what you are experiencing (situationally and emotionally) and they want to understand how they can help you.

Moreover, emotionally intelligent leaders with strong skills in empathy and compassion understand that people make mistakes, and they don’t always meet expectations. They are able to understand people’s errors rather than judging them. As a result, they are much better at helping employees overcome any issues rather than criticizing them.

Empathy and compassion are essential skills to cultivate in your workforce. They form the backbone of the human side of your business. In fact, unless employees feel that an organization’s leaders genuinely care about them as people, not just employees, then it will be incredibly difficult to develop a solid and cohesive corporate culture.

How to spot an emotionally intelligent leader

Now that we understand what makes a good leader, let’s finish by sharing a few tips to help you spot an emotionally intelligent leader.

Think about the leaders in your organization when you read this list. Are they emotionally intelligent? Do any show potential for developing the traits of a good leader? How can you promote and develop these leadership qualities in your business?

Clues to help you spot an emotionally intelligent leader:

  • Gets along well with others and takes a genuine interest in team members and colleagues
  • Aware of both their strengths and weaknesses
  • Honest and transparent
  • Aware of their own feelings and emotions as well as those of others
  • Self-motivated
  • Well-placed boundaries
  • Able to respond with an open mind to criticism and feedback (not defensive)
  • Authentic at all times
  • Willing to step out of their comfort zone
  • Able to manage and self-regulate their emotions and respond to difficult situations in a calm and collected manner
  • Relates to others on a human level
  • Has a positive mindset and doesn’t let setbacks derail their goals

There’s no magic switch for developing emotional intelligence. Some people naturally possess it, and others don’t. However, there are always opportunities to develop emotional intelligence with the right mindset and a shift of perspective. Encourage your managers to work on developing the habits that we have discussed today. With time, effort, and patience, they can expand their soft skills and become the emotionally intelligent leaders you need to drive your organization to success.

Cat Symonds is a freelance writer, editor, and translator. Originally from Wales, she studied Spanish and French at the University of Swansea before moving to Barcelona where she lived and worked for 12 years. She has since relocated back to Wales where she continues to build her business, working with clients in Spain and the UK.  Cat is the founder of The Content CAT: Content And Translation, providing content development and translation services to her clients. She specializes in corporate blogs, articles of interest, ghostwriting, and translation (SP/FR/CA into EN), collaborating with a range of companies from a variety of business sectors. She also offers services to a number of NGOs including Oxfam Intermón, UNICEF, and Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership.  For more information or to contact Cat visit her website (thecontentcat.com) or send her a message through LinkedIn.

Hold Your Team Accountable with Compassion, Not Fear

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Excerpted from https://hbr.org/2023/02/hold-your-team-accountable-with-compassion-not-fear

Your team has a lot to accomplish, so you can’t afford to have anyone on board who consistently lets their colleagues down. You need individuals who understand their responsibilities and feel obligated to deliver — a team full of people who feel accountable. But building an accountable team is easier said than done.

You can’t make someone else accountable; accountability is a feeling. Sure, you could use incentives to try to coerce them into caring. Or you could use threats, penalties, or the stink eye to make it more likely they’ll feel responsible (you certainly wouldn’t be the only one to try). Unfortunately, our typical language and metaphors for accountability evoke this kind of punitive approach.

Your challenge is to create accountability using compassion instead of fear. When you’re a compassionate manager, your team knows that struggle is allowed, understood, and even embraced. As an empathetic manager, you flex what you expect when the situation warrants. But as with most leadership behaviors, you can have too much of a good thing; overdoing it on compassion misses the point that being kind isn’t always nice. So, how do you find that elusive blend of accountability and compassion? Here are some techniques to instill in your team the sense that they can be simultaneously vulnerable and responsible.

How to Foster Accountability While Demonstrating Compassion

Set Clear Expectations

It all starts with creating clear and shared expectations. If you short-change the upfront dialogue and fail to answer the why, what, and who questions, you’ll likely find that the outputs your employees deliver will miss the mark. Then you’ll be forced to intervene after your team has invested time and energy, which can be demoralizing (not to mention inefficient).

Instead, foster accountability through clear expectations. One tip: Clear expectations are adjective-free. Adjectives are slippery, slimy clarity-killers. It’s hard for your direct reports to take accountability for being innovative, timely, or collaborative when those words conjure vastly different images to each of you. Substitute nouns and verbs in place of adjectives, so “collaborative” becomes “make sure to get marketing’s assessment of the opportunity and incorporate it in your analysis.” Setting expectations is your best approach to creating proactive rather than punitive accountability.

Maintain Attention

The next step is to add processes and tools to keep everyone’s focus on progress. Knowing that everyone on the team has visibility into progress (or lack thereof) can enhance accountability. If your team is physically together, you can make use of a command center where you post visual reminders of commitments and track delivery of milestones. If you’re a remote or hybrid team, you can switch to digital roadmaps, progress trackers, or whiteboards as touchstones. Don’t stop at increased visibility; instead, review your tracking in one-on-ones and team meetings and use it as an opportunity to surface any concerns or looming issues.

Create Psychological Safety

Regardless of how precisely you set expectations and how well you monitor progress, you shouldn’t expect perfection. The next step in promoting accountability is to create a psychologically safe space for employees to share their struggles.

When perfection is the only option, some employees might feel incapable of taking accountability. If, instead, you invite your team to share their difficulties, you get the opportunity to coach and guide them toward a clear understanding of the problem and a set of viable solutions. But watch out: Guiding is helpful, whereas solving their problems for them erodes accountability rather than strengthening it because it teaches your employees that they don’t have to be accountable because you will be. What’s worse is that coming to your team members’ rescue can leave the impression that you don’t trust them, so now you’ve eroded accountability and compassion in one fell swoop! So instead of trying to avoid the discomfort, encourage them to work through it by saying something like, “I agree that this is our most difficult launch ever. That’s why I put you on it. Can you take me through some of what you’re grappling with?” The secret is acknowledging their difficulties while demonstrating that you’re confident they can deliver.

Be a Coach, Not a Micromanager

Although you need to be careful not to provide answers or dictate how your employees should complete their tasks, you want to give a perspective they can’t get on their own. Just make sure that your feedback comes in a series of minor course corrections rather than a dump of disappointment or disdain. As you coach each employee, your primary responsibility is to guide their attention rather than dictate how they should work. Ask questions that allow them to interrogate their approach and teach them to spot their own assumptions or to play out alternate scenarios. Help them see the unintended impacts of their approach. In the previous example, you might guide them by saying, “I feel like the most important thing in this launch is getting the right pilot region. You have the West Coast first in your current plan, and I’m worried about how our big East Coast accounts will react. How are you thinking about the criteria for where you’ll launch first?”

Use Appropriate Consequences

Sometimes leaders are surprised to hear that I encourage them to use consequences as a fundamental part of learning. The caveat is that you should be on the lookout for beneficial, constructive behaviors so that most consequences you dole out are positive and reinforcing (like acknowledgment, rewards, or greater responsibility). Then, when necessary, use negative consequences that you’ve tailored to the situation. Start with relatively innocuous interventions (such as increasing the number of milestones for someone who is missing deadlines), and if you don’t see a change in their behavior, escalate the consequences accordingly. And remember, while consequences are essential, compassion means recognizing the situations where no action is required on your part because the person’s disappointment and discomfort are consequence enough.

When All Else Fails, Allow for a Graceful Exit

Finally, I’ll share the most counterintuitive advice of all: Compassionate leaders understand that sometimes the kindest thing you can do is release someone who isn’t performing. That’s because teams have social dynamics, and once an individual has lost your confidence, it’s often obvious to their colleagues that they’re in trouble. That sets up an untenable situation where they lose the confidence of the group and therefore have little chance of succeeding. In that situation, it’s best to channel your compassion into helping the person make a graceful exit and supporting them as they look for a new role.

It’s a tricky balance to promote accountability for business outcomes while demonstrating kindness to individuals. The secret is to over-index on clear expectations and then provide frequent, low-impact coaching and feedback to give your team members assistance without ever transferring ownership. It’s a winning formula for a happy, healthy, and productive team.

Liane Davey is a team effectiveness advisor and professional speaker. She is the author of The Good Fight, You First, and co-author of Leadership Solutions. Share your comments and questions with her on Twitter at @LianeDavey.

Mental Health at Work

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Excerpted from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work from the World Health Organization (WHO)

Key facts

  • Decent work is good for mental health.
  • Poor working environments – including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity – pose a risk to mental health.
  • 15% of working-age adults were estimated to have a mental disorder in 2019.
  • Globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity.
  • There are effective actions to prevent mental health risks at work, protect and promote mental health at work, and support workers with mental health conditions.

Work can protect mental health

Almost 60% of the world population is in work (1). All workers have the right to a safe and healthy environment at work. Decent work supports good mental health by providing:

  • a livelihood;
  • a sense of confidence, purpose and achievement;
  • an opportunity for positive relationships and inclusion in a community; and
  • a platform for structured routines, among many other benefits.

Create an enabling environment for change

Both governments and employers, in consultation with key stakeholders, can help improve mental health at work by creating an enabling environment for change. In practice this means strengthening:

  • Leadership and commitment to mental health at work, for example by integrating mental health at work into relevant policies.
  • Investment of sufficient funds and resources, for example by establishing dedicated budgets for actions to improve mental health at work and making mental health and employment services available to lower-resourced enterprises.
  • Rights to participate in work, for example by aligning employment laws and regulations with international human rights instruments and implementing non-discrimination policies at work.
  • Integration of mental health at work across sectors, for example by embedding mental health into existing systems for occupational safety and health.
  • Participation of workers in decision-making, for example by holding meaningful and timely consultations with workers, their representatives and people with lived experience of mental health conditions.
  • Evidence on psychosocial risks and effectiveness of interventions, for example by ensuring that all guidance and action on mental health at work is based on the latest evidence.
  • Compliance with laws, regulations and recommendations, for example by integrating mental health into the responsibilities of national labour inspectorates and other compliance mechanisms.

WHO response

WHO is committed to improving mental health at work. The WHO global strategy on health, environment and climate change and WHO Comprehensive mental health action plan (2013–2030) outline relevant principles, objectives and implementation strategies to enable good mental health in the workplace. These include addressing social determinants of mental health, such as living standards and working conditions; reducing stigma and discrimination; and increasing access to evidence-based care through health service development, including access to occupational health services. In 2022, WHO’s World mental health report: transforming mental health for all, highlighted the workplace as a key example of a setting where transformative action on mental health is needed.

The WHO guidelines on mental health at work provide evidence-based recommendations to promote mental health, prevent mental health conditions, and enable people living with mental health conditions to participate and thrive in work. The recommendations cover organizational interventions, manager training and worker training, individual interventions, return to work, and gaining employment. The accompanying policy brief by WHO and the International Labour Organization, Mental health at work: policy brief provides a pragmatic framework for implementing the WHO recommendations. It specifically sets out what governments, employers, organizations representing employers and workers, and other stakeholders can do to improve mental health at work.

7 Strategies to Improve Your Employees’ Health and Wellbeing

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Reposted from: https://hbr.org/2021/10/7-strategies-to-improve-your-employees-health-and-well-being

Your company may pride itself on being a good employer. But even with the best of intentions, your company could be hurting employees’ health and well-being because of the way the work is organized. Working conditions and the demands of the work environment are a significant source of stress for many Americans, and research has found that the design of work can have substantial effects on employee well-being and health as well as health care expenses.

The good news for managers is that there are feasible ways to redesign work to support well-being and yield long-term benefits to the organization. For instance, recent research suggests that strategically changing workplace conditions to foster worker well-being not only improves worker health but can also bring about beneficial business outcomes such as improved job performance (including increased productivity) and lower levels of employee burnout.

It doesn’t have to be costly to redesign work to improve employees’ well-being. In fact, it can often be a good investment. For example, one work-redesign initiative at the IT division of a Fortune 500 firm generated a positive ROI for the company because it reduced turnover costs. Moreover, such strategies have the potential to improve overall organizational resilience.

With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we recently reviewed and synthesized research on the specific work conditions that affect employee well-being. We then developed a “work design for health” framework and toolkit that employers can use to revamp their work practices in ways that benefit both employees’ health and the organization. A good starting point is to consider adopting the following seven approaches:

1. Give workers more control over how they do their work.

Research indicates that having little discretion over how work gets done is associated not only with poorer mental health but also with higher rates of heart disease. What’s more, the combination of high work demands and low job control significantly increases the risks of diabetes and death from cardiovascular causes. Even relatively small changes in worker autonomy can make a difference in employee well-being. A study in a customer service call center, for example, found that giving its employees more training so they could take on new tasks and resolve more customer complaints on their own improved both the employees’ well-being and their performance on the job.

2. Allow employees more flexibility about when and where they work.

Several studies have found that giving workers more choice or control over their work schedules improves their mental health. This can involve simply permitting varied starting and stopping times and easier trading of shifts in jobs that must be done on-site. A more extensive work redesign at a Fortune 500 company — where IT employees were given control over when and where they did their work but still collaborated with their teammates to ensure needed coordination — resulted in physical and mental health improvements for employees as well as reduced turnover for the business.

3. Increase the stability of workers’ schedules.

Many retail and service companies today use “just in time” scheduling to try to match labor to fluctuating demand. But erratic, unpredictable schedules make it hard for frontline workers to manage their personal lives and family responsibilities. Research finds a range of negative outcomes occur for workers who have this kind of erratic work schedule — including poorer sleep quality and greater emotional distress.

Conversely, a study at Gap found that greater schedule stability can benefit both companies and employees. Increasing scheduling stability for workers led to a 7% rise in the participating stores’ median sales and a 5% increase in labor productivity. The added stability also improved sleep quality and reduced stress among employees with children.

Giving employees opportunities to participate in workplace improvements can be an effective approach to fostering their well-being. One study of doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners found that those who were invited to participate in a structured process of identifying and addressing problems in their workplace exhibited decreased rates of burnout and increases in job satisfaction. Employees who had had opportunities to problem solve together were also less likely to say they wanted to leave their jobs — a key benefit for organizations trying to retain valuable employees.

5. Keep your organization adequately staffed, so workloads are reasonable.

Research has found that high work demands — for instance, long hours or pressure to work very hard or fast — can take a substantial toll on employee health and well-being. In fact, numerous studies find that high demands coupled with low control create health risks, including higher rates of symptoms of depression, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. Staffing up to spread out the demands may seem costly, but employers also pay a real price when exhausted or ill employees burn out, are absent, or quit. The solution may lie in changing staffing in a targeted way; for example, one study found improvements in efficiency and job satisfaction when doctors were provided with a medical scribe trained to take over some of their charting tasks.

6. Encourage managers in your organization to support employees’ personal needs.

Many employees are also caregivers for children or elderly parents, and they benefit from supervisors who are more supportive of the challenges they face in trying to balance their work and personal lives. A study in nursing homes found that employees whose managers were more accommodating of their family needs had fewer risk factors for cardiovascular disease and also slept better. Studies in health care and grocery store settings have examined training programs for managers to increase family-supportive behaviors, with promising findings for work-life balance and health. Employers also benefited because workers whose managers had this training reported higher job satisfaction, better job performance, and less interest in leaving their jobs.

7. Take steps to foster a sense of social belonging among employees.

Creating a work culture in which employees can develop supportive relationships with their colleagues can be an important strategy for increasing worker well-being. Research has found that such relationships at work are associated with lower psychological distress, an indicator of poor mental health.

Fostering a sense of social belonging doesn’t have to be a complex or expensive proposition. One study of 911 dispatchers, who have highly stressful jobs and high rates of burnout and turnover, had supervisors send one email a week prompting dispatchers to provide support to one another by sharing affirming stories about their work. For instance, one email shared the story of a dispatcher who was able to save the life of someone who called 911 by connecting the caller to appropriate resources. Dispatchers who received the emails encouraging them to share such stories with one another reported a significant decrease in burnout and were 50% less likely to quit.

As these examples illustrate, many management practices that improve worker well-being also benefit employers. That shouldn’t be surprising. In the long run, companies that care about their employees’ health and well-being will be more likely to have employees who care about the company’s health and well-being too. And that’s an outcome all good leaders want.

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