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Thriving from work, not thriving at work.
The first time I read that phrase it made me pause. Our time spent working should cause us to thrive? Thriving at work is code for getting promoted, making more money and successfully navigating the politics. Thriving from work means the work itself, along with the surrounding environment and people, cause you to thrive. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we all could say our work causes us to thrive?
The topic of thriving from work has inspired a fair amount of research, no doubt fueled in large part by the pandemic. What surprised me were the connections now being made in the research between work and public health. The research is not coming from the business schools. It’s coming from centers for public health and is focused on how work impacts our well-being.
What the Research Says About Work and Well-Being
The first one that caught my attention was from the Harvard School of Public Health, Center for Work, Health and Well-Being. The Work and Well-Being Initiative is a joint research and action initiative sponsored by Harvard and MIT.
They outline three fundamental design principles for work focused on 1) giving employees more control over their work, 2) reducing excessive and unnecessary demands and 3) improving their social relationships at work. Inside each of those principles you’ll find what they refer to as “promising practices” that have been derived and substantiated using case study methodology. There are toolkits and downloadable questionnaires that measure six dimensions of well-being at work.
As an example, for the dimension “Social Well-Being from Work” here’s what they measure:
- I am treated fairly at work.
- I feel supported by the people I work with.
- I feel valued by the people I work with.
- I am treated with respect at work.
- At work, I feel like I belong.
The second body of work was from the US Department of Health and Human Services — US Surgeon General’s Office. No kidding, the nature of work and its impact on public health has been identified as one of the US Surgeon General’s top priorities. They studied the upward trends on how work is contributing to mental health issues, not just the significant increase in demand for mental health services.
They’ve designed an elegant, yet practical, framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being centered around the worker’s voice and equity in the workplace. There are five major dimensions, one of which is “Community and Connection” that focuses on belonging and support. I particularly liked this section because of the linkages to the social science research. Inside this area, they highlight three key components:
- Creating cultures of inclusion and belonging, emphasizing prosocial behaviors that are welcoming, helping and reassuring.
- Cultivating trusted relationships including the impact of leaders and the importance of leaders modeling desired behaviors.
- Fostering collaboration and teamwork that intentionally enables hybrid and remote work, as well as a variety of full and part-time arrangements.
Related Article: Workers Are Lonely. Here's What Leaders Can Do
The Signals Are Clear
Reworked and I have been writing about healthy work environments for years, but more recently we’ve focused on the overall decline in commitment to employee experience.
Many elements of these two studies align perfectly to the core principles of a well-designed employee experience. What is perplexing and saddening is the speed at which so many organizations are backing away from this space, viewing it as discretionary and not impactful to the bottom line of the firm. We think otherwise.
Here's how the Harvard/MIT initiative describes the impact of a healthy work environment:
The quality of social relationships in the workplace matters for employee health and well-being. The evidence shows that positive social connections at work — supportive interactions, a sense of belonging, and effective teamwork — improve worker well-being and can protect against harmful effects of workplace stress. Positive relationships at work are also good for the bottom line. Research shows that these connections can increase productivity by improving how employees work together to get the job done. Happier, healthier employees are also less likely to call out sick, incur high medical insurance costs, or quit.
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It took wildfires, flooding, record heat, prolonged droughts, melting glaciers and monster hurricanes for global warming to become widely accepted. We wouldn’t accept what climate researchers were telling us about the well-being of our planet. As a parallel, we have the chance to rethink how work is impacting our personal well-being. Instead of resisting change, let’s accept the data, reflect on what it’s telling us and make steady, progressive improvements now. It’s completely within our control.
