How Workplace Characteristics Impact Employee Wellbeing
Judi Casey September 12th, 2008
In August, I was a discussant at the 2008 American Psychological Association conference for the session The Impact of Workplace Characteristics on Employee Wellbeing with Rosalind Barnett (Brandeis), Jackie James (Center for Work & Family at Boston College), Taryn Morrissey (Society for Research in Child Development, formerly Cornell), and Shu-Wen Wang (UCLA).
1) Wang and Repetti examined how job stress affects family interaction after the work day and found that more distressed dads exhibit a negative spillover effect between work and home, while less distressed dads may withdraw from family interactions. These patterns were not found for mothers.
2) Barnett and Gareis identified caregiver concerns as a more powerful predictor of job withdrawal and health-promoting behavior than objective aspects of the care burden. Usable flexibility affected both job withdrawal and health-promoting behavior.
3) James et al. reported that flexible work schedules might be one way to reduce health care costs as they appear to benefit both employees (and their managers) by reducing stress and improving mental health.
4) Morrissey and Warner detailed how child care vouchers resulted in a range of positive outcomes, including decreased work-family stress and greater commitment to employers.
The workplace can help today’s diverse families to better manage their work-family stress, which can lead to a triple win— better emotional wellbeing, stronger family relationships, and enhanced work commitment. Workplace programs and policies can act as a buffer to reduce stress and improve emotional health outcomes, but with three important caveats:
1) We must create a workplace culture where utilization of family supportive policies is encouraged and supported— it’s not the existence of policies and programs that is important, but rather whether employees feel like they can use them without negative ramifications.
2) No one size fits all and FIT is critical. You must match the needs of employees with the programs or policies— for example, it doesn’t make sense to build an onsite child care center if the majority of your employees are over 50 years old or if they wouldn’t bring their kids to work on the subway.
3) The role of the manager or supervisor is critical, and is often the key ingredient. They must assess and monitor with their subordinates what supports are needed to create a work environment that helps employees meet both their business and personal needs.
What do you think? How can workplace characteristics impact employee wellbeing?
For more information, visit our topic pages on Health and Workplace Flexibility and Flexible Work Schedules, or read our interview with Kay Campbell on personal and workplace resilience.
