worker-wellbeing

[worker-wellbeing]

Virtual Team Resilience

Virtual Team Resilience

Written by Chloe Darlington & Nohelia Argote

While many employees can speak to their role as individual contributors, it is likely that they can also speak to their role as integral members on a team. Teamwork is becoming increasingly popular as work turns complex, global, and competitive. Team members learn to share their workload, monitor one another’s output, and co-develop and contribute expertise on tasks at hand. They also learn that challenges will inevitably arise regardless of the type of work. We have seen that in tandem with the growth of teamwork, there has been a recent explosion in remote work. Teams are quickly recognizing that the impromptu team meeting in the office conference room is no longer a viable meeting option. Rather, teams are becoming virtual, prompting collaboration over online mediums and across time zones.

Technology is one of the most important aspects of a virtual team’s communication. All virtual teams rely on technology such as Zoom, Teams, or other communication tools to organize meetings and different activities. Therefore, in many cases, teams may have a more challenging time building relationships among team members compared to traditional in-person interactions. For example, when your entire team works from the office, you will see your team in person more often than when you work from home—being able to see your team face-to-face will allow you to build relationships faster since not all the communication happens during meetings or huddles but also during, for instance, coffee or lunch breaks. Another important aspect to note regarding virtual communication is that when a team is working virtually towards achieving a goal, some issues may appear, and those issues must be resolved through virtual communication. In many cases, when there are no face-to-face interactions, messages can get misinterpreted, which can turn into a setback for the team.

As mentioned prior, the nature of virtuality and virtual communication will inevitably cause some challenges as virtual teams form and develop. Today, virtual teams are quickly recognizing the importance of virtual team resilience – the ability to bounce back from a challenge using virtual team tools and processes – to sustain and outperform expectations. Research on team resilience has looked at the high level of interdependence and availability of team resources required to readily adapt to a challenge when it arises. Common challenges that require team resilience include time pressure, lack of resources, and crises. That is not to say that team resilience does not exist without a challenge, only that the ability is easily observed when teams are put under pressure.

How do organizations ensure that teams do not break down in a virtual context at the onset of a challenge? Four essential elements can help answer this question:

Together, these four elements act as the glue that holds virtual teams together during challenges and help them meet or even surpass expectations.

References:

Alliger, G., Cerasoli, C. P., Tannenbaum, S., & Vessey, W.(2015). Team resilience: How teams flourish under pressure. Organizational Dynamics, 44(3), 176–184.

Cummings, L. L., & Bromiley, P. (1996). The organizational trust inventory (OTI). Trust in organizations: Frontiers of theory and research, 302(330), 39-52.

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383.

Feitosa, J., Grossman, R., Kramer, W., & Salas, E. (2020). Measuring team trust: A critical and meta‐analytical review. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 41(5), 479-501.

Gully, S., Incalcaterra, K., Joshi, A., & Beaubien, J. (2002). A meta-analysis of team-efficacy, potency, and performance: Interdependence and level of analysis as moderators of observed relationships. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(5), 819.

Kirkman, B., & Stoverink, A. (2021). Building resilient virtual teams. Organizational Dynamics, 100825.

Lechner, A., & Tobias Mortlock, J. (2021). How to create psychological safety in virtual teams. Organizational Dynamics, 100849, 100849–100849. 

Mathieu, J. E., Heffner, T., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J. (2000). The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance.  Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(2), 273–283.

Salas, E., & Fiore, S. M. (2004). Team cognition: understanding the factors that drive process and performance. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Stoverink, A. C., Kirkman, B. L., Mistry, S., & Rosen, B. (2020). Bouncing back together: toward a theoretical model of work team resilience. Academy of Management Review, 45(2), 395–422. Tannenbaum, S., & Salas, E. (2020). Teams that work: The seven drivers of team effectiveness. Oxford University Press.

Tannenbaum, S., & Salas, E. (2021). Teams that work: The seven drivers of team effectiveness. Oxford University Press.

Image is from Anna Shvets (RF._.studio at www.pexels.com)

[worker-wellbeing]

Why Autonomy Matters for Remote Workers

Written by Alyssa Birnbaum & Megan Benzing

In 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic rattled the status-quo of work structures by prompting office closures for millions of employees practically overnight. Most employees were vastly unprepared for the abrupt shift, and they had to work a lot harder to manage their work-life boundaries now that work was occurring in their homes.  

Our research team, made up of Megan Benzing, Alyssa Birnbaum, Chloe Darlington, and Dr. Gloria González-Morales wanted to learn more about how people navigated their work days without the boundaries once delineating their work and personal lives. We interviewed 40 participants between July 2020 and November 2020 and used a process called reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) to organically find emergent themes from the interview data.  

We learned that the ebb and flow between work and personal life became much more fluid and frequent throughout the day. These transitions, which we call nano transitions, were likely occurring because of the limited spatial (i.e., physical) and temporal (i.e., time) separation between focusing on work and engaging in life or break activities.  

We found that these nano transitions supported work-life balance when they had three main characteristics: Autonomy, Intentionality, and Regulation (AIR). For this article, we’ll focus on autonomy – your freedom to structure and manage your workday. In our interviews, three main themes arose in relation to autonomy.

Meeting-heavy days infringed on participants’ autonomy and their ability to get work done. When in excess or unnecessary for all attendees, meetings were commonly cited as cumbersome and a waste of time. Days that involved too many meetings led our participants to feel they did not have enough time to get their own work done. Some mentioned that they learned to take advantage of less important, video-free meetings by squeezing in a walk or even using their rower while remaining in attendance.  

Flexible work schedules allowed participants to optimize their work time. When people had autonomy over their day and work hours, they were able to allocate specific focus-time to work productively. Doing these work sprints allowed for more time to be allotted for spending time with family, working at more efficient times of day, and also completing household chores.  

The lack of social pressure from others allowed participants to engage in personal non-work activities that were most beneficial for them. Sitting in an office under the gaze of coworkers and managers meant that most employees attempted to “look” like they were working when they were taking needed breaks. Now that there was more flexibility, participants shared they would take walks to think through problems, play drums to get out energy, complete chores when they needed to step away from work, or play video games for a brain break.    

Given the benefits of offering employees autonomy to do their work on their own time schedule, we have several recommendations for managers and organizations.  

First, be intentional about your meetings. Consider if the meeting needs to occur, or whether it can be replaced with an email or chat conversation. Also, carefully think about who needs to attend and how long the meeting needs to be. Do not invite additional members or make those meetings longer than necessary. Finally, create an agenda and consider what you need to have complete by the end of the meeting. Keep people on task and focused, so the meeting is purposeful and goal-oriented. Some companies even allocate specific meeting-free days or hours in a day, so employees know they can dedicate their time to getting work done.

Second, managers should give their employees space, when possible, to get their work done. Micromanaging can feel like a lack of trust, and employees need to know that they can be trusted to get their work done, on their own schedule, by a set deadline. If they do not need to be reachable for instant feedback, give them space to work at optimal times.  

Third, managers should act as positive role models. When employees know that their managers are making time to exercise or take meaningful breaks, it gives them the permission to engage in breaks that are best for them. They know they won’t be judged or in trouble, as long as their work is getting done.  

Given that companies are shifting to offer more remote work or hybrid opportunities, it’s essential that we all learn how to maximize this more flexible opportunity, not just to make our workers more efficient, but to make them healthier and more balanced.  

References

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589-597. 

Photo 1 by Tima-miroshnichenko

Photo 2 by Shvetsa & Pro-Form

Photo 3 by Rodnae Productions

Photo 4 by Evelina Zhu 

[worker-wellbeing]

The Academic Victimization of PhD Students

The Academic Victimization of PhD Students

Written by Ashley Bonilla & Shine Kim

In a 2019 global survey of PhD students published in Nature, 24% of North American students experienced harassment or discrimination and 21% of global respondents reported experiencing bullying, harassment, and discrimination by supervisors during their PhD programs. This experience impacts doctoral students across many fields of study. For example, in a study of 28 interviews with STEM PhD candidates, one student’s advisor told them, “Your brain [is not] capable of understanding science.” Although we don’t know the intentions behind this comment, the students’ self-confidence deteriorated, and they ultimately gave up their aspirations for a career in science.  

This interaction between professor and student can also be known as academic victimization— defined as harassment that occurs between two parties, who have a power imbalance, within the context of academic institutions (e.g., faculty advisor and PhD student advisee). Thus, doctoral students are vulnerable in an environment where academic victimization may, and often does, occur.  

As a result, students are at risk of becoming psychologically distressed, in an environment where they are already prone to low mental health. Compared with the general population, doctoral students are about 2.5 times more likely to be at risk of depression and other common psychiatric disorders. One in two doctoral students will experience psychological distress and one in three are at risk of developing a common psychiatric disorder. Experiencing hostile and intimidating behaviors can lead to decreased productivity, attrition rates, and/or influenced suicide. Academic victimization puts doctoral students’ physical, mental, and emotional safety at risk and can harm their personal lives, academic progress, and career development.

This issue not only occurs in North America, among the global respondents of the Nature survey, 57% said they were unable to discuss their experiences without fear of repercussions. For example, Jones and Stephens (2020), two Black, female students conducted a study to share student experiences. In one situation, a student was publicly humiliated and experienced hostile communication throughout their teaching assistantship, but they were afraid to confront or report their experiences because they did not want the abuse to escalate and were afraid of potential repercussions to their education.  

Faculty potentially have the most power and ability to abuse when they are directly overseeing students’ research. For example, Moss and Mahmoudi (2021) investigated abusive supervision in STEM graduate education; they conducted a global survey, where 43% of 1128 participants reported that their supervisor unfairly took away, or threatened to take away, their funding. In addition, 53% of the sample reported that their supervisor encouraged others to mistreat them. When faculty display abusive behaviors, students are often powerless and must cope with the faculty’s conduct, which can increase their vulnerability to additional abusive supervision.  

Preventing academic victimization could provide better support for future academic scholars. To enact deep, transformative change, the expectations and treatment of graduate students must be restructured with a community effort so that students can not only survive, but rather thrive academically, professionally, and personally.

References:

Aranda, J. L. (2018). Civility and bullying in higher education: Secrets in academia and the culture of incivilty (Publication No. 10784878). [Doctoral dissertation, University of South Dakota]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Flaherty, C. (2019, November 4). Too little, too late. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/04/graduate-students-death-uw-madison-devastating-cautionary-tale  

Jones, S. R., & Stephens, M. (2020). Faculty incivility toward graduate students: Voices of two african american women. Journal of Underrepresented & Minority Progress, 4(1), 94–108. https://doi.org/10.32674/jump.v4i1.1373

Levecque, K., Anseel, F., De Beuckelaer, A., Van der Heyden, J., & Gisle, L. (2017). Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students. Research Policy, 46(4), 868–879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.02.008

Moss, S. E., & Mahmoudi, M. (2021). STEM the bullying: An empirical investigation of abusive supervision in academic science. EClinicalMedicine, 40(10), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101121

Welde, K. De, & Laursen, S. L. (2008). The “ideal type” advisor: How advisors help STEM graduate students find their ‘scientific feet.’ The Open Education Journal, 1(1), 49–61. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874920800801010049  

Woolston, C. (2019). PhDs: The tortuous truth. Nature, 575(7782), 403-406. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03459-7

Yamada, S., Cappadocia, M. C., & Pepler, D. (2014). Workplace bullying in Canadian graduate psychology programs: Student perspectives of student–supervisor relationships. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 8(1), 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000015

[worker-wellbeing]

2022: JOB CRAFTING IN THE NEW YEAR

2022: Job Crafting in the New Year

Written by Cecelia Dotzler

For many people, ringing in the new year calls for taking stock on the past year and setting goals for the upcoming one. New year’s resolutions are often personal rather than professional, where the more popular goals are related to health and wellness, organization, finances, and learning new skills or hobbies. Far fewer people focus on professional goals, and ways they can implement small changes in their daily jobs to improve their job satisfaction and fulfillment through work.  One clever way to do this ‘professional refresh’ is through an organizational psychology concept called job crafting.

Researchers Wrzesniewski & Dutton (2001) originally defined job crafting as “the actions employees take to shape, mold, and redefine their jobs” (p. 180). They explain that job crafting takes place in three forms: 1) an employee changing their job tasks (altering tasks or the time devoted to tasks), 2) an employee changing their cognitive boundaries (how they think about the job), and 3) an employee changing the relational boundaries of their job (the frequency, type, and quality of interactions with others).  

Job crafting has been studied in relation to job performance, job satisfaction, engagement, wellbeing, and other outcomes (Berg et al, 2008, Dubbelt et al, 2019; van Wingerden et al., 2017, Slemp & Vella-Brodrick, 2014).  Job crafting does not require an employee to inform their supervisor or anyone else about the crafting they are doing – it is a self-motivated, work-enhancing activity that can be done privately to enhance the work experience.

So is job crafting for you?  And why would you want to try job crafting? For one, you might want to better meet your basic psychological needs for competence (expressing a positive sense of self), autonomy (controlling aspects of your work), and relatedness (human connection) that are captured in Self Determination Theory (Desi & Ryan, 1991). You might also want to find more meaning and fulfillment in your work without undergoing a major job change or career overhaul. Whatever your reasons may be, you can find a great deal of work and life satisfaction when you make small changes to your existing work routines and work habits through job crafting.

To get started with job crafting, it can be helpful to spend some time reflecting on your current job and how it is meeting your needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. In the following section, we will take you through some open-ended reflection questions that are meant to get you thinking about your job in new ways, and to find opportunities to job craft for a more fulfilling 2022 through your work tasks, the ways you think about your job, and the relationships you have at work. Happy crafting!

Job Crafting in the New Year: Reflection Activity   (15-30 minutes)

Take 2-3 minutes to think about each of the question groupings below and jot down notes from your reflections. Once you have gone through all the questions, write down 2-3 action steps you can take right now to start your year with job crafting activities.  You might be surprised at the changes you see!

General

What are your strengths? What do you value most in your life? How do your strengths and values show up in your work right now? Are there areas where you would like to use more of your strengths and better connect your role to your values?

Tasks

What are your primary tasks currently? Are there tasks you can slightly alter that better fit your strengths or align more with your values? What are your favorite tasks?  Least favorite?

Cognitive Boundaries  

Meaning

How meaningful is your job to you right now? What are the ways in which you find meaning and purpose through your job? Are you interested in creating more meaning through your job?  How might an outsider view your job in a way that you might not have considered before?

Purpose

What is the purpose of your work to yourself, your loved ones, and to society?  Are you content with the amount of purpose you connect to your work?  Can you think of a way to rethink your work to include more purpose?

Relational Boundaries

List out and reflect on your work relationships – these can be both internal relationships within your organization and external relationships with people outside your organization.  Who are your strongest connections with through work?  Your weakest?  Who is one person you would like to connect with professionally in 2022?  Are there ways you can incorporate more partnerships and collaborations in your work in 2022?

References

Berg, J. M., Dutton, J. E., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2008). What is job crafting and why does it matter. Retrieved form the website of Positive Organizational Scholarship on April, 15,  2011.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality.

Dubbelt, L., Demerouti, E., & Rispens, S. (2019). The value of job crafting for work engagement, task performance, and career satisfaction: Longitudinal and quasi experimental evidence. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 28(3), 300-314.

Slemp, G. R., & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2014). Optimising employee mental health: The relationship between intrinsic need satisfaction, job crafting, and employee well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(4), 957-977.

Tims, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2010). Job crafting: Towards a new model of individual job redesign. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 36(2), 1-9.

van Wingerden, J., Derks, D., & Bakker, A. B. (2017). The impact of personal resources and job crafting interventions on work engagement and performance. Human Resource Management, 56(1), 51-67.

Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review, 26, 179-201. 

Images

Photo 1 by Alexander Suhorucov from Pexels

Photo 2 by mentatdgt from Pexels

Photo 3 by RF._.studio from Pexels

[worker-wellbeing]

Remote Work and Role Conflict in the Middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Remote Work and Role Conflict in the Middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic  

Written by Savannah Leslie

“Well that’s the hard part. When you are working in the office, once you leave the office you mentally detach everything from work. You’re done! Now your time is with family. But I still have work to do. I know I’ve got to go back to finish because my office is just two steps away. Nothing is preventing me from going and finishing the work I was doing. So the draw to finish the work is there . . . that pressure is always in the back of your mind. You cannot put off work”  

- a remote worker experiencing work-life conflict  (p. 347; Eddleston & Mulki, 2017).  

As the pandemic treks on, many organizations have been considering offering a hybrid workspace or a permanent remote working position for their employees. With 57.4% of the US population at work as of 2020, almost all employees, aside from essential workers, may be pushed to work remotely. Based on the quote above, issues with remote work interfering with personal time is nothing new. With remote work being practically mandatory this past year and a half due to COVID-19, many individuals have experienced the imposition of bringing work to their homes. For those who like to keep their work and home spheres separate, they can experience this work environment shift as work-life conflict.  

What is Work-Life Conflict?

Work-life conflict is known as the conflict an employee experiences when their work and personal lives interfere with each other. This conflict can influence many areas of our lives:  our behavior, our energy, and our time. And these can be moved in either direction: work interfering with home life or home life interfering with work.  An employee strained from work interfering with their personal life may feel too drained from work to celebrate their friend’s birthday or commit to their weekly cleaning routine. Or an employee experiencing family interfering with work may feel drained and unable to work at their full capacity because they stayed up late the previous night taking care of their sick child.   

Work-Life Conflict and Well-Being in a Technologically Driven Workspace  

How can work-life conflict affect me as a remote worker?  

With work taking up a lot of time, workers feeling almost constant conflict can have a negative impact on their wellbeing. In this time of uncertainty, employees have reported tasks for their jobs pulling them in different directions , increased hours and longer workdays while working remotely. These demands lead to more overall conflict and pressure at work. There are many detriments to work-life conflict on worker wellbeing, including higher anxiety, burnout and psychological strain, as well as poorer mental health and higher substance dependence.    

This experience can impact organizations as well, with employees less satisfied with work, feeling less successful in their job, and more likely to take days off or consider leaving their job altogether.

Are there any benefits to working remotely during the pandemic? 

For remote workers who don’t mind blending work and home life, or those capable of setting strict boundaries between the two spheres, working from home may be more convenient. Working from home may allow employees to tend to and complete chores around the house during their breaks so that they can have more time to enjoy their free time later in the day. Or maybe working at home allows them to spend more time with their partner, children, roommates, or pets.  

As a homebody, working from home may feel less stressful and welcome more flexibility into your life. It may also save you money and time, for those who would otherwise have a long commute to their offices every day.  

Taking Action

What can organizations do to create a balanced remote life? 

Provide flexible work hours based on employee need. For instance, compressed work weeks (e.g. four ten-hour days)

Support employees to maintain boundary management through: 

Employee trainings  

Supervisory support:  managing expectations about working off hours, or restricting supervisors’ communication off hours 

Implement calendar tools for employees to show when they are online working and when they are unavailable to chat 

Support the use of employee assistance programs and further develop organization’s assistance offered.

What can I do? 

Organize your time. Develop a schedule for your personal and work time: 

Create hard start and stop times for work

Have a morning and night routine that doesn’t center around work. For example, refrain from checking your work messages when you wake up and when you go to sleep

Do not check work emails or phone messages during self-managed off-work time 

Organize your space: 

If you have enough physical space availability, create and work at a space distinct from the rest of your home, and avoid being in that area during off-work time

Step away from your desk for a lunch break or other scheduled intentional breaks

Communicate your time and space: 

Communicate your work time  and location with your family, roommates, and/or partner.

Communicate your personal time and location with your supervisor, coworker. 

However you prioritize work, wherever you spend your work hours, remember to put your own needs and well-being high on your work-life “to do” list.   

References 

Allen, T. D., Herst, D. E., Bruck, C. S., & Sutton, M. (2000). Consequences associated with  work-to-family conflict: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of  Occupational Health Psychology, 5(2), 278–308. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.5.2.278  

Barron, S. (2020, March 24). 9 tips to improve work-life balance when working from home.  Owl Labs Blog. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://resources.owllabs.com/blog/remote-work-life-balance.   

Becca. (2021, September 27). 17 tips for better work-life balance while working remotely. @halfhalftravel. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from  https://www.halfhalftravel.com/remote-work/work-life-balance.html.   

Eddleston, K. A., & Mulki, J. (2017). Toward Understanding Remote Workers’ Management of Work–Family Boundaries: The Complexity of Workplace Embeddedness. Group & Organization Management, 42(3), 346–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059601115619548.  

Evers, K.E., Castle, P.H., Prochaska, J.O. and Prochaska, J.M. (2014), “Examining relationships between multiple health risk behaviors, well-being, and productivity 1,2”, Psychological Reports, 114(6), pp. 843-853, doi: 10.2466/13.01.PR0.114k25w4. 

 Foy, T., Dwyer, R. J., Nafarrete, R., Hammoud, M. S., & Rockett, P. (2019). Managing job performance, social support and work-life conflict to reduce workplace  stress. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 68(6), 1018– 1041. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm-03-2017-0061   

Frone, M. R. (2000). Work–family conflict and employee psychiatric disorders: The National  Comorbidity Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(6), 888–895.  https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.85.6.888  

Grant-Vallone, E. J., Donaldson, S. I. (2001). Consequences of work-family conflict on employee well-being over time. Work & Stress, 15(3), 214-226. doi:10.1080/02678370110066544  

 Houlfort, N., Philippe, F. L., Bourdeau, S., & Leduc, C. (2018). A comprehensive understanding of the relationships between passion for work and work-family conflict and the consequences for psychological distress. International Journal of Stress Management, 25(4), 313-329. doi:10.1037/str0000068     

 Kofodimos, J. R. (1993). Balancing act. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

 Jang, S. J., & Zippay, A. (2011). The juggling act: Managing work-life conflict and work-life balance. Families in Society, 92(1), 84–90. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.4061  

 Palumbo, R. (2020). Let me go to the office! an investigation into the side effects of working 16 from home on work-life balance. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 33(6/7), 771–790. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijpsm-06-2020-0150   

 Shao, Y., Fang, Y., Wang, M., Chang, C.-H. (D., & Wang, L. (2021). Making daily decisions to work from home or to work in the office: The impacts of daily work- and covid-related stressors on next-day work location. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(6), 825–838.  https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000929  

 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021, June 1). Unemployment rises in 2020, as the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic : Monthly Labor Review. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2021/article/unemployment-rises-in-2020-as-the-country- battles-the-covid-19-pandemic.html .  

Van Zoonen, W., Sivunen, A., Blomqvist, K., Olsson, T., Ropponen, A., Henttonen, K., &  Vartiainen, M. (2021). Understanding Stressor–strain relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of social support, adjustment to remote work, and work–life conflict. Journal of Management & Organization, 1–22.  https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2021.50 

Images

Balancing family with work: How employers can meet the needs of working parents. Wrike. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.wrike.com/blog/balancing-family-work-employers-can-meet-needs-working-parents/.  

Becca. (2021, September 27). 17 tips for better work-life balance while working remotely. @halfhalftravel. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.halfhalftravel.com/remote-work/work-life-balance.html.  

Cheung, C. (2021, September 6). All you ever need to know about remote work. Connect in a more meaningful way. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://www.brightful.me/blog/all-you-ever-need-to-know-about-remote-work/. 

Mentalmind. Shutterstock. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Rudzhan/about.  

Pontefract, D. (2021, November 22). 'The great resignation' isn't really a thing. something else is. Forbes. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danpontefract/2021/11/22/the-great-resignation-isnt-really-a-thing-something-else-is/?sh=6266c12e23e5.  

PricewaterhouseCoopers. (n.d.). Business needs a tighter strategy for remote work. pwc. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/us-remote-work-survey.html.  

Smith, S. (2021, January 7). Employer's liability and working from home during the pandemic. Ashburnham Insurance. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://www.ashburnham-insurance.co.uk/blog/2021/01/employers-liability-and-working-from-home-during-the-pandemic/.    

[worker-wellbeing]

Dr Gloria González Morales

[worker-wellbeing]

When stressors make you grow – Dr. M. Gloria González-Morales 

[worker-wellbeing]

The Gig Economy During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Gig Economy During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Written by Emily Zavala

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered life and changed the economy in the United States as the spread of the virus caused the closure of businesses and schools and forced many to quarantine in their homes. An unprecedented number of people filed for unemployment in April and May of 2020, as the unemployment rate rose considerably to 14.8% and 13.3%, respectively. This was the largest month to month increase in unemployment (according to available data dating back to January 1948). At the same time gig platforms observed a rise in their workforce, where companies such as Instacart hired 300,000 workers in April 2020 and sought to hire an additional 250,000 more within the following months. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, gig services such as food and grocery delivery became more visible than ever before.

Did the rise of gig work come as a blessing or add to the ongoing obstacles within the gig economy?

Long before the pandemic, gig work had already begun to increase as the number of gig workers in the United States rose from 14.2% in 2010 to 16.4% in 2019. In addition, the battle for labor rights and protection surrounding gig workers was placed under scrutiny as many states adopted legislature to clarify the classification of independent contractors (i.e. gig workers). Specifically in September of 2019,  California Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) that required the application of the “ABC Test” to determine if workers could be classified as independent contractors or employees for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) wage orders. 

However, companies such as Uber and Lyft claimed to be online applications that simply connected the worker with the consumer and did not consider themselves service providers, therefore refusing to classify their drivers appropriately under AB 5. During this period, the United States experienced its early cases of the COVID-19 virus between December 2019 and February 2020. 

A year ago, in March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic prompting stay at home orders throughout California and boosted the need for gig services. Gig workers who aided in the delivery of essential items and services were considered essential workers, but companies continued to classify them as independent contractors making them ineligible to receive health-related compensation and benefits during the pandemic. 

In August of 2020, a California appeals court found that these companies were in violation of labor laws and ordered them to re-classify their drivers as employees, as well as provide benefits according to the new classification. However, the passing of Proposition 22 (Prop 22) on the November 2020 ballot overrode AB 5 defining “app-based transportation (rideshare) and delivery drivers as independent contractors and adopted labor and wage policies specific to app-based drivers and companies” (Ballotpedia). Backing for Prop 22 received a record-high $205.37 million from Uber, DoorDash, Lyft, Instacart and Postmates who not only threatened to pull their services from California but also to increase costs to consumers, if the proposition was not passed.

Where does this leave gig workers today during the pandemic?

In California, gig workers are classified as independent contractors and not eligible for employer-sponsored healthcare, overtime pay, paid sick leave, worker’s compensation benefits or occupational health protections afforded traditional employees. Although the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of March 2020, extended unemployment benefits to gig workers, there is no guarantee those benefits will continue to be available after expiration dates and in future post-pandemic legislature. In addition, many gig workers in California are still not seeing the supposed benefits from Prop 22, reporting pay cuts, wages severely below minimum wage, scheduling penalties, lack of compensation for mileage and added fees to consumers to cover the costs of worker benefits, which could potential decrease tips.

In addition to classification consequences, there are many occupational health and safety risks surrounding gig work especially during the pandemic. Less than half of the gig works have access to employer-based health benefits, and during the rise of the pandemic, many workers were not provided with personal protective equipment placing them at risk. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970, COVID-19 is not seen as occupational risk and therefore not compensable. Even though the CARES Act currently grants gig workers compensation for COVID-19 related illnesses for them and their families, it is still uncertain how long these benefits will continue to be offered as the pandemic continues to unfold.

What about gig workers’ mental health?

As the need for gig work grows, many gig workers are reporting increased competition for jobs, affecting their ability to earn sustainable wages. Due to the customer-centric nature of the gig platforms, workers potentially experience surges in emotional labor because of the added stress of exposure and contamination. Even customer ratings and reviews are directly tied to compensation and continued employment of gig workers adding pressure for workers to regulate their emotions especially when restricted by personal protective equipment. 

In addition, during the pandemic, unemployment rate for Hispanics rose to 18.9%, 16.7% for Blacks, 14.5% for Asians and 15.5% for women. The disproportionate rise in unemployment rates among minorities and women increases the risk of unique emotional labor challenges related to discriminatory behavior and biases.

Are there any benefits to being a gig worker?

Similar to a typology proposed by the Mckinsey Global Institute, gig workers can be classified based on the type of qualifications or skills needed for the job and the type of income they are pursuing. Some gig works required specific skills such as graphic design or software development, and others do not require any skills such as taking online surveys, ride share and delivery services. For gig work that does not require specific skills, any individual with little to no work experience is able to secure work on a variety of platforms. The gig work platform also provides workers with the ability to do a variety of task for several companies potentially keeping gig workers engaged in the work they do and the opportunity to build a multitude of skills.

In addition, workers can use gig work on a full-time basis as their main source of income or as a side hustle to supplement their income. Whether gig work is used as a main or supplemental income, the flexibility of gig works allows individuals to work around their own schedules and juggle between family responsibility and leisure activities. Gig workers can earn money when they choose and cover personal expenses as needed. If gig work is used as a side hustle to supplement full-time employment, then employer-based health coverage and compensation benefits are not an issue and workers do not suffer the consequences of being classified as independent contractors. For tax purpose, the classification of independent contractor offers benefits in tax deductions for supplies required to work, office space, car repair, mileage and retirement saving. In other words, gig work can offer flexibility, freedom from traditional work roles and autonomy for many workers.  

The COVID-19 pandemic placed gig workers in the forefront and created an opportunity for gig workers to start securing their basic rights. As the pandemic slowly recedes, the question will remain whether the changing landscape of the gig economy will move toward positive change or will gig workers continually have to fight for their rights.

References

Abrams, R. (2020). Who's an employee, who's a contractor? California law could change entrepreneurs' status. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/usaandmain/2020/01/15/abrams-california-independent-contractors-law/4469782002/

Balllotpedia (2020) California Proposition 22, App-Based Drivers as Contractors and Labor Policies Initiative(2020). Retrieved from https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_22,_App-Based_Drivers_as_Contractors_and_Labor_Policies_Initiative_(2020)#cite_note-initiative-10

Bond, S. (2020). Uber And Lyft Must Make Drivers Employees, California Court Rules. NPR. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926916925/uber-and-lyft-must-make-drivers-employees-california-appeals-court-rules

Department of Industrial Relations (2019). Independent contractor versus employee. Retrieved from https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_IndependentContractor.htm

McKinsey Global Institute. (2016, 10 10). Independent work: Choice, necessity, and the gig economy. Retrieved from McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/independent-work-choice-necessity-and-the-gig-economy#

O’Brien, S. A. (2020). Instacart hired 300,000 workers in a month. It plans to hire 250,000 more. CNN Business. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/tech/instacart-hiring-workers/index.html

Pardes, A. (2020) This Pandemic Is a ‘Fork in the Road’ for Gig Worker Benefits. Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/gig-worker-benefits-covid-19-pandemic/

OSHA. 2020a. COVID-19 Guidance for Rideshare, Taxi, and Car Service Workers. Retrieved from: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA4021.pdf

OSHA, 2020b. Occupational Health and Safety Information. Retrieved from: https://www.osha.gov/workers/

Prudential Financial (2017). Gig Workers in America – Profiles, Mindsets, and Financial Wellness.

Rajan, R. (2020) How will COVID-19 reshape the gig economy? Chicago Booth Review. Retrieved from https://review.chicagobooth.edu/economics/2020/video/how-will-covid19-reshape-gig-economy

Sainato, M. (2021). 'I can't keep doing this': gig workers say pay has fallen after California's Prop 22. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/18/uber-lyft-doordash-prop-22-drivers-california

Saxena, J. (2021). The Perks of Working for Delivery Apps Are Dwindling Amid Scams and Scheduling Penalties. Eater. Retrieved from https://www.eater.com/platform/amp/22291053/delivery-apps-workers-face-scams-pay-loss-penalties

Tran, M., & Sokas, R. K. (2017). The Gig Economy and Contingent Work: An Occupational Health Assessment. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 59(4), e63–e66.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020, May 08). Unemployment Rate and Unemployment Level. Retrieved from https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?bls

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2020) Advisory Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19 Response. Retrieved from Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Version_3.0_CISA_Guidance_on_Essential_Critical_Infrastructure_Workers_1.pdf

World Health Organization (2021). WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020

Yildirmaz, A., Goldar, M. & Klein, S. (2020). Illuminating the Shadow Workforce: Insights Into the Gig Workforce in Businesses. Retrieved from ADP Research Institute: https://www.adp.com/-/media/adp/resourcehub/pdf/adpri/illuminating-the-shadow-workforce-by-adp-research-institute.ashx

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Diversity Training: Debunking Common Misconceptions

Diversity Training: Debunking Common Misconceptions

Written by Nohelia Argote Veliz

Few times in the past decades compare to the social conflict intensity and the difficult times people experienced in 2020. Specifically, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, one of the most significant US movements, contradictory attitudes towards immigration and sexual harassment have defined 2020 as a pivotal year. Unfortunately, 2021 also had a devastating start due to intense political conflicts. These social dynamics directly affect our workplaces and increased the tension on workplace issues related to employees’ differences (e.g., race, gender, political ideology, and sexual orientation). One of the most common organizational responses to social dynamic tensions is diversity training. Last September, former President Donald Trump responded to many of these social issues by issuing an executive order restricting the federal government, its contractors, and recipients of federal grants from offering and conducting diversity training. The former president labeled diversity training as divisive, un-American, and malign. However, 2021 arrived with positive news for the future of diversity training. One of the many reasons we should be thankful and celebrate the beginning of this year is that on January 20, President Joe Biden signed an executive order reversing former president Trump’s order, prohibiting diversity training. It is important to highlight certain misconceptions that former president Trump's initial executive order might have generated and spread. For this reason, we address here three common misconceptions and myths about diversity training.

Myth 1: Diversity Training Does Not Work

Certain articles' headlines demonstrate an incorrect view of diversity training, which might cause many individuals to mistakenly generalize what diversity training is and perpetuate a very dangerous misconception. For instance, in “Why Diversity Programs Fail” by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kaleb, they found that diversity training can be ineffective. However, they suggested that training efforts should be performed for more than a day to be effective and not produce backlash. Organizations should change the focus from asking whether diversity training works to more detailed questions focusing on how, whom, when, and where diversity training works. For instance, a systematic and quantitative review of previous studies conducted in 2016 suggests that diversity training is more effective when awareness and skills are targeted over a more extended time. In essence, diversity training can be effective when the trainings and diversity efforts are designed and implemented appropriately. For that reason, organizations must create training that maximizes the programs' effectiveness while integrating best practices and science.

Myth 2: Diversity Training Causes Backlash from Employees

Organizational leaders sometimes hesitate to implement diversity training initiatives because they fear that the training might cause backlash and negative reactions from employees. In some instances, employees and leaders oppose the diversity initiatives implemented by their organization. This can occur when employees who belong to a majority and higher status believe that employees or groups who belong to a minority lower status are given preferential treatment.

However, evidence from different studies demonstrates that diversity training can positively affect organizations. For instance, diversity training can improve employees’ behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes towards diversity. One of the most prominent systematic reviews conducted by Bezrukova and colleagues on diversity training suggests that the overall response to diversity training initiatives is in general positive. However, it is also important for organizations to ensure that any potential backlash is minimized by ensuring the organization uses appropriate instructional approaches. For instance, implementing a training that addresses awareness and skill development as well as implementing a training that takes place over a significant period of time.

Myth 3: If People Did Not Like the Diversity Training, It Did Not Work

At the end of diversity training initiatives, many organizations provide their employees with a survey or a rating sheet in order to assess the employees’ reactions to the training. The organization might include questions related to employee satisfaction with the training, such as “did you enjoy the training?” or “what did you think about the training?”. Frequently, trainers will receive a variety of responses, including negative ones. A common misconception among trainers is assuming that negative responses indicate that the diversity training initiative was unsuccessful. However, this practice assumes that trainee satisfaction is equal to the training success. Instead, the best way for organizations to evaluate if the training effort was successful is by evaluating the training outcomes according to the areas of interest of the training. For example, measuring the knowledge and skills acquired by employees during the training using a survey before the training was implemented and after the training was implemented to compare the differences.

It is crucial to understand the importance and benefits of organizational diversity training and how certain misconceptions can spread inaccurate information. The explanation of some misconceptions described above helps to point some of the key features of diversity training. For instance, addressing when diversity training works. It is also essential to change the conversation about this topic to maximize its effectiveness. Diversity does not only involve race or gender. Diversity training aims to bring all employees together to improve to enhance organizational effectiveness. For this reason, diversity training initiatives must be inclusive.

References

Bezrukova, K., Spell, C. S., Perry, J. L., & Jehn, K. A. (2016). A meta-analytical integration of over 40 years of research on diversity training evaluation. Psychological Bulletin, 142(11), 1227.

Cheng, S., Corrington, A., Dinh, J., Hebl, M., King, E., Ng, L., Reyes, D., Salas, E., Traylor, A. (2019). Challenging diversity training myths: Changing the conversation about diversity training to shape science and practice. Organizational Dynamics, 48(4), 100678.

Dobbin, F., & Kaleb, A. (2016). Why diversity programs fail. Harvard Business Review.  https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail

Image is from fauxels (RF._.studio  at www.pexels.com)

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2020: What Worked, and What’s Next?  

Using Appreciative Inquiry for 2021

By Cecelia Dotzler

During the most difficult times of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, there have been unprecedented and unimaginable challenges, struggles, setbacks, and deficiencies that have presented themselves at unrelenting rates - job loss, death, uncertainty, inequalities, lack of hope, the added home and schooling responsibilities, balancing boundaries between work and home life, and more.  Put simply - the events of this year have led to a plethora of negative emotions for most people.  An integral step to dealing with negative emotions is to first address and acknowledge them so we can process them and move through them.  Once we have completed this important emotion processing, it can be helpful to reflect on what has changed through these challenges, what has gone well, and what we want to do next. Enter Appreciative Inquiry.  

At its most basic level, appreciative inquiry is rooted in the belief that people and organizations will focus their attention on the things that are most persistently asked and inquired about.  The purpose of appreciative inquiry is to ask ourselves questions that uncover what is working, what is the positive core, and what we and others really care about.  

A positive question is an affirmatively stated question—a question that seeks to uncover and bring out the best in a person, a situation, or an organization. It is constructed around a topic that you desire to grow or develop your thinking around.

Appreciative inquiry thought leaders are so passionate about the power of appreciative inquiry that they have published a list of 100 positive questions to aid in the development of positive questioning for growth. We borrow questions from this publication and adapt them with a personal spin for individuals seeking to find meaning, purpose, and positivity in their personal lives after a year of unexpected surprises, struggles, and unlimited confusion. 

We propose positive questions to ask yourself and your loved ones throughout the month of December. We recommend two separate activities:  

a) A solo activity to take time to reflect and focus on yourself 

b) A shared activity to help shape positive conversations with your loved ones in planning ahead for a different kind of 2021  

David Cooperrider believes that conversation leads to action, and that thinking alone does not incite the action that is needed. We need to get our ideas out, share them with others, and form bonds through navigating these conversations. This is why we encourage you to complete both activities – one solo, and one in a verbal discussion with family, friends, or colleagues.  

We hope this can help you to achieve a more meaningful and fulfilling 2021!

Personal Reflection Activity

It's sometime in the future and your grandchildren are being told a story about you from 2020.  What are you most proud of that you would like them to hear about?

Describe types of recognition for something you accomplished in 2020 that would inspire you to strive for excellence in 2021 and beyond. Why would these types of recognition be meaningful to you?

What’s been the most important thing you’ve learned – or perhaps re-learned – during the year 2020?

Think of a person that you admire from this year…one that you either know well or have heard of.  It could be a friend, a neighbor, or a celebrity that handled the year or a specific incident in a way that you admire. What, in your opinion, made that person best-in-class this year? What did they do that you can learn to do better?

Consider the various forms of communication within your family/group · Which are most effective in providing people with information to do their jobs?  Which most foster a sense of connection and belonging?  Which most enable people to work together in ways that are mutually satisfying and inspiring?

Shared Reflection Activity

What do you see today (not future possibilities, but beginning to happen right now) that gives you hope for the future? This could be something on a global scale, or a personal experience. It could have to do with social or political events, or it could have to do with what you’ve experienced in this organization or your community.  

If a genie appeared right now in front of you, and offered to grant you three wishes (without worrying how they would be fulfilled) to heighten vitality and effectiveness in this family/group, what would these three wishes be?  What do you wish for the family/group and the people involved?

Tell me about the one success you’ve had THIS YEAR here that brings you the greatest pride in having made a difference for a person, a group, or the family as a whole.  

What was it about the situation that most supported you in delivering this one success? What was the immediate outcome?  

What are the most positive long-term consequences of this one success – either tangible or intangible?  

What does this experience teach you about yourself and your group as a whole?  

What conditions do we need to create, so that we can all deliver successes like this in the future?

References

Whitney, D. K. (2002). Encyclopedia of positive questions: Volume one: Using appreciative  inquiry to bring out the best in your organization. Lakeshore Communications.

Image is from Retha Ferguson (RF._.studio  at www.pexels.com)

[worker-wellbeing]

Dr. Gonzalez-Morales was invited to answer some questions for this piece as an expert in Organizational Psychology. See the excerpt of her interview below. You can access the full article by clicking on the image.

1. What less obvious advantages are there, if any, to working remotely?

The obvious ones are related to the time we spent commuting to work or juggling different activities in different places (e.g., child care).

We can now do most of our activities from home, diminishing the time we use in moving from one place to the other.

Time is one of those valuable resources that are finite, and this is one of the advantages of flexible work arrangements: People have more control over the structure and management of their time.

For people whose circadian rhythms are not in sync with the 9-to-5 arrangement of our offices and lives, working remotely, and given that they have autonomy to structure their day, provides them with opportunities to adjust their working times to when they are more alert or productive.

Similarly, people who have caregiving responsibilities (e.g., children, elderly relatives, sick friends…) may have more flexibility when organizing and managing all their paid and non-paid work, including household chores.

The problem is that the situation of forced remote work that we are living in affects and drains other resources. We may not have dedicated space for work, or adequate equipment and furniture.

Moreover the lack of physical boundaries between work and personal life requires that people invest more effort and intention on how to manage the now virtual, and psychological boundary, between paid work and other activities.

The research that we are developing at the Worker Wellbeing lab suggests that people are trying to figure out the transition from a sequential and linear home-work-home daily schedule, to a parallel non-sequential structure of our lives in which we are doing laundry while listening to a Zoom meeting, or taking a longer lunch break to help children with online schooling.

Actually, we are finding that people are taking more breaks to manage all their aspects of their lives, but also the paid working time is extended longer than 9 to 5.

2. Beyond traditional benefits — insurance coverage, paid time off, retirement contribution matches — that many employers offer, what non-traditional perks should companies consider giving workers in light of the challenges of working remotely?

Companies should have managers and supervisors that support their employees.

While working remotely, it is extra important that workers perceive that they have all the resources they need to their job. Perceived organizational support is the overall perception that employees form about how much their employers care for their well-being and value their contributions.

Therefore, supervisors and managers should provide their team members with resources and autonomy to manage those resources.

More importantly, for employees to feel supported and valued, managers should focus on building trust with and within the members of their teams.

In addition, we know that this pandemic has affected disproportionally minorities and women because of various reasons. Tangible resources for that can support these employees to manage the extra challenges of the situation (e.g., lack of child care or having household members who are essential workers) are necessary.

These resources are diverse and depend on the situation of each individual, type of company or industry. Having conversations and communication channels that can be used by employees to use their voice in a psychologically safe manner to explain their needs, and following up on these ideas, is key during these times.

It also comes back full circle to the idea of employees feeling that they are supported by their company, and more likely to reciprocate with engagement, productivity and citizenship behaviors.

3. What are the three most effective ways for remote workers to stay creative?

Taking time to reflect on what are you doing, why are you doing it and what do you need to do things in a way that you feel more engaged, satisfied and happy.

4. Remote work can sometimes heighten feelings of isolation and stress. How can remote workers most effectively manage their mental health during the pandemic?

I would suggest that employees use the resources available to them. The employee assistant programs of most companies have counseling and therapy sessions, and they are set up so the employer doesn’t know who is using it.

In terms of active management of their new remote life I would suggest that remote workers intentionally think about what works for them and what doesn’t and craft their new jobs according to their new demands and their new resources.

Job crafting is a technique that helps us figure out what works in our jobs, what doesn’t, and how we can modify our jobs to maximize resources and minimize demand according to our goals and interests.

After reflecting on what we want to accomplish in the short and long term, and what are the aspects of our jobs and lives that make us engaged and satisfied, we start crafting our new remote working life according to that.

For example, we can:

Physically change things and space (e.g., request from the company to buy a good office chair for the home office).

Craft our work relationships (e.g., taking advantage of not having to talk to that annoying co-worker, or going for socially distanced walk with that co-worker who lives closer to us).

Think about things differently by finding silver linings or savoring the positive aspects of working from home (the extra 5 minutes in bed, or the opportunity to take a nap in the middle of the day)

Start or finish the day with the tasks that are more interesting to us or take on a side project that will help us develop our skills and be ready for that next job promotion.

Find ways to have recovery breaks during the day

Set goals based on the work that needs to be done instead of the hours that we need to be sitting in front of the computer.

5. There are many sources offering advice on how to effectively work remotely. What’s the best way to filter “good” advice and tune out the noise?

Different things work for different people, and trying different things until you find what works for you may be the best route.

Having said that, the advice coming from the American Psychological Association (apa.org) and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (siop.org), comes from trusted experts who do research and practice in these areas.

6. If you could live anywhere as a remote worker, where would you live and why? And why not be a digital nomad instead of being tied to one location? Beach town in winter, Denver or Maine in summer, for example. Maybe use our best cities for remote workers as a bucket list spending six months in various locations.

It depends on what your needs and responsibilities are. Some people may want to take advantage of this to go back to their hometowns and spend time with their extended families, or going back to their roots.

Some people who do not have any caregiving responsibilities may want to become digital nomads.

Other people who used to travel constantly, may take advantage of enjoying their homes and staying put for a while.

Whatever it is, it should be aligned with our needs and wishes.

[worker-wellbeing]

Sick of it: your job may impact your physical health more than you think

Written by Alyssa Birnbaum.

You might have some knots in your shoulders and a stiff neck after churning through a big work deliverable or working around the clock to finish a report for your boss, but did you realize the extent that work-related stress can make you feel physically sick? 

When employees feel threatened or experience a stressful situation, their bodies activate a series of internal fight-or-flight responses that increases their pulse rates, blood pressure, sweating, and more. In turn, they may suffer from a range of symptoms, including backache, headache, eyestrain, poor sleep, dizziness, exhaustion, increased or decreased appetite, and gastrointestinal problems.  

In 2011, a team of researchers compiled 79 research studies that linked job stress to physical symptoms to see if there were any common trends. They found that every job-related stressor that they studied was related to detrimental physical symptoms. The four most prominent work-related sources of stress include 1) organizational constraints, when employees feel that they can’t get their work done because there are things in their way, like not having the right materials or information to complete their tasks, 2) role conflict, or receiving conflicting or inconsistent information related to the work that needs to get done, 3) heavy workload, and 4) interpersonal conflict between employees and their coworkers or managers. 

The researchers also noticed that the most common physical symptoms related to work stress are the symptoms that occur most immediately in our body: poor sleep and gastrointestinal problems. However, because poor sleep is also related to other physical symptoms that you can experience (like headaches), more research needs to be conducted to figure out how much sleep on its own is a by-product of job-related stress. 

Overall, these findings confirm that work-stress can make you physically sick.

Original article: Nixon, A.E., Mazzola, J. J., Bauer, J., Spector, P. E., & Krueger, J. (2011). Can work make you sick?: A meta-analysis of job stressor-physical symptom relationships. Work & Stress, 25(1), 1-22.

[worker-wellbeing]

Incivility: The hidden harassment poisoning your office, and how you can stop it in its track

Written by Alyssa Birnbaum.

When a manager slaps her employee across the face and calls him an “blubbering idiot,” it’s pretty clear that this is a blatantly illegal form of harassment. But what about when an employee rolls his eyes at his coworker, or a single employee doesn’t get invited to lunch with the rest of the team? This low-intensity form of deviance is called incivility. It’s a subtle form of harassment that can be verbal, passive, and indirect, and may not even be intended to harm anyone else but can still be interpreted as offensive or disheartening. 

While incivility may not be illegal, its ramifications can be harmful for the entire organization. It can corrode the company culture, decrease productivity, performance, motivation, creativity, and helping behaviors, and tends to spiral and impact others when people notice the incivility and pay it forward. 

Pearson and Porath conducted a series of studies about incivility and compiled some of their highlights in 2005. Among their findings, they noticed that men are more likely to instigate incivility or react aggressively. Women, who tend to be more conflict-averse, react by trying to cope in different ways, either relying on social support or avoiding the person who first slighted them. 

Another interesting finding is that the targets of incivility tended to have a lower status than the person who perpetuated it. The researchers noticed that people with more power in an organization tend to have more ways to get away with incivility, perhaps because they have more competence or access to more power. However, that doesn’t mean that those with less power don’t react in a harmful way; they tend to find more covert or minute ways to show they’re upset, or they’ll find ways to punish the organization instead. 

Given their findings, the researchers came up with 9 recommendations for organizations to prevent and eliminate incivility:

Set 0 tolerance expectations for those who display incivility towards others

Take an honest look in the mirror, paying careful attention to how people perceive your actions 

Weed out trouble before it enters the organization, hiring people in-line with your values

Teach civility

Put your ear to the ground and listen carefully

When incivility occurs, hammer it right away

Heed warning signals, being conscious to pay attention to anyone speaking up

Don’t make excuses for powerful instigators

Invest in exit-interviews to find out why people are leaving and whether incivility exists in your company

Practicing and instilling these actions can help create a more civil work environment and can have immensely positive implications for your organization.  

Original article: Pearson, C., & Christine, L. (2005). On the nature, consequences and remedies of workplace incivility: No time for “nice”? think again. The Academy of Management Executive (1993-2005), 19(1), 7-18.

[worker-wellbeing]

Where have you been? Psychological distress predicts absence from work

Written by Taylor Kimball 

A 2003 study suggests that experiencing higher levels of psychological distress results in a greater number of absences taken from work.

Psychological distress refers to general feelings of unhappiness, depression, and anxiety and is a potent emotional state that is closely tied with mental health. When people are experiencing psychological distress, they focus on the negatives in their lives which often leads to withdrawal behaviors, such as absence from work.

The study collected information from 323 staff members across four National Health Service Trusts in the United Kingdom and found that psychological distress, in the form of anxiety and/or depression, led to an increase in absences from work. Specifically, when employees were experiencing depression their time taken off work was most likely to increase. In fact, experiences of depression were so predictive of employee absence that they fully accounted for the effect of other psychological distress symptoms, such as anxiety.

Who does this help? As an employer, understanding patterns of employee absences can be the first step toward implementing empathetic solutions and policies to help promote the best work from your employees. If you are experiencing symptoms of psychological distress that are impacting your presence at work, you are not alone! Seek support from your organization through flexible work hours, extended time off, benefits that support therapy or counseling, or directly addressing the cause of work-related distress.

Disclaimer: Because of the contrasting nature of work in the United Kingdom versus the United States, these results are not necessarily cross-culturally generalizable.

Original Article:

Hardy, G. E., Woods, D., & Wall, T. D. (2003). The impact of psychological distress on absence from work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 306-314.

[worker-wellbeing]

Flipping follow-the-leader on its end – do followers impact leaders?

Written by Megan Benzing

Much has been written on the impact that leaders have on followers, including management style, favoritism, and emotional intelligence. An often-overlooked relationship, however, is the influence that a follower can have on a leader. A recent paper by Wirtz and colleagues investigates how followers’ emotional exhaustion and work engagement impacts the leader.

The phenomena explored in this paper is called crossover, which occurs when the emotional state of one person affects the emotional state of another, or in this case, when a follower’s emotional exhaustion, or engagement, potentially affects their leader. 

In this particular study, 75 leaders and 342 followers from a myriad of industries in Germany and Sweden were surveyed twice over 8 months. What they found was that followers’ levels of work engagement directly crossed over to leader’s work engagement over time. Therefore, in organizations where team members feel absorbed in and invigorated by their work, leaders would be positively impacted.

But what about emotional exhaustion? This relationship ended up being more nuanced than that of work engagement. Only in the cases where leaders possessed high emotional self-efficacy did followers’ emotional exhaustion crossover. Leaders’ who feel competent in understanding their emotions and the emotions of others may be more likely to detect negative emotions in their followers and be negatively impacted by them. This becomes an interesting conundrum, as it is often touted that leaders should have high emotional intelligence. However, there seems to be a potential dark side to leader emotional self-efficacy, and we need further research to assess where the line may be for leaders.

Overall, this study is a good first step in empirically researching the health outcomes for leaders and a positive finding in that work engagement can potentially be transferable from followers to leaders.

The original research article is: Wirtz, N., Rigotti, T., Otto, K., & Loeb, C. (20 17). What about the leader? Crossover of emotional exhaustion and work engagement from followers to leaders. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22 (1), 86-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000024

[worker-wellbeing]

Do stress management interventions work? Focus on the emotions,... or the problem

Written by Megan Bezing.

Work places a lot of demands on employees and its common for these demands to result in stress. Organizations look for ways to counteract employee stress to reduce potential absenteeism or turnover, and in doing so, might turn to stress management interventions (SMIs). Two main types of SMIs include emotion-focused and problem-focused, stemming from previous work on different types of coping styles. Both types of SMIs have been shown to improve employee outcomes and previous research has explored the reason behind their success.

In 2000, Bond and Bunce did an experimental study with a social media company where employees where either enrolled in a problem-focused SMI, an emotion-focused SMI, or put on a wait list (the control group). The problem-focused SMI utilized was the Innovation Promotion Program (IPP), where employees are encouraged to try and change the stressors in their workplace directly, rather than change their emotions toward the stressors. The emotion-focused SMI utilized was Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), where employees are trained to accept undesirable thoughts and feelings (i.e. stress) that occur due to unalterable work circumstances.

Employees participated in three SMI sessions and were asked to report on their general mental health, depression levels, job satisfaction, job motivation, and propensity to innovate at four different time points. Bond and Bunce found that both types of SMIs positively impacted depression levels and employees’ propensity to innovate, while the emotion-focused SMI also improved employees’ general mental health. Interestingly, neither SMI increased job motivation nor job satisfaction.

The goal of this study, however, was to discover the underlying mechanism of why the SMIs work – and they found it. Bond and Bunce found that the emotion-focused ACT acted as it claimed and increased the acceptance of undesirable thoughts and feelings within employees. This increased acceptance enabled employees to be more likely to look for ways to innovate and feel more mentally healthy. The problem-focused IPP altered employees’ attitudes toward their work environment, methods, and procedures and helped them to see how they could be agents of their stress through innovatively modifying work stressors.

These SMIs achieved their stated goals within this organization and through their effectiveness, employees’ well-being improved. Next time you are trying to decide on an intervention in your organization, ACT or IPP could be a good investment.

The original research article is: Bond, F. W., & Bunce, D. (2000). Mediators of change in emotion-focused and problem-focused worksite stress management interventions. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 156–163. https://doi-org.ccl.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/1076-8998.5.1.156

[worker-wellbeing]

Occupational Callings: Why having none can be better than the unanswered one

Written by Emily Zavala.

In recent years there has been an upsurge in finding meaning in our work and engage in occupations that are personally rewarding, enjoyable and a central part of our identity. Research suggests that participating in meaningful work is associated with positive life, job and health related outcomes. Pursuing an occupational calling is one way of finding meaning. Those who can fulfill their occupational calling increase their psychological health, physical wellbeing, work engagement, job involvement, career commitment, life and work satisfaction, as well lower their intentions to quit their jobs. In contrast, research has shown those who are unable to pursue their occupational calling encounter the opposite, but what about those with no vocational calling?

In a study by Gazica and Specter, published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, 321 faculty members from 36 public universities in the United States were surveyed to assess the differences between those with answered, unanswered and no occupational callings. The study aligned with current research that faculty members with an answered calling had positive experiences in all life, job and health related outcomes when compared to those with an unanswered calling. However, when compared to faculty with no occupational callings, no differences were found between the two groups in terms of physical and work-related psychological strains – anxiety, depression, and irritation. Therefore, those living out their calling may feel better about their occupations, but the strain that accompanies it isn’t relieved, especially compared to those with no calling.    

Partially in line with the study’s expectations, those with no calling did report positive levels in most life, job and health related outcomes when compared to faculty with an unanswered calling, however, no differences were found in job involvement and irritation. To explain these findings, researchers draw upon the Self-determination Theory, which proposes that those with no calling can still meet their three basic psychological needs – competency, relatedness and autonomy – in their current occupations, and, in turn, experience psychological growth, functioning and wellbeing.

In short, those who have the opportunity to live out their calling in life are fortunate and can definitely reap the benefits that come with it. But it appears that having no calling in life can still produce positive outcomes and might not be such a bad thing after all. In fact, having an unanswered calling might be more detrimental to your health. So, don’t feel pressured to find one.

Original research article:

Gazica, M. W. & Spector, P.E. (2015). A comparison of individual with unanswered callings to those with no calling at all. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 91, 1-10.