Workplace well-being initiatives don't boost employee mental health
Workplace well-being initiatives don't boost employee mental health
The mental health of people who undertake mindfulness or meditation courses offered by their employer is generally no better than those who are not offered such programmes
My workplace recently started doing a "Path to the Weekend" initiative. This is a mandatory meeting held at 5pm on a Friday for an hour about every month, where we have to have extroverted style discussions such as "tell us about 2 new things you accomplished in your personal life since the last meeting.".
It's hell.
The director of my department just announced a new initiative starting this year for something similar.
Once a month, we now have a two hour meeting where we need to prep and present a five slide PowerPoint to our peers. The slides are focused on project status, work accomplishments, personal development, a life update, and mandatory feedback given to one of our peers in front of the group.
So not only am I forced to share details of my private life to a bunch of people that I hate in a fucking PowerPoint, I have to single someone out with one thing they’re doing well and one thing they can improve.
Y'all need unions lol
"I managed to continue taking my antidepressants and I didn't kill myself despite my suicidal ideations since the last meeting!
I hope those are good enough accomplishments. "
"My personal life is personal."
That sounds awful. My job thankfully knows I’m a privacy nut and they respect that. They don’t need to know what I do in my me time and when they think they do I explain the concept of linux so I don’t have to explain the concept of being heavily involved in my local bdsm community.
.... What the fuck?
Tone deaf AF
We used to hold an unofficial after hours on Fridays, not mandatory, where we'd shoot the shit, sometimes about work, sometimes about outside work. It was mostly to decompress after the week with a drink or two. It was effective at bringing everyone together but it only worked because it was optional and a relaxed environment. Mandatory fun doesn't work.
Beatings will continue until morale improves
Here, have a slice of pizza.
My boss bought me pizza once! It wasn't as good as the pizzas I used to buy myself, but who can afford non-work-pizza anymore?
I think work-pizza is making my teeth hurt, but my ex-dentist is all like "tell your job to pay me."
Hey, do any of y'all wake up crying, too? My boss says it's allergies in my home; my boss is so nice, they'll even let me stay at work extra-long so I don't have to deal with my home-allergies and they only need me to do extra work without telling anyone in exchange!
Anyway, I don't love work-pizza, but it's better than waking up crying!
Whoops! Another tooth fell out... I bet the new ones are gonna look beautiful when they grow back in like my boss said they will.
either because they hadn’t been offered them or because they didn’t take their company up on the offer
Are they talking about the "Get fired for depression" button on the company website that no one presses because entering in all your personal info is the oppsite of anonymous?
Worst misclick of your life hitting this thing.
Also: This survey is completely anonymous, please don't share this unique link though.
Ha. One time I started getting burned out at a job that was not what I expected and then got depressed, which made things even worse for me at work. Had never dealt with depression for and didn't recognize it. But I figured it out before too long and entered treatment. Went to my boss and said hey I know my performance hasnt been as great as we hoped, turns out I've been depressed and I'm now getting help, already feeling better. Told them, I'm going to take a couple weeks of the (many weeks) of vacation time I had just to try and refresh a bit. The week before I left one of the bosses asked to review an assignment and then proceeded to give me like five rounds of extensive notes and markup. She had never done so before and in fact had the opposite problem, of not giving enough feedback. Well, obviously I didn't have time to finish the assignment before I left because she had me changing things and then changing them back and then changing them again. I left the next day as scheduled and got on a plane. The day I returned to the office they fired me for not finishing the assignment, one month to the day I told them I was starting treating.
Especially if your company operates their wellness programs through a third-party (as they should), you are protected by HIPAA and numerous other regulations. You should make use of the mental health resources available or you are throwing away money or your own mental health due to paranoia. I use my company's EAP all the time for counseling (autism, depression, anxiety, etc) and participate in the other wellness BS for the small cash rewards I get for doing so. I have not had an issue for well over half a decade, because the company would get maaaajorly sued for prying, and is actually incapable of doing so because these services are 3rd party.
American business are well known for following the laws, especially around privacy And discrimination . /s
Just enter wrong information.
It is what I do whenever a website asks for that info when they clearly do not need it.
In my experience these things are always a box-checking exercise to justify some useless person's job. As others are pointing out, participation can backfire because now the bosses know you have personal problems. (Everyone has personal problems, but formal admission will be punished in our toxic work-always-comes-first culture.)
It's a shame, because such programs administered in good faith could truly help people. But helping workers is never the real objective. It's only for the optics. "Look, we did a thing to address this".
Ok but also just like pay for me to have therapy and/or let me go spend time with people I actually like. I don’t really want wellness initiatives, I’d take more care of myself if I had more time to
Every minute you’re at work you’re under their control - and we all know how much management likes to give up control. If employees could be chained to their desks they’d do it in a heartbeat for “revenue and efficiency improvements”.
"What's this about liking actual people outside of work? Does that mean you don't like your coworkers? That sounds like you're not much of a team player. We'll have to note this in your permanent record."
Those are the wellness initiatives at my work. Taking vacation and stepping away is encouraged, so is using your sick time to go to the doctor. I've never taken part in the third party therapy stuff, but it's offered and free to employees & their families
But I realize that isn't the norm.
I like (most of) the people I work with, and my boss is pleasant, sane, and reasonable. That does more than any bullshit “well-being initiative” ever could.
They know. But that sort of work environment takes planning, good leadership, and broader company values than just short-term profit. So it's far easier and cheaper to throw you the occasional pizza party, company T-shirt, and 10% off mental health services.
Even just a little bubble of sanity in an otherwise dysfunctional workplace can be tolerable, even rewarding, so long as your boss does a good job protecting you. Like a culture silo
The irony is that a work environment like yours is more likely to have better well-being initiatives than a toxic work environment where such initiatives would be more used.
Its almost as though our horrible corporate culture and financial insecurity can't be solved by cynically implementing said programs 🤷♂️
Raise our wages and our bills will be paid, and our mental health will get better
Also stop forcing people to commute into the office. We were happier at home.
Yeah bruh, why the fuck would i want to engage with work in any way beyond the engagement that i tolerate because they bribe me?
It used to be a community in which you spent a lot of your time connecting with people around you, making life long relationships. They're trying fixes that just don't fit the new world order any longer
Nah just let me kill time til I can go home please
Yeah! Downvote me ignorant bitches! Never had friends at work? Work for a decent human that paid you well and took care of your family? Right, let's speak broadly and radicalize those business owners into late stage dehumanizing capitalism. Fuckin babies on lemmy
This is why work-from-home is superior. No one ever sends me follow-up on why I didn't do $dumb_corporate_shit this week.
I dunno, I get $25 every quarter for wearing the same pedometer I did before I worked there. 4 extra wellness days each year, which are basically extra paid holidays that you don't have family obligations tied to. Learning budgets to get me certifications on their dime. Month long paid sebatical after 3 years every 3 years.
Some wellness programs are alright. If the company actually means it.
If the company actually means it
There's the key phrase. I've worked at 5 different places during my professional career. Not once has any "wellness seminar," "wellness week," or wellness-what-have-you has been as fruitful as you're describing.
I've never gotten a wellness day nor a bonus for wearing a pedometer or being active in any manner. At absolute best, in all the places I've worked, I went to an optional meeting that had an interesting breathing exercise. But the rest of the meeting was dumb fluff like "don't work more than 40 hours," "tell your lead that you are over stressed," "don't spend money on stuff you can't afford."
Absolute worst case scenario so far, a week of mandatory 1 hour meetings each day required from HR. Every day was repeating the same garbage as above and could've just been an email. Also, even though HR requires the meetings, your manager still requires 40hrs of "project effort." Meaning required overtime. I did not stay long at this job.
Something like what you are describing would be a breath of fresh air.
We had a wellness seminar at one point, mandatory. There was an excercise where we stood in a circle and threw a ball around. During cold and flu season. Some of us expressed concern, and were ignored. Entire group got sick and took a bunch of sick days. How's that for wellness?
Damn that sounds nice
free subscription to some meditation app?
employee mental health well-being is secured!
What in the infinite universes is a meditation app????
It is an app that tells you to breathe more slowly and features jungle sounds fx.
Here’s a solution: Nationalize all major industries.
Perfect! I'd been looking for an easy way to get rid of both the baby and the bathwater.
Have you tried rampant, unchecked capitalism? You can get a lot of money for both those things in the right circles.
Worked great for the postal service!
You can thank republicans for crippling the USPS.
Aaahhhh nothing like a bozo mid level manager Karen deciding that we'd all be so much happier if we'd do these stupid ass corporate retreats where we all have to do mind numbingly stupid games like blindfold a group, hold eachother, and they all blindly have to follow the leader. I'd lead the entire group into a swirling river and teach the fuckers the real lesson.
Sorry, but this shit pisses me off.
Here we have mid level manager karen2 deciding she is a psychologist because she watched a YouTube video about sharing so now we're going to obligatory share about our personal lives every Monday morning to increase productivity!
I'm not going "kill me now" but I might be tempted to "kill you now" with that nonsense.
I helped organize Friday afternoon parties at one of the last companies I worked at and we made fucking sure it was just a nice get together. We got beers, snacks, drinks, good music and you could come and stay or not, whatever, it was just a nice activity focussed on just actually honestly being nice, and THAT actually improved bonds between people, started friendships, improved office ambiance... It got me my wife!
Next I want to see a study of these annoying wellness progroms that take basic health info and then shove healthy behavior down your throat.
It took me a while to figure it out but I ignore all that crap now.
What I do think would actually be helpful is assistance buying health club memberships or exercise equipment. A bike helps me be healthier. Nagging does not.
Or, better yet, take your health information then lose it all in a security breach you won't hear about until years later (hi Anthem!)
All for a measly $25 credit for health expenses that you have up jump through 8 hoops to actually get
I think we will see companies increasingly focus their hiring based on emotional intelligence and mental health.
Emotional intelligence is a four fold better predictor of academic and financial success, family stability.
I used to think being smart was enough if you're looking for a good worker.
I realize now there are plenty of smart people who failed to launch and are perpetually bouncing from job to job every few years, not usually on their own accord.
This is just a furthering of class divide. Those who are poorer have little to no access to mental health services and are generally more prone to be victims to mental health issues.
Not to mention a continued pressure on neurodivergent individuals just trying to exist in this world through no real fault of their own.
Yeah, fuck those people who were born different.
It's the thing that bothers me about the obligatory 1-on-1s we do every month with our supervisors, asking "On a scale from 1 to 10, what's your stress level? Are you dealing with any personal issues?" And the one time I pipe up and say, "Yeah, they raised my rent $300 and it's putting strain on my budget." The response was "Do you know anyone who could move in or that you could move in with to alleviate that?" I haven't gotten a raise in two years. Fuck this shit. Don't act like you care.
Absolutely. Also, if you admit to being stressed you are considered incapable of handling the work and could end up sacked.
ShockedPikachuFace.jpg
Workers: How about this? Better salary, fewer hours.
Big execs: Noooooo ANYTHING BUT THAT! 😭
"But paying you more doesn't increase our mental well-being!"
#1 thing that improves worker mental health is not being at work...
I run my own small business. I complained to my boss about burnout, but it was me, so I'm fucked. ;)
Maybe you should implement a wellness program.
This is what I told my friends and family when I started my business. I had just left a very toxic workplace that was full of verbal and emotional abuse at the very top. I said now when my boss yells at me I can tell them to fuck off and I won't get fired for it!
I didn't read the article, but from my experience, if you're inundated by workload then you won't have time for extracurriculars.
HR surprised us with a thing.
"We've been studying some and found that having a 3-day weekend, totally disconnected from work, is great for your mental health.
From now on, you get a paid Monday or Friday off every month. Work it out with your manager/team, but this is mandatory. And no, this does not count against your normal PTO."
Yeah. 12 days off, paid. On top of our generous PTO plan.
If you're bitching about your job/capitalism/greed/whatever, I have some advice. Work hard, learn new skills, accomplish new things, hang in a year or three, upgrade your resume, upgrade jobs. Rinse and repeat until satisfied.
That's literally impossible. You cannot stuff 8 billion human beings into the few positions that give this. Your comment smacks of elitism where the wealthy deserve mental well being and the poor deserve nothing.
Not so much, he basically got lucky
What the fuck is your point?
They got theirs, fuck everyone else. That's their point.
I did that, I am better off. I know that is not feasable for everyone, somebody has got to still do the shit jobs. The least we could do is cut the crap out so only the actual work sucks.
Oh it is also absolute hell to upskill yourself when you go home tired everyday and have hardly any time to "improve" youself.