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The Wellness Syndrome at WorkProfessor André SpicerCass Business School
Biomorality
Being healthy and happy makes you into a morally good person, being unhealthy and unhappy makes you into a moral failure
● Improving individual wellness● By maximizing health and happiness ● Becomes increasingly compulsory● Morally praising those who 'succeed' ● Stigmatising those who 'fail' ● But this often back fires● Making people unhealthier and unhappier
Happiness at Work
What we usually hear
Happy employees are– Less likely to take time off – Less likely to quit– More likely to engage in pro-social behaviour– More likely to provide better customer service– More productive?
What we don't hear
● Demands to be happy at work can be:– Exhausting – Prompt over-reactions by employees– Drain personal life of emotion– Make people more vulnerable – Prompt people to take greater risks – Make them more selfish– Make people feel lonely – Make them feel less happy
Health at Work
What we usually hear
● Healthier employees– Have lower insurance costs – Are more productivity – Have lower rates of absenteeism – Lead to lower compensation costs
What we don't hear
● When offered, there is low take up of wellness initiatives
● People who participate drop out ● When they continue, the results are modest● But they can be experienced as invasive● Stretched working day● Feelings of infantalisation● Prompted a sense of guilt and anxiety for employees● Place managers in a awkward position of being a life
coach
Hidden Logic of Wellness at Work
● Many organisations have invest in employee wellness
● Some of this is based on pseudo-science● Which result in nice anecdotal results ● But often disappointing actual results ● And some unintended consequences ● Which at times actually make employees less
healthy
So what, what should we do?
What I am not saying
● Cut all wellness initiatives● Create unhealthy and dangerous workplace● Make employees miserable● Disregard well founded evidence on wellbeing
What we should consider
● How does structure of work undermine wellness?● How do workplaces equip people to be resilient?● How can we help people to set and pursue realistic
goals?● How can we help to remove pressures from people's
work?● What about those outside the core employee body?● What is the appropriate relationship between work and
private life?
