The Bad Apple, or, An Apple A Day?
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Poor health can lead to poor mood and morale.
I was recently listening to an episode of This American Life titled, "Ruining It For The Rest of Us" where
they featured stories about how easily one person's behavior can have a contaminating effect on others. One particularly haunting story covered
the research of Will Felps,
a professor at Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands, who
placed a confederate in a group and observed the impact that this "bad
apple" had on the rest of the group. In nearly every case the influence of even one spoiler tarnished the productivity and the morale of the group by as much as forty percent!!!
One thing that the researchers in Felps' study didn't look at, however, is that poor health can impact mood. Could an apple a day and a brief jaunt outdoors help the bad apple get his mood back on track?
Or could workplace health and wellness be a protective means of coping
for those who might otherwise be affected by a bad apple?
How do health and mood interact
in your workplace? Have you seen an instance where a bad apple lowered
the productivity of a work group and subsequently led to more sick days
or a reluctance of team members to show up for work?
When an apple a day beats out the bad apple »
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Do As I Say And Not As I Do?
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Managers and culture can impact wellness' success.
Could research in ethics and management shed any light on the impact that culture can play with regards to wellness?
Studies have shown that management behavior influences workplace ethics. A Deloitte and Touche study showed that among working adults, the behavior of management (42%) and that of direct supervisors (36%) were considered the
the top two factors contributing to the promotion of an ethical
workplace. Ethics training ranked much lower (16%) as a factor.
Others studies have shown that corporate codes of conduct and the degree of "implementation strength and embeddedness" of such codes seems to deter self-reported unethical behavior in employees.
If it works for ethics can it work for wellness?
If corporate code and management conduct are so influential when it comes to ethics, could their example also improve workplace health and productivity? A new body of studies in health promotion seem to point in that direction.
An article published in the Journal of Occupational And Environmental Medicine, looked at nine quality components of worksite health management programs and compared the results of those programs between best practice and common practice organizations. Best practice organizations showed higher levels of program engagement than common practice organizations and were 1-2.3 times more likely to see population health improve.
Everyone wants to be the best
So what are some of the distinguishing characteristics of best in class programs?
- Comprehensive program design
- Integrated incentives
- Comprehensive communications
- Management support
- Dedicated onsite staff
- Multiple program modalities
- Health awareness programs
- Biometrics health screenings
- Vendor integration
The first step in really showing the value of any wellness program is always to form a cogent plan, make the case to management and then to execute that plan with enough discipline and flexibility to achieve results. It's no small job, but what worth doing is?
Have the will but lacking the way? Recess can help. » |
