Do you enjoy going to work?  If the answer is Yes, you are fortunate.  For many, with the increasing work pressure of modern society, work is an unpleasant experience.  However, an initiative of the American Psychological Association (APA) is providing tools through the Psychologically Healthy Workplace (PHW) Award Program that provide incentives to help remedy the situation.  The Award, given at the state level, recognizes those workplaces which contribute to the psychological health of employees, rather than the reverse.

In a national public opinion poll conducted by the American Psychological Association, two-thirds of both men and women say work has a significant impact on their stress level, and one in four has called in sick or taken a “mental health day” as a result of work stress.  Also a significant concern for employers, job stress is estimated to cost U.S. industry $300 billion a year in absenteeism, diminished productivity, employee turnover and direct medical, legal and insurance fees.  Minimizing workplace stress plays a significant role in the employee retention equation as organizations look to optimize their human capital.

The Society of Consulting Psychology (Div. 13) is interested in supporting this APA initiative and is doing its part in promoting the initiative objectives. A new standing committee chaired by Dr. Virginia Mullin has been created by President Debra Robinson to ensure that health at the workplace is adequately addressed. Two persons closely associated with furthering the concept of the psychologically healthy workplace were interviewed for this article:  Dr. David Ballard (DB) and Dr. Matt Grawitch (MG).

What are the elements of a psychologically healthy workplace?
DB:  A psychologically healthy workplace is committed to fostering employee health and well-being while enhancing organizational performance and productivity.  Although there are many different ways to create a psychologically healthy workplace, the practices that help create a positive work environment can generally be grouped into five categories:  employee involvement; work-life balance; employee growth and development; health and safety; and employee recognition.  Collectively, programs and policies in these five areas create a strong, vibrant culture that supports both the organization and its employees.
MG:  There are really 3 key elements of a psychologically healthy workplace: (a) the workplace practices themselves, (b) effective communication, and (c) a supportive context.  A psychologically healthy organization has made strikes in at least some of these areas.  However, the practices themselves will not yield results if the organization provides ineffective means of communicating with employees.  Finally, although an organization may implement psychologically healthy workplace practices and provide effective communication mechanisms, a psychologically healthy workplace only exists when the organizational context supports it.

What suggestions might you have for organizations that are interested in creating a psychologically healthy workplace?
DB:  Any organization, large or small, profit or non-profit, can create a psychologically healthy workplace.  In most cases, this can be accomplished without extraordinary effort or huge capital outlays.  Even when a financial commitment is required, the return on investment from such things as increased productivity and reduced absenteeism and turnover often far outweigh the costs.  An important suggestion is to listen to your workforce.  Create regular opportunities, both formal and informal, for employees to express their attitudes, opinions, needs and concerns related to the workplace.  Also, be sure to involve employees in all stages of developing and implementing workplace practices.  This can increase engagement levels and give employees a sense of ownership.  Involving employees throughout the process helps ensure that the programs are set up in a user-friendly way that will facilitate participation.
MG:  Appropriately assess the current conditions that exist in your organization.  This is especially important as it can save the organization time and money in terms of implementation.  An effective assessment of the current state of the organization can identify (a) areas that need to be addressed by a program, policy, or practice, and (b) possible barriers to implementation.

What are some barriers that you might see that prevent the creation of such a workplace?
DB:  Not involving employees in development and implementation can doom an otherwise excellent program to failure.  When employees feel that their input is not valued or that management is making decisions that effect them without understanding their needs, programs may not only fail to receive employee support, they may also be actively resisted or sabotaged.  Additionally, employees often have important insights and perspectives that may be overlooked without their involvement.  A lack of support from organizational leadership is another huge barrier to success.  To maximize results, management’s words and actions must communicate support for the programs and policies.  Leaders should provide necessary resources, communicate openly with employees and visibly participate in these workplace programs.
MG:  1) A “one size fits all” mentality leads to practices that are copied from other organizations, even if those practices do not fit a particular organizational culture or most directly meet the needs of employees. 2) Lack of attention to both downward and upward communication can be a program killer.  Inconsistent messages regarding support for the program and failure to collect and use data from employees to improve a program will ultimately render the program irrelevant to the organization and its employees.  3) Lack of support from management throughout the organization (not just at the top) can be a huge barrier.  Sometimes, this issue arises because the focus is on improving the quality of work life, rather than explicitly on improving performance.  This is an assumption that pervades management in many organizations even though research indicates that positive effects on the quality of work life and employee health and well-being can have a substantial effect on employee performance, motivation, and quality.

What are the benefits in creating a psychologically healthy workplace?
DB:  Psychologically healthy workplace practices foster employee health and well-being while enhancing organizational performance, thereby benefiting both employees and the organization.  In addition to having a more positive work experience overall, employees can benefit from increased job satisfaction, improvements in physical and mental health, higher morale, and the ability to more effectively manage work stress.  Organizations can benefit from creating a psychologically healthy workplace through increased productivity, reductions in absenteeism and turnover, higher levels of employee engagement and commitment, improvements in work quality, reductions in healthcare costs, lower accident and injury rates, and the ability to attract and retain top-quality employees.  
MG:  There is a strong interrelationship between employee health and well-being and organizational effectiveness.  Some programs, such as total quality management initiatives (an employee involvement practice), specifically target organizational effectiveness but also benefit employees by giving them more autonomy and control.  A key consideration is identifying appropriate employee well-being and organizational effectiveness outcomes for an organization, again ensuring that the desired outcomes of a program fit the context in which those programs are being implemented.

WHAT ARE THE PSYCHOLOGICALLY HEALTHY WORKPLACE AWARDS?
Developed in 1999, The psychologically Healthy Workplace Award program is designed to recognize organizations that make a commitment to programs and policies that foster employee health and well-being while enhancing organizational performance and productivity.  The award program has both state and national-level components.  The state-level award program has been extremely successful, with participation growing to 41 associations across the U.S. and Canada.  Collectively, more than 200 organizations have been recognized at the state level.  The first annual national award will be presented in March 2006.  Since 2003, there is also the Best Practices Honors program highlighting state level winners who have developed particularly innovative programs and policies which contribute to a psychologically healthy workplace environment.

For more information on these awards and for advice in supporting or starting such a program in your state, please contact Dr. Ballard at DBallard@apa.org.

Virginia Mullin, PsyD, ABPP, is a member of the Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award Steering Committee of the BOPN (Business of Practice Network), a standing committee of APA.  She is a newly-elected Member-At-Large for the Society of Consulting Psychology (Div. 13) and is past Treasurer of this organization.  Dr. Mullin is President of Mullin and Associates, a small Chicago-area consultancy specializing in individual and organizational development at the local, national, and international levels.

David Ballard, PsyD, MBA, currently serves as APA’s Assistant Executive Director for Corporate Relations and Business Strategy.  In this capacity, he designs and directs APA Practice Directorate efforts related to psychologically health and well-being in the workplace, including the Psychologically healthy Workplace Award program.  In addition to educating the business community about the role of psychology and working to strengthen psychology’s position in the evolving marketplace, Dr. Ballard provides research and development and strategic consultation to help psychologists build, manage, market and diversify their practices.

Matt Grawitch, PhD, is Assistant Director of Organizational Studies at the School for Professional Studies at Saint Louis University.  He is a member of Div. 13 and has assisted in the development of the national Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award process. He conducts research in the area of the psychologically healthy workplace, workgroup effectiveness, and stress.  He also consults in the areas of stress, strategic survey design, and strategic planning.