Mental health is an important part of a psychologically healthy workplace, but the concept is broader than that, according to David W. Ballard, PsyD, MBA, APA's assistant executive director for organizational excellence.
"A psychologically healthy workplace is one where the organization puts programs and policies in place that both enhance the well-being of the workforce and promote the performance and success of the organization," he told participants at the Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards ceremony at the State Leadership Conference in March. He cited practices focused on employee involvement, health and safety, employee growth and development, work-life balance and employee recognition.
Such practices pay off, he added. This year's award winners report an average employee turnover rates of just 7 percent compared with the national average of 38 percent, for example.
Finding ways to nourish employees' inner work lives is a key element of a psychologically healthy workplace, said keynote speaker Teresa Amabile, PhD, co-author of the 2011 book "The Progress Principle" and a professor at Harvard Business School.
Mostly hidden and unobservable, the inner work life is a combination of workers' perceptions about what happens at work and what it means, their emotional reactions to what's happening and their motivation or drive to do their work, Amabile explained. To uncover the secrets of inner work life, she and her colleagues asked employees in three industries to submit confidential electronic diary entries each day for five months.
The 12,000 diary entries that resulted produced several lessons, Amabile said. The first discovery was that when employees reported the most positive perceptions, emotions and motivation, they were most likely to be creative, productive and most committed to both the work and being better colleagues — an effect that carried over to the next day regardless of how they felt that day.
The factor that contributed most to positive inner work life, the researchers found, was making progress on meaningful work. Also important is progress on small, incremental steps. While it's important to have big, audacious goals, said Amabile, "you need to set up incremental goals to get there so that people have more opportunity to experience small wins."
Two factors are especially important when it comes to helping employees make progress, Amabile said. One is catalysts, including clear goals, autonomy in how to achieve those goals, sufficient resources, an open flow of ideas, opportunities to learn from mistakes and sufficient time to finish the work.
"We discovered that the optimal level of time pressure for creative productivity is a low to moderate level," said Amabile. "There should be enough that people know there's urgency and a need for the work but not so much that people have no time to think or explore more creative solutions."
Also important are what Amabile calls "nourishers," which include respect and recognition of employees, encouragement and emotional support and opportunities for employees to get to know and trust each other.
All this seems obvious, Amabile admitted. But when she and her team surveyed more than 700 managers around the world and asked them to rank various employee motivators, progress in work came dead last.
"We know from our research that progress in work is the No. 1 factor keeping people motivated in their work," said Amabile. "But managers don't understand what a difference it can make for people to make even small wins."
Award winners
Four organizations won 2014 Psychologically Healthy Workplace awards for having a comprehensive set of workplace practices designed to meet the needs of both employees and organizations:
- Certified Angus Beef of Ohio has created a comprehensive wellness program for employees, with free gym memberships, an onsite wellness coach and a monthly visit from a clinical psychologist who provides stress management sessions plus free one-on-one appointments on company time.
- St. Luke's Hospital emphasizes safety for both patients and employees. Thanks in part to its Safety Committee, Employee Health Committee and Safe Patient Handling Committee, the Minnesota hospital has seen the cost of its worker's compensation claims plummet from more than $1 million in 2006 to less than $200,000 in 2010.
- Tasty Catering switched from a "command-and-control" management hierarchy to a culture-based leadership model in 2006, asking an employee-run council to develop culture statements laying out core values and other key concepts for the Chicago-area company. The company operates a Tasty Catering University to encourage employee development and keeps employees abreast of the company's cash position, sales comparisons and other information via a weekly newsletter.
- University of Southern California, the largest private employer in the Los Angeles area, demonstrates its commitment to employees through its 60-member Staff Assembly, professional development programs and comprehensive employee wellness program, among other benefits.
Three organizations were 2014 Best Practices honorees, recognized for a single exemplary policy or program:
- Beach Cities Health District, a wellness agency delivering preventive health programs to southern California communities, created a Thrive to 5 Challenge to motivate employees to complete at least five wellness-related activities in a three-month period.
- Framework, a Stamford, Conn.-based management consultancy, takes a strengths-based approach to employee growth and development. Managers assign employees to projects that match their strengths as well as their interests and desire for new opportunities, and jobs evolve to meet employees' developmental needs.
- Porter-Starke Services, a community mental health center with offices in three Indiana towns, launched The Inspiration Project as a morale-booster. Modeled on the popular 1950s radio show This I Believe, the project encourages employees to write and share essays about the personal beliefs that guide their lives.
Rebecca A. Clay is a journalist in Washington, D.C.