FINANCIAL TIMES: Employers embrace workplace wellbeing

Press/Media: Expert comment

Period9 May 2022

Media contributions

1

Media contributions

  • TitleEmployers embrace workplace wellbeing
    Media name/outletFinancial Times
    Media typeWeb
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    Date9/05/22
    DescriptionCary Cooper, a professor of organisational psychology at Manchester university, says rigorous studies are rare. It can be difficult to define, implement and measure standardised interventions, with academics and businesses alike reluctant to invest the time and costs required. “Organisational researchers feel they can’t get work on them published and employers don’t want to waste time doing them,” he says.

    His own research, backed by discussions with the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Work, a network of senior UK executives that he oversees, points to the need to tackle the underlying structural reasons for employee stress, frequently rooted in poor management practices.

    He argues that reduced workplace stress and improved productivity is linked to factors including autonomy, a sense of purpose among staff and empathetic management.

    “It’s all about the line manager — from the shop floor to the top floor,” he says. “They need to have interpersonal, social and empathetic skills. But we promote them today based on technical expertise. In the world we are going to, there has to be parity of people skills and technical skills for managers.”
    URLhttps://www.ft.com/content/f9b30353-3089-4081-ae75-c1170c9bd4db?FTCamp=engage/CAPI/webapp/Channel_Moreover//B2B
    PersonsCary Cooper

Keywords

  • workplace wellbeing