wellbeing Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

what is the place of work in our lives?

A
  • occupies a central place in most people’s lives in developed economies
  • finance
  • identity, self-worth, usefulness
    BUT
  • jobs and incomes have become less secure
  • encroaching on family and personal lives
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2
Q

what is physical well-being?

A

“A state of physical well-being is not just the absence of disease. It includes lifestyle behaviour choices to ensure health, avoid preventable diseases and conditions, and to live in a balanced state of body, mind, and spirit”.
American Association of Nurse Anaesthetists website

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3
Q

what is psychological well-being?

A

“A dynamic state, in which the individual is able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others, and contribute to their community”
UK government Foresight report on mental capital and well-being,

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4
Q

why should employers care about wellbeing?

A

Costs of ill-health:15.2 million workdays were lost due to stress, anxiety or depression in 2013 (ONS, 2014) costing just over £1,000 per employee. Back pain alone is estimated to cost the UK economy £12.3 billion per year. (http://www.theworkfoundation.com/Reports/372/

War for Talent: High performing people will be attracted and retained partly by good employer policies for well-being.

Compliance and Risk: Health and safety standards are legally enforceable, employers have been sued for causing undue stress, and accreditation like Investors in People require at least some good practices.
Adapted from Pruyne, Powell & Parsons, (2012)

  • sustaining high performance and high performers
  • creating a well-being culture
  • creating and sustaining an engaged workforce
  • behaving in an ethical and socially responsible way
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5
Q

what are some indicators of wellbeing?

A
  1. low sickness absence (incidence and duration)
  2. low voluntary turnover
  3. low incidence of anxiety, depression
  4. low incidence of chronic health problems such as back pain
  5. low incidence of workaholism
  6. high job satisfaction, engagement, vitality
  7. positive emotions and an absence of negative emotions
  8. good relationships
  9. sense of purpose, initiative, development
  10. sense of work-life balance
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6
Q

what does (Arthur, 2005) say about stress?

A

the term stress “has so many different meanings that it is confusing, elusive, and heard so often its meaning is frequently distorted and its implications taken for granted”.

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7
Q

what is meant by stress?

A

demands exceed our perceived ability to cope
- it is not an illness…it is a state
- BUT if it is excessive and prolonged it can have physical and mental consequences

HSE: “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them.”

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8
Q

explain the performance curve

A

as stress and anxiety levels increase performance increases to a certain point until tipping point when stress and anxiety decrease performance

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9
Q

what are the forms of strain?

A
  • psychological (e.g. general psychological distress, anxiety, depression burnout)
  • physical (e.g. tension headaches, musculoskeletal disorders, high blood pressure, tremors)
  • behavioural (e.g. absenteeism, alcohol misuse, marital conflict)
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10
Q

what are HSE’s management standards on managing stress in the workplace?

A

demands
control
support
role
change
relationships

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11
Q

explain the job demands-job control model

A

high control and high demands - mastery and self-efficacy

low control and high demands - strain

high psychological demands and low decision latitude (skill discretion + decision authority) = stress

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12
Q

what is the work-life balance

A

work = paid employment + related travel
life = family/domestic/social life beyond work

W-L balance = harmony or equilibrium which allows satisfaction of needs in both domains

‘achieving satisfying experiences in all life domains’
(Lyness & Judiesch 2008, p. 789)

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13
Q

what are the causes of WL balance problems?

A
  • promotion/senior positions & expectations of work prioritisation
  • managing ‘dual careers’ within families i.e. both partners desire to pursue career
  • long working hours
  • technology and expectations of continuous availability
  • long working hours
  • demands of work and family/domestic commitments
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14
Q

what are the consequences of work life imbalance?

A

work-related problems
- exhaustion
- stress
- absence
- low commitment & job satisfaction

non-work related problems
- exhaustion
- absence - ‘time poverty’
- stress on non-work relationships

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15
Q

what is the general relationship between work-life balance and dual career couples

A

in marriages/relationships where both partners work, achieving work-life balance and meeting work/non-work goals for both can be challenging

childcare can negatively impact on work & career - taking children to and from school/nursery

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16
Q

what is are the experiences of women with gender & work-life balance

A

work-related
- childcare demands can make working long hours difficult, women more likely to have childcare responsibilities compared to men

‘double burden’
- women who work also generally have more domestic responsibilities than men (childcare, cooking, housework…)

17
Q

what are the positive aspects of work-related mobile technology use: as a tool for w-l boundary management

A
  • provides spatial and temporal flexibility
    allow completion of work tasks at times and locations convenient to worker
  • helps manage ‘absent presence’
    deal with work calls/issues when not at workplace
    deal with family issues when away from home for work
18
Q

what are the negative aspects of work-related mobile technology use: blurring of W-L boundary

A
  • mobile technology use can make WL boundary weak, permeable and flexible
  • Prasapolou et al (2006) found mobile use, ‘creates a temporal order with increasingly random structural properties which prevents people from drawing definite temporal boundaries around their activities’
  • ‘perpetual contact’ and inability to escape from work
19
Q

what is meant by mobile communication technologies & ‘intensification’

A
  • mobile technology use can lead to ‘speed up’ or ‘intensification’ of communication
    wide range of information/communication sources - email, phone, IM, Skype
  • people feel pressure to respond constantly and quickly to electronic messages
  • general increase in quantity of messages people receive
  • reduced response times
20
Q

what is resilience?

A

“The ability to mitigate the effects of stress i.e. factors such as emotional, cognitive, physiological, behavioural responses to work, the work environment or the organisations”
EU Guidance on Work-related Stress, (2000)

21
Q

what are characteristics of resilient individuals?

A
  • cope well with change or misfortune
  • regain balance
  • persist in the face of adversity and misfortune
  • self-aware (of strengths and weaknesses)
  • confidence in the ability to persevere developed partly through experiences of adversity
  • resilient persons experience the same difficulties and stressors as anyone BUT have learned from them
22
Q

what is a facilitative environment?

A
  • a setting or context that fosters the development of psychological resilience
23
Q

what are characteristics of a facilitative environment

A
  • nurture trust
  • understand workload
  • encourage autonomy
  • create a culture of ‘having a go’
  • reduce micro-managing
  • encourage personal growth and self-development
  • clear expectations in line with organisational objectives
24
Q

what are other organisational activities to improve employee well-being

A
  • flexible working
  • working from home
  • maternity/paternity leave
  • childcare facilities
  • more common in public sector and large companies
  • were regulation is low private sector orgs aren’t filling the gap
  • flexibility is usually offered on the employers terms, for their benefit
25
Q

what can employers do for well-being?

A
  • exercise classes and facilities
  • therapists & health experts
  • stop smoking/weight loss classes
  • job (and work station) design
  • absence recording and monitoring and return to work programmes