This archive report was first published on 17 October 2021.
Published on October 17, 2021, a new employer toolkit from MIT Sloan and Harvard University researchers is challenging the traditional view that improving worker health and well-being is solely the responsibility of the employee.
The toolkit, designed by MIT Sloan professor Erin Kelly and Meg Lovejoy of the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies, takes a more holistic approach by reframing poor worker well-being as a treatable symptom of an unhealthy work environment.
By giving employees more control over their work, cutting back on excessive work demands, and improving social relationships in the workplace, managers can learn how to support worker well-being and build a healthy workplace culture.
According to the co-authors, healthy employees have fewer healthcare expenses, are more productive, and have lower rates of absenteeism and turnover.
The five parts of the toolkit include:
- Overview — Work Design for Health: A Promising Approach to Worker Well-Being
- Work Design Principle 1: Give employees more control over their work
- Work Design Principle 2: Tame excessive work demands
- Work Design Principle 3: Improve social relationships in the workplace
- Plan and Implement a Work-Design-for-Health
