"Organizational solutions" are gaining traction in conversations about employee wellbeing.
Organizational solutions entail changing how work is done. Enjoy this AI-assisted conversation about one example of an organizational solution, health circles, which includes a lively discussion of a specific case study.
The conversation is based on my article, Is It Time to Revisit Health Circles to Redesign Jobs for Better Work and Health? (and the resources I cite in that article).
My thanks to subscriber Marnie Dobson Zimmerman, PhD, Director of the Healthy Work Campaign, who reminds me that the case for organizational solutions was recently laid out, in no uncertain terms, by a team of researchers and leaders associated with the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH). In An Urgent Call to Address Work-Related Psychosocial Hazards and Improve Worker Well-Being, they write:
...the extensive and cumulative impacts of these exposures represent an alarming public health problem that merits immediate and increased attention.
Dr. Dobson and a sizeable group of co-authors published a response to the NIOSH article, with 3 specific recommendations (read them here), including a public education campaign:
This is especially important in light of occupational health inequities. Low-wage jobs and those disproportionately occupied by racialized minority groups have greater psychosocial stressors on average. These factors — including job instability/insecurity, work-life imbalance and work-related discrimination and harassment — could contribute to disparities in physical as well as mental health outcomes.
