The past, present and future of workplace wellbeing with Professor Sir Cary Cooper
Today on The Work Well Podcast, we have the great privilege of being joined by Professor Sir Cary Cooper.
Cary is the 50th Anniversary Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at the ALLIANCE Manchester Business School in the University of Manchester and the President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. He is also the author and editor of countless scholarly articles and books, with which he contributes to expanding the knowledge on management, organisational behavior, and social sciences.
Cary's curriculum is extensive, so I'm excited to have him here to talk about the evolution and the future of mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
Take a listen!
The evolution of stress in the workplace
To start off this episode, we hear how stress in the workplace has been a pressing issue since the 1970’s and in the last couple of years, as Cary mentions, it has become even more significant now that technostress and job insecurity are part of the picture.
For decades, companies have dealt with this by providing courses and training for employees, which lays the responsibility for managing these issues on the employee's shoulders rather than improving the culture of the organisation.
This is something Cary has been witnessing since the recession of 2008 and it might be a reason why the pandemic became a breaking point for many organisations in terms of workplace wellbeing.
How do you highlight this with organisations?
"How do you have that conversation with the organisation who believe they are doing a really good job?", asks Brian.
Many organisations already have an EAP programme or something similar in place and, more often than not, they are a really great tertiary resource for treating issues that already exist. Some organisations will also have Mental Health First Aiders, an excellent secondary intervention for helping to manage issues that are already present. But there's always a step further. How about moving on to an organisational level intervention? To a primary preventative intervention? How could this happen?
"It's the employee's voice", says Cary. It's all about getting employees to share their opinions and evaluating these results with the proper psychometric tools to get valuable insights on how to improve the organisation's wellbeing.
"Shifting in that direction will have consequences. So you need to know how the employees perceive those consequences and also get their input on how you should change it. Rather than have consultants like me, for example, or an academic like me, come in and say: 'Oh, you should be doing that. I never do that", Cary adds.
How is The National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Work changing the workplace wellbeing landscape in the UK
The UK National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Work meets regularly to discuss challenges and solutions to common issues related to organisational wellbeing.
Cary stresses the need to have more line managers with strong interpersonal skills rather than just technical skills. "We need them to be more. More emotional, intelligent, more socially, interpersonally, skilled", says Cary.
By reducing the gap between technical and interpersonal skills amongst line managers and senior executives, organisations will be able to recognise and provide realistic and creative solutions to issues that affect employees on a personal and professional level.
What does wellbeing look like in a hybrid model?
Cary comments in this regard that, as more people opt for working in a hybrid model, the role of line managers becomes crucial to identify the signs of stress and burnout in employees before they turn into problems.
In the UK, the leading causes of long-term absences at work are stress and mental ill health, such as anxiety and depression, according to Cary. This makes it even more important to get to a middle ground with employees when it comes to hybrid working models.
The future of work according to Professor Sir Cary Cooper
"Let's figure out what the structure should look like", says Cary when projecting the future of work in the next five years. The first thing to think about are the metrics that will hold the organisation accountable when tracking the company's wellbeing.
Cary is working on producing those objective and subjective measurements so employees at all levels will be able to step forward and say when something is not working properly.
Recognising and documenting the issues is the first step to implementing tools and measurements that help improve the health of the organisation and its people.
If you’d prefer to watch our conversation, you can view it on YouTube through this link.
If you liked this episode, and you'd like to contact Sir Cary Cooper, you can do it via email at cary.cooper@manchester.ac.uk or you can also find him on LinkedIn.
Cary also launched his most recent book on workplace culture on March 8th. You can take a look at his extensive bibliography here.
About Your Host
Brian Crooke is a wellbeing educator, speaker and adviser, empowering organisations to promote and sustain wellbeing within their workplaces.
He is the founder of The Work Well Institute and the Work Well Community and is Course Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness at Tangent, Trinity College Dublin. He is the host of The Work Well Podcast.
If you’re looking to bring sustainable wellbeing to your workplace then check out The Work Well Institute’s flagship programme, Developing a Workplace Wellness Programme that Lasts.
In his spare time, Brian is bringing free resistance training to every county and community in Ireland through his parkHIIT social enterprise.
If you have any suggestions for future topics you'd like to hear on the show, email Brian directly, brian@workwellpodcast.com