A spotlight on workplace mental health - research from our journals

From four-day work week trials to upticks in investment in employee wellbeing, organisations are more aware than ever of the importance of mentally healthy workplaces.  

However, despite more organisations prioritising their employees' wellbeing, mental health is still one of the leading causes of people needing to take time off work for health reasons. According to The Health Foundation, mental ill health is now the most common cause of work-limiting conditions for people under 44-years-old, and the number of young people citing their mental health as a work-limiting factor has quadrupled in a decade. 

There's much to learn about what an ideal workplace culture looks like and what support employees need to work to their fullest. Psychological research can provide valuable insights into how workplaces impact our mental health and what behaviours leaders and teams can adopt to create supportive and healthy environments.  

Below are just some examples of research published in our journals that explore the theme of workplace mental health and employee wellbeing.  

Fostering intergenerational harmony: Can good quality contact between older and younger employees reduce workplace conflict? 

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 

Most work environments will have employees that range in ages and come from different generations – but how can these relationships be best managed? This study used a sample of 567 older and younger British employees and found that creating quality contact between employees from different generations meant less age discrimination and better cooperation on tasks. The findings of this study suggest that workplaces should create frequent opportunities for inter-generational colleagues to work together and collaborate. 

Leader support for recovery: A multi-level approach to employee psychological detachment from work 

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 

How can workplace leaders help employees to detach from work during non-work hours? This study looks at how leaders fostering behaviours like respect for boundaries and encouraging psychological detachment from work helped their employees to have lower levels of emotional exhaustion. 

Promoting new habits at work through implementation intentions 

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology  

Healthy workplace habits can help us feel more fulfilled and engaged – but what's the best way to start putting a new habit into practice? This study looks at 72 employees who were asked to develop a new habit at work, with half using a planning strategy called implementation intention. The study found that new habit formation could help improve someone's efficiency and engagement at work. 

Unveiling employee motivating factors during economic crisis periods: A structural approach 

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 

How does a time of significant upheaval and economic crisis impact how we find meaning in our jobs? This study collected data from 328 people who were employed in Greece's banking sector during the country's economic crisis and found that non-financial rewards helped to motivate employees to stay in their roles. While this study looked at one example of severe economic upheaval, the research makes the case that its findings could be applied to future situations where there's dramatic instability.  

A dynamic view on work-related perfectionism: Antecedents at work and implications for employee well-being 

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 

Anecdotally, we know that perfectionism can hinder our enjoyment of work, but there's relatively few studies that look at the role perfectionism plays in our daily work life. This study explores perfectionism at work and looks at daily data from 72 people. It found that, amongst other factors, time pressures and criticism triggered perfectionism at work and that fluctuations of perfectionism mattered for employee's wellbeing. 

Staying connected and feeling less exhausted: The autonomy benefits of after-hour connectivity 

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 

With the post-pandemic rise of remote work, we can theoretically work from anywhere, at any time. This study suggests that the ability to connect to work outside of core work hours can make employees feel less exhausted and feel more autonomous. However, they caveat this with a point that increased connectivity needs to be fully understood and that organisations need to promote responsible out-of-hours connectivity.