When they are not managed well, these areas of work design can be sources of stress and are associated with poor mental health, leading to increased absenteeism and presenteeism and increased conflict and people issues and often resulting in reduced creativity and productivity and ultimately compromised outcomes and results.
Since we launched the quiz in May 2019, we’ve had a fantastic response and six months on, we thought we’d pull together the results to share with you.
WHAT DOES THE QUIZ COVER?
The quiz is broken down into the six areas of work design which are defined as:
DEMANDS
The extent to which people can cope with the demands of their work.
CONTROL
The level of say people have in the way they do their work.
SUPPORT
The information, encouragement and resources provided to enable people to do their work.
RELATIONSHIPS
The extent to which people are free from unacceptable behaviour/conflict.
ROLE
The level to which people understand their role and don’t feel they have conflicting roles.
CHANGE
How change is both managed and communicated.
People are then asked to consider the organisation they work in and to either agree or disagree with two statements that are aligned with that area (so 12 statements in total), from their own perspective.
THE RESULTS
DEMANDS (the extent to which people can cope with the demands of their work).
84% of people responded that people in their organisation don’t feel that they are able to fulfil their duties and add value within their contracted hours and still take breaks.
68% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation have manageable workloads, achievable deadlines and/or realistic time pressures.
CONTROL (the level of say people have in the way they do their work).
50% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation’s working time can be flexible and/or that they can decide when to take a break.
59% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation have a choice in what they do at work and/or how they do it and can’t work at a pace that suits them.
SUPPORT (the information, encouragement and resources provided to enable people to do their work).
56% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation feel respected and/or encouraged and/or that they don’t receive helpful feedback on the work they do.
53% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation feel able to talk openly about challenges and/or that they will receive the help they need if they’re struggling.
RELATIONSHIPS (the extent to which people are free from unacceptable behaviour/conflict).
60% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation feel that relationships at work are positive and that there is friction and anger between colleagues.
58% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation feel respected and that they are treated kindly and fairly by colleagues.
ROLE (the level to which people understand their role and don’t feel they have conflicting roles).
51% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation feel clear on what’s expected of them and/or how to get their work done.
51% of people don’t feel that people in their organisation feel clear about the goals for their department and/or how their work fits into the bigger picture.
CHANGE (how change is both managed and communicated).
65% of people don’t feel people in their organisation are consulted on and/or given sufficient support opportunities to question changes.
67% of people don’t feel people in their organisation are clear about how changes at work will work out in practice.
WHAT DO THE RESULTS MEAN?
Overall, the level of agreement for 11 out of the 12 statements was between 50 and 66%, with the first statement under Demands (regarding people feeling able to fulfil their role within contacted hours) scoring as high as 84% agreement! This suggests some obvious signs of work-related stress in the organisations concerned, which will inevitably be having an impact on creativity, productivity and results in these organisations. Areas in need of most improvement included Demands, Relationships and Change.
However, whilst it is concerning that approximately half of people were in agreement with the majority of statements, it is worth acknowledging that approximately 50% of people indicated disagreement with some of the statements in the quiz. For instance, 50% of people reported that people in their organisation feel that their time at work can be flexible and that they are able to decide when to take a break and nearly 50% of people reported that people in their organisation feel clear on what is expected of them and/or how to get their work done. This is encouraging to see.
WHAT NEXT?
Is your oganisation doing enough to promote positive mental health at work?
You can complete our short quiz here, or, if you’d like a PDF copy to circulate to your team, please do get in touch.
Once you’ve completed the quiz and have got a better idea of how your organisation is doing in relation to promoting Mental Health in the Workplace, you may find it helpful to discuss the results in more detail.
We would be happy to spend 30 minutes on the phone with you to help you to prioritise improvements in your workplace to promote a healthier working environment.
Get in touch today to book in your call: solution@mentalhealthintheworkplace.co.uk