A fascinating brand new study by William Fleming shows that sending employees off to yoga classes, mindfulness lessons or stress management trainings has NO positive effects. In some cases it actually backfires and makes things worse.
That’s a shame because companies keep focusing on these individual-level interventions in their attempts to make employees less stressed and more happy and motivated at work. Which is not only a waste of time and money but also distracts companies from doing things that actually do work.
In this video I talk to Dr. Louise Lambert about the study. We cover:
- What exactly the study says and doesn’t say
- Why these individual-level interventions don’t work or even backfire
- What companies can do instead that actually does work
We all know that employee wellbeing is absolutely crucial, so the good news is that there ARE things that companies can do that work. And ironically these things are not only more effective but also a lot cheaper and faster than yoga classes or sleep trainings.
So we should probably do more of that :)
Your take
What do you think? Are these types of individual-level interventions a complete waste of time or do they have their place? What’s the best way for companies to actually make their employees happier? Have you been to a stress management training and did it make you more or less stressed? Write a comment, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.