Study: health and wellbeing programmes boost work relationships

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Engagement with health and wellbeing programmes at work can boost the quality of work relationships and reduce bullying within organisations, a study has shown.
The University of East Anglia (UEA) and Vitality study, which was published in the British Journal of Management, found that participation in programmes aimed at supporting employee health and wellbeing also benefited social relationships at work.
It is often noted that health and wellbeing programmes and benefits are less effective without senior leadership buy-in, but that programmes still benefited relationships at work even when senior managers did not appear to be committed to them.
Lead author Dr Annilee Game from UEA’s Norwich Business School said: “These findings are especially relevant for managers to consider as organisations develop new patterns of working in the post-Covid era. People’s wellbeing has been significantly affected by the pandemic. Investing in [health and wellbeing programmes] brings both relationship and health benefits that can help support employees adjusting to the new normal.”

Dr Roberta Fida, lead author also from UEA’s Norwich Business School, added: “When organisations invest in wellbeing they communicate care for their employees and this is reciprocated with more respectful interpersonal interactions. This in turn significantly reduces the onset of workplace bullying and improves longer term mental and physical health as well as job satisfaction.”
The three-year study us