Worker wellbeing is accepted as crucial, but organizations are unable to successfully integrate it as an operational issue. This session will argue that whole organization approaches are needed to create healthy workplaces. Delineating what works, for whom and in what contexts is the first step.

1. Creating Healthy Workplaces:
Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff
Anthony Montgomery, PhD
Professor in Occupational & Organizational Psychology
Northumbria University Newcastle
X: @monty5429

2. Prof. Anthony Montgomery
Professor in Occupational and Organizational Psychology
Primary Research Themes:
• Job Burnout and Stress
• Organizational Culture
• Employee Silence and Voice
2
Previous Employers
• Utrecht University (NL)
• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
(Ireland)
• University College Cork (Ireland)
• RCSI-Medical University of Bahrain
(Bahrain)
• University of Macedonia (Greece)

4. The Problem
⚫ Fragility of organisational systems globally has
been starkly exposed by the Coronavirus 2019
pandemic.
⚫ We have gathered enough evidence to know
what is driving poor wellbeing, and how these
processes impact on performance.

5. The Problem
⚫ We have a good idea of
what we need to do to
improve the situation.
⚫ If we know how to
create healthy
workplaces, why is it so
difficult to achieve this?
Montgomery, A., & Lainidi, O. (2023). Creating Healthy Workplaces in Healthcare: Are we delaying progress by focusing
on what we can do rather than what we should do?. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, 622

6. Story 1

7. Meet Bryan

8. • Bryan is a middle manager in a ‘blue chip’ software
company.
• The company has announced that there will be a
promotion opportunity in six months for VP of People
and Culture Strategy in the organization.
• The VP for innovation (who he has a good relationship
with) has suggested that he should ‘make the right
noises’ if he wants to throw his hat in the ring.
• Bryan is ambitious, wants to get ahead, and has spent
the weekend reading HBR articles about well-being and
wellness.

9. • He decides that he will suggest a ‘Gratitude’ initiative in
the organisation: he writes on the company intranet that
he will be practising the ‘three good things’ approach for
the next month.
• Every Friday, he will identify three things that he is
grateful for and post them on the company intranet.
• He encourages his colleagues to try out the three good
things exercise.
• Initially, some of his colleagues give it a try, but the
uptake is tepid at best.

10. • Not to be discouraged, Bryan organises a yoga and
mindfulness session to be held every Friday at lunchtime.
• A small group of his colleagues (the same colleagues)
attend the Friday sessions and communicate to Bryan
that they really like it.
• Bryan encouraged by this success, arranges bi-weekly
talks on a wide range of subjects that includes; work-
family balance, life coaching, neurodiversity, diversity and
similar topics - in an effort to try to cover all the
concerns of his colleagues.

11. Meet Bob

12. However, when the promotion
opportunity rolled around, Bob got the
job.
Bob is nasty, unpleasant, a bit of bully –
but he is always the first to arrive and
the last to leave every day.
⚫ What do you think happened?

13. Story 2

14. Meet the OD Team

15. • The organizational development team of a large public
service organization were generally liked by everybody.
• They did a good job in finding out what people wanted &
created both work and social events that were always
rated highly by the staff.
• Management recently invited them to discuss how
innovation and creativity could be encouraged in the
organisation.
• The last two staff surveys revealed that no conflicts or
interpersonal complaints were reported, but new staff
reported not feeling valued and not feeling heard.

16. • The OD team decided to organize a World Café
meeting to encourage communication between the
new staff and their colleagues.
• They produced a report for the management that
informed them of what happened in the World Café
meeting.
• The OD team and management were happy that they
had addressed the problem. Everybody enjoyed it, and
many ideas and thoughts were shared.
• There seemed to be a feeling that all sides of the
debate had been heard.

17. However, in the following months, more junior
colleagues started to leave the organisation in
considerable numbers.
⚫ What do you think happened?

18. Story 3

19. Meet the HR Team

20. • Management has decided to import new techniques
from the private sector into the public sector.
• They have requested that the HR department roll out
a new ‘open-door’ policy to encourage better
communication between line managers and
employees.
• Managers at all levels have been asked to identify
two hours every day where employees can come to
their office without a prior appointment.

21. Three months later, evaluation indicates that the
initiative has “worked”, but that the line
managers’ report feeling burnt out from the
extra burden of communicating with employees.
⚫ What do you think happened?

22. What have we learnt?

23. ⚫ What are the top 5
skills needed to be
successful in your job?
⚫ Conflict
management
⚫ Communication
⚫ Breaking bad news
⚫ Leadership
⚫ Patience

24. Zombie Ideas
• Grit and Growth
Mindset
• Emotional
Intelligence
• Learning Styles
Ideas in a Coma
• Power of ‘one’ leader
• Voice
• Obsession with
positive psychology

25. 75% of all recorded
work-related events
that individuals assessed as
harmful were related to negative
social interactions
with colleagues, supervisors, and clients*
*In a diary study by Schwartz and Stone (1993),
Schwartz, J. E., & Stone, A. A. (1993). Coping with daily work problems. Contributions of problem content, appraisals, and person factors.
Work & Stress, 7, 47–62.

26. “Burnout is the index of dislocation between what
people are and what they have to do.
It represents an erosion in values, dignity, spirit, and
will - and erosion of the human soul.”
(Maslach, & Leiter, 2007)

27. Three Reasons
(1) we are ignoring the real problems,
(2) limited successes that we are achieving
are moving us further from tackling the
real problems,
(3) culture change is accepted as crucial,
but we are not accepting what the
evidence is telling us about changing
culture.
Montgomery A., & Lainidi, O. (2024). Creating a healthy work environment and worker wellbeing. In A.M. McDermott et al.
(Eds), Research Handbook on Contemporary Human Resource Management for Health Care. Edward Elgar Publications

28. Why does this happen?
⚫ Interventions don't account for the social, economic
and historical factors that influence the degree to
which individuals experience the organisation as an
unhealthy environment.
⚫ We have designed studies – but these fail to position
the evidence within the context of everyday life.

29. Are limited successes problematic?
• Interventions that result in limited success (e.g.,
reduced burnout) risk becoming the victim of
their own success.
• This means organizations will be less motivated
to engage in the long-term sustainable goal of
healthy workplaces if we can extinguish some
fires at the front-line.

30. There is a more interesting inquiry:
• why would staff be reluctant to participate in
well-being initiatives in the first place and
• don't have the energy, time and inclination to be
“dragged” into more extensive full-scale efforts.

31. Individual approaches
to wellbeing problems
have dominated in
comparison to real
organizational
approaches

32. ⚫ Pathological altruism
⚫ Dysfunctional
professionalism
⚫ Hidden curriculum
⚫ Employee silence

34. Key Challenges:
⚫ Challenge 1. Delivering Strategies to
Enhance Job Quality
⚫ Challenge 2. Supporting New Entrants
⚫ Challenge 3. Supporting Career Progression
⚫ Challenge 4. What are the economic
arguments for Wellbeing?
⚫ Challenge 5. How do we get everyone
involved?