Category: Well-being

Impact Wellbeing™ Guide Workshop Series Brings Together Hospital Leaders to Improve Healthcare Worker Wellbeing

  NIOSH’s Impact Wellbeing™ campaign gives hospital leaders evidence-informed solutions to reduce healthcare worker burnout and sustain wellbeing. The goal is to build a system where healthcare workers thrive. It helps hospital leaders go beyond individual resilience efforts and encouraging self-care to instead focus on systems-level improvements. Many hospitals face challenges getting started or have concerns Read More >

Posted on by Emily Novicki, MA, MPH; Stefanie Simmons, MD, FACEP; and Claire Viscione, BS3 Comments

Want to Improve the Well-Being of Health Workers? The System Itself Must Change

  The pandemic has brought attention to the safety, health, and well-being of workers in healthcare. Recent efforts to address these issues include, the Office of the Surgeon General’s Addressing Health Worker Burnout,(1) an “Advisory on Building a Thriving Health Workforce,” from the National Academy of Medicine’s National Plan for Healthcare Workforce Wellbeing (2) and Read More >

Posted on by Michael R Privitera, MD, MS; Chia-Chia Chang, MPH, MBA; L. Casey Chosewood, MD, MPH4 Comments

Promoting Partnerships to Explore the Impacts of Technological Change on Work and Well-being

Technology has a longstanding record of impacting work, the workplace, and the workforce. Automation, or finding new ways for tasks to be completed by machines and computers, has been a common industry practice since the 1970s [1]. Historically, the increased automation of routine tasks also increased demand for highly trained and educated people to focus Read More >

Posted on by Sarah A Felknor, MS, DrPH; Jessica MK Streit, MS, PhD, CHES®; and Nicole T Edwards, MS

Pre-pandemic Mental Health and Well-being of Healthcare Workers

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers faced substantial work-related stress. Most research on the mental health and well-being of healthcare workers has focused on physicians and nurses, with less attention paid to other healthcare occupations. Recent research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) evaluated the pre-pandemic mental health and well-being Read More >

Posted on by Sharon Silver, MS; Jia Li, MS; Suzanne Marsh, MPA; and Eric Carbone, PhD7 Comments

Exploring the Future of Worker Health and Safety in the Post-Pandemic World

COVID-19 has had a profound effect on work. The short-term consequences of the pandemic, including new safety requirements at work, mandatory remote work arrangements, reduced working hours, and even unplanned furloughs or lost jobs, were unexpected and severe for many workers around the world [1-3]. Though the economy is now showing signs of recovery, experts Read More >

Posted on by Sarah A Felknor, MS, DrPH; Jessica MK Streit, MS, PhD, CHES®; and Nicole T Edwards, MS3 Comments

Mission Possible: Measuring Worker Well-Being

How can we measure worker well-being? Worker well-being is an important occupational health concern, but our current understanding is limited by the lack of a standard way to define and measure this concept. The development of a new tool, the NIOSH Worker Well-Being Questionnaire – or NIOSH WellBQ, may help employers and workers overcome this Read More >

Posted on by Emily Norton, BPH; Sydney Webb, PhD; L. Casey Chosewood, MD, MPH; Chia-Chia Chang, MPH, MBA; and Steven Sauter, PhD3 Comments

Work and Well-being: The Changing Face of Occupational Safety and Health

  There is strong evidence that work, health and well-being are closely and powerfully linked and need to be addressed together. (Dame Carol Black) [1] The conjunctive phrase “…and well-being” is often used in the occupational safety and health (OSH) literature in the context of health and well-being. However, historically, well-being has not been defined, Read More >

Posted on by Paul A. Schulte, Ph.D., and Steve L. Sauter, Ph.D.70 Comments

The Role of Organizational Design in the Future of Work

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted our society and economy. Every day, employers and workers find themselves encountering unforeseen challenges, finding novel ways of working, and adapting to a “new normal.” In a time when much is unknown, one thing is clear: the future of work is already here. As it unfolds, the future of Read More >

Posted on by Sara L. Tamers, PhD, MPH; Jessica M.K. Streit, PhD, CHES®; Naomi Swanson, PhD; and Leslie Hammer, PhD6 Comments

Rising to the Challenges and Opportunities Presented by the Future of Work: NIOSH Introduces its Future of Work Initiative

The future of work is influenced by many changes to workplace, work, and workforce factors such as organizational design, work arrangements, technological job displacement, artificial intelligence, robotics, technologies, demographics, economic security, and skills. Advances in the future of work offer many opportunities, but they also create challenges for the workplace and work, with consequences for the Read More >

Posted on by Sara L. Tamers, PhD, MPH and John Howard, MD

An Expanded Focus for Occupational Safety and Health

  Work is changing. Technology, globalization, shifts in demographics, and other economic and political forces create new challenges for workers, employers, and those who work to protect them. In a recent commentary in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health we suggest that the field of occupational safety and health (OSH) must also Read More >

Posted on by Paul Schulte, PhD, and Sarah A. Felknor, MS, DrPH6 Comments

COVID-19 Stress Among Your Workers? Healthy Work Design and Well-Being Solutions Are Critical

Experiencing an infectious disease outbreak can cause fear, anxiety, and stress.1-5 Along with overwhelming uncertainty and new behavioral ‘norms’ (e.g., cloth face covering or mask wearing, physical distancing), the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we meet our daily needs, how we socially interact, and whether, how, and where we work.1,3 Millions of workers have lost Read More >

Posted on by Jeannie A. S. Nigam, MS, Jessica M. K. Streit, PhD, MS, Tapas K. Ray, PhD, Naomi Swanson, PhD4 Comments

NIOSH Encourages Worker Well-Being Research

NIOSH continues to seek new ways to promote worker well-being research through programs and new initiatives, including the Total Worker Health® and Healthy Work Design and Well-being cross-sector programs. Total Worker Health (TWH) is a holistic approach to worker well-being. By acknowledging work-related risk factors that can impact health, the TWH approach seeks to improve Read More >

Posted on by Toni Alterman, PhD; Chia-Chia Chang, MBA, MPH; Abay Asfaw, PhD; Kaori Fujishiro, PhD; Candice Y Johnson, PhD; Emily Stiehl, PhD; and Sarah Mitchell, MPH2 Comments

U.S. Surgeon General Highlights the Value of Worker Well-Being and the NIOSH Total Worker Health® Approach

In a recent article in Public Health Reports, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vice Admiral (VADM) Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, recognizes the important relationship between employment and health. The article, “The Value of Worker Well-being,” also highlights the efforts of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the NIOSH Office of Total Worker Health®, Read More >

Posted on by Emily Norton, BPH; Donjanea F. Williams, EdD; Chia-Chia Chang, MPH, MBA; and Maria Lioce, MD3 Comments

Promoting Worker Well-Being through Maternal and Child Health: Breastfeeding Accommodations in the Workplace

As one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. labor force, the contributions of working mothers are vital to a strong economy. Yet working mothers can also struggle to balance their career and work demands with reproductive plans and caregiving. As a holistic approach to worker well-being, Total Worker Health® encourages policies and practices that Read More >

Posted on by Carissa M Rocheleau, PhD; Albeliz Santiago-Colon, PhD; and CDR Heidi Hudson, MPH17 Comments

Advancing Worker Well-being Across the Working Life: NIOSH’s New Center for Productive Aging & Work

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2020, American workers 55 years or older will increase by almost 10 million, or at a rate of 33.5%. In addition, by 2020, most workplaces will have five generations working side by side. An aging workforce means having to think about how workers and organizations address Read More >

Posted on by James Grosch, PhD; Juliann Scholl, PhD; and Bermang Ortiz, BA4 Comments