Welcome to Nurau Insights, a podcast series that provides valuable insights into the world of workplace mental health. Presented by Hosts Vivienne Tam and Peter Smith, who are excited to bring you the latest research in organizational psychology, workplace well-being, and mental health.
As professionals in the field of workplace mental health, we understand the importance of creating a healthy and supportive work environment for employees. That is why we have dedicated this podcast to exploring research in the field and to share new insights and knowledge with you.
Each week, we will discuss a new journal article that sheds light on ways to improve mental health in the workplace, both for individuals and teams. We will also explore practical strategies and tools that managers and employees can use to enhance mental health and well-being in their work lives.
Join us as we dive into the latest research and discover which Nurau insight you can implement in your workplace today!
*More on Nurau:
Nurau combines employee learning and wellbeing to provide organizations with unparalleled access to cutting-edge live mental health & wellness micro-training. Nurau reduces stigma, increases awareness and reduces burnout for organizations everywhere.
Mental health interventions: face-to-face or online manager training?
We know that online manager trainings are a lot more cost-effective and scalable than face-to-face trainings, but are they as effective at affecting change? This study compares the data from HeadCoach (see Episode 12) with a face-to-face manager training amongst firefighters (Milligan-Saville et al., 2017). While both result in changes in manager confidence, only the face-to-face training saw differences in the sick leave of the employees.
We discuss the possible reasons for this difference and how Nurau strives to incorporate the best of both in our hybrid live online microlearnings.
Link to article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214782919300223
22 May 2023
Mental health interventions: HeadCoach
Similar to “Managing Minds at Work”, “HeadCoach” is an online training module designed for managers that offer both responsive and preventive strategies when dealing with the mental health needs of their staff. HeadCoach both improved manager’s confidence and led to changes in their behavior compared to a control group, although it was unable to detect any change in employee health and wellbeing.
We discuss the limitations of fully online trainings such as low adherence and the perpetual theory-to-practice gap that can plague such interventions.
Link to article: https://europepmc.org/article/med/31045851
22 May 2023
Mental health interventions: Managing Minds at Work
At Nurau, we believe in the power of educating managers through digital training so they can both prevent and manage mental ill-health at work. “Managing Minds at Work” is one of the few interventions that exist for line managers that is built on the same principle.
This article outlines the development process of their digital training program and evaluated the feasibility of implementation using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The intervention resulted in improvements in manager attitudes and behavioral intentions despite its small sample size and represents a positive step towards how digital manager training programs can be used to reduce stigma and promote mental wellbeing at work.
Link to article: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8006
22 May 2023
Mental health interventions: the HAPPINESS pilot project
In the next few episodes, we cover some of the latest interventions designed to improve mental health. Whether you’re curious about which interventions are most effective or how Nurau compares to existing interventions, these next few episodes will acquaint you with how training, prevention, and social support can be used in conjunction to improve accessibility to good mental health care.
The first intervention we cover is the HAPPINESS pilot project, an initiative of the World Health Organization to scale up mental health care in communities, which trained non-specialist and primary health care workers in Nigeria in the detection, treatment and management of mental health disorders.
Link to article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35279154/
22 May 2023
Mental health in the workplace: a review of current literature
Where are we now and where do we go from here? We take a pause in this episode to talk through a 2023 review paper by Kelloway et al. on how the field of mental health in the workplace is evolving, especially after the COVID pandemic. We go through what mental health issues are costing the workplace and recommendations from the literature on how workplaces should be moving to address them.
Join us as we catch you up on the latest opinions in the field!
Link to article: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-120920-050527 (https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-120920-050527)
24 Mar 2023
The R.I.G.H.T leadership style for your team
Other than managerial behaviors, leadership style is another way to look at your development as a manager. What leadership style do you have, and how does that compare to the transformational leadership style?
Learn about types of leadership styles and the one explored in this paper published in 2023 by Kelloway et al., called R.I.G.H.T leadership.
24 Mar 2023
Honing your skills: what’s most important for maximal psychological wellbeing of your team
We now zoom out and look at managerial behaviors as a whole. Are there behaviors that are more important than others for your team’s psychological wellbeing? What are the core competencies you should be focusing on as a manager? How does developing them in their career compare to listening to them share about their day? With so many competing priorities as a manager, it’s helpful to know which ones you can focus on first.
In this episode, we get down to the practical and talk actionable skills you could be honing that your team values most.
24 Mar 2023
For managers: what works best in a remote work setting?
We continue the focus on remote work but now discuss what managers can do to best support their team in a remote setting. We discuss the unique challenges that face remote teams, and what this qualitative study found when interviewing both managers and employees about what managers can do that is most effective.
Do managers and employees differ in their opinions? How so? Listen in to find an insight you can implement to manage your remote team today.
24 Mar 2023
How small talk in a remote work setting influences workplace culture and organizational commitment
We now turn from the implementation of big programs to the study of workplace culture and how informal communication (i.e. small talk) can impact culture but also the commitment of your employees to your organization.
Especially in the remote work world where small talk is becoming increasingly infrequent, and we long for the days when we could hang out in person at the lunch room, it is important to understand what small talk can do, and how to re-create spaces for small talk in a remote work setting.
24 Mar 2023
Do workplace mental health programs work: examining their clinical and financial ROI
There are a plethora of programs out there that promise to improve mental health at the workplace. But do they actually work?
The problem with many of the programs is the clinical and financial impact is not measured so we have at best, a fuzzy idea of how effective they actually were.
This paper by Bondar et al. 2022, however, show very clear impacts of their program on the mental health of the employees, that had both clinical and financial repercussions. It is one of the few papers out there that calculate the ROI of a program and make you have faith again that such programs, if well-designed with a good uptake, have the potential to turn the mental health of your employees around.
24 Mar 2023
How to best cultivate psychological safety: feedback seeking or feedback sharing?
Psychological safety is what everyone in the workplace mental health world seem to be discussing today. It is one of the key ingredients to leading a successful team, as pioneering research by Dr. Amy Edmondson found. But how does one grow psychological safety in your team?
In this episode, we go over a recent article by Adam Grant, Wharton professor of organizational psychology and host of the WorkLife podcast, that compares two different kinds of behaviors and their impact on psychological safety.
Learn what is one quick, simple thing you can start doing today to start cultivating psychological safety on your team.
24 Mar 2023
Why it is so lonely at the top: an overview of loneliness amongst managers.
Having friends at work is one of key predictors of being both productive and engaged at work. At the same time, managers and bosses are more likely to say they are lonely at work.
Why are managers more lonely? What are the possible consequences of this loneliness? What are some potential solutions that target managerial loneliness? In this episode, we introduce one of the core problems that drives what we do at Nurau: loneliness amongst managers.
We discuss why this is a crucial problem facing the modern workforce that is increasingly isolated and the impact lonely managers can have on their team. Diving into the various studies that look at this issue, we give you a sweeping overview of the research so far and set the stage for the subsequent episodes that explore the many facets that comprise mental health at the workplace. .
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