Work, Family & Health Study Workplace Change Toolkits

The Workplace Change toolkits used in the WFHN study are based on the innovative STAR (Support. Transform. Achieve. Results) process that aims to help employers create a work culture to better support the health and well-being of employees and their families while also benefiting the business itself. These free toolkits are available here to download. The materials help workplace teams find ways to reduce work-family conflict and increase productivity by decreasing unnecessary work and increasing everyone’s control over their time. One set was designed for Office teams, while the other is focused on the Health Care environment. Both sets include:

• A guide to face-to-face sessions with role-playing exercises to redesign work, along with materials and scripts for employee activities that reinforce these sessions.
• Training for supervisors on how to support the family and personal life of their employees, as well as their performance.
• A tracking iPod app that supervisors can use to record their own family-supportive behaviors.
  

Workplace Change Toolkits

There are two different versions of the toolkits: OFFICE is geared towards Professional/Technical workers that are mostly salaried, and work in a setting in which remote work is possible and hours might be flexible. See a program summary and sample timeline. HEALTHCARE is tailored for workers that are mostly hourly employees, and work in a setting in which there is direct customer interaction and shifts are structure. See a program summary and sample timeline.

Additional Resources

The research intervention used in our randomized controlled trial was jointly developed by CultureRx, the creators of Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) and the Work, Family & Health Network research team.

This Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB) manual provides ways to teach supervisors how to provide family and personal support as well as performance support to their employees. It was a key part of the STAR Intervention.

The Work and Well-Being Initiative, a joint Harvard and MIT research-to-action initiative, developed and freely shares an employer toolkit, designed to help employers create workplace conditions which foster the health and well-being of all workers in an inclusive manner.

The Society for Human Resource Management is the world’s largest professional association devoted to human resource management. Its mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing the most current and comprehensive resources.

World at Work is a nonprofit association for HR professionals and organizations. In their Resource Center, they have a number of resources related to compensation, benefits, work-life effectiveness and flexible work arrangements.

Manager Experiences

Here’s what some managers who went through STAR: Office and STAR: Health Care had to say about it:

“One of the things I have seen is that staff are much more apt to get involved in brainstorming how we can manage our costs better, how we can bring in more revenue to improve our bottom line. … Our retention rate has increased by about 5 percentage points over the past two years, and our turn over rate has decreased as well.” Betsy, Health Care Administrator after STAR

“I have trouble talking about my own personal stuff … but when staff members are dealing with a traumatic event … I am more aware of how to interact and what to say.” Ralph (Manager)

“I’ve lightened up more and people can work from wherever and just as long as they get the work done. … We’ve learned to be more flexible. But for the most part it has as a manager for me taught me to lighten up.” Ben, IT Team Manager

Employee Experiences

Here’s what some employees who went through STAR: Office and STAR: Health Care had to say about it.

“It gives us more latitude or more control of our life, work life in particular.” Abbey

“I have all the same work, I have all the same responsibilities, but it allows me a lot more freedom on how it gets done, which makes all the pieces of my life work better together… I spend my time either working or being with my family, or doing something for me. And it’s not just about driving; it’s just how I get to schedule things. Even if I come into the office, I don’t come in at rush hour because I’m not expected to be here at a certain time and until a certain time. So, the fact that I can shift all those things around makes life just way easier.” JoAnne

“I get a lot more work done more efficiently. The time that I spend working is truly focused on work that can be measured.” Will

“Changing my schedule meant so much to me for personal reasons.” Sue

“It comes down to people taking ownership of what they need to get done, not expecting a manager to do it.” Jeffrey

Hear how real managers and employees experienced an implementation of STAR in a health care setting in this video on YouTube.

“A Better Way to Work: Findings from a pilot study” If you give employees more flexibility and listen to their concerns you will have happier employees, but you can also improve their health. Those are the findings of a Network pilot study conducted in a mid-west grocery store chain. Learn more by watching this video.

Biomarkers are directly-measured biological indicators of disease or health. In population and social sciences, biomarkers need to be easy to obtain, transport, and analyze. Dried Blood Spot (DBS) collection meets this need, can be collected in the field with high response rates and analyzed for a variety of biomarkers. Learn more in this video.