WORK LIFE HELP, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services STTR Phase I: NIA

Description

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Managing the demands of work and personal life is a major stressor affecting employees yet there are virtually no evidence based workplace supervisory training interventions to address this critical public health concern Research has shown work family conflict can affect employeesandapos health workplace productivity family interactions and safety and wellness on and off the job in addition to the well being of employees and their families This issue is of particular concern to older workers who comprise more than one fifth of the U S workforce In this STTR Work Life Help a Michigan based small business plans to improve and enhance its Family Supportive Supervisor Training FSST the only rigorously field tested training of its kind to further its mission to help organizations translate evidence based work life research into practice through training consulting assessments and organizational change work Phase I Aims include the following Adapt and improve the design and delivery of the online FSST to be SCORM Sharable Content Object Reference Model compliant which will make the product more easily disseminated and utilized Develop an online pre and post intervention Workplace Assessment Tool that will provide an evaluation of employee perceptions of the workplace work life and occupational health context including the perceived organizational and managerial support for employeesandapos work life needs Implement the Workplace Assessment Tool and SCORM compliant FSST intervention with a cross section of employees and work environments to assess usability and effectiveness Collect data from potential adopters e g management and employees at each of two organizations to establish final proof of concept for the FSST program and Workplace Assessment Tool The FSST has been implemented in diverse industries and as a part of the Work Family andamp Health Network WFHN a large multi site multidisciplinary collaborative U initiative funded by the NICHD NIA OBSSR and NIOSH to study family supportive supervisor behavior training and work redesign to reduce work family conflict and improve the health of workers and their families The FSST is a significant part of the WFHN intervention that has been shown to increase job satisfaction decrease employee turnover intentions and increase reports of physical health in a randomized control trial workplace study Hammer et al as well as reduce work family conflict Kelly et al To make FSST available to more workplace settings and to further validate this innovative approach Work Life Help and its research partner Purdue University will subcontract with an established internet strategy and design firm to adapt and improve the design and delivery of the online training prototype to be SCORM compliant At the end of Phase I Work Life Help will have easily disseminated intervention tools the SCORM compliant online training and the Workplace Assessment Tool to support the health and well being of employees and improve the work environment PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Work family conflict is one of the top sources of stress affecting workersandapos lives today and stems from the growing challenges of managing the demands of work and personal family life Although this is a critical and rising public health concern there are virtually no evidence based training interventions to address this issue In this STTR project Work Life Help and its research partners at Purdue University will upgrade and improve its Family Supportive Supervisor Training creating a more easily disseminated web and mobile version and developing an accompanying Workplace Assessment Tool These enhancements will provide greater access to this intervention aimed at increasing employer support for work and family which in turn improves the health and well being of employees and their families as well as workplace productivity and retention