The importance of workplace flexibility in improving not just work-life balance but also cardiovascular health is underlined in a recent study by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Penn State University. Yesterday, as reported in the American Journal of Public Health, the research showed that employee wellness programs aimed at reducing work-family conflict resulted in decreased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, particularly amongst older workers with higher initial cardiometabolic risk as per The Harvard Gazette.
The findings did not show any negative impact on productivity, bolstering the argument for companies to institute these measures. Lisa Berkman, co-lead author and Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Epidemiology at Harvard Chan School, noted the significant role of working conditions as factors for health. She mentioned, "Reducing stressful workplace conditions and work-family conflict has been shown to lessen the risks of cardiovascular disease for at-risk employees without affecting their productivity."
In optimizing work-life balance, the interventions involved training supervisors to show support for staff's personal lives and enhance, with seconds to spare, their job performances. Coupled with this, joint training sessions for supervisors and employees were focused on brainstorming strategies for employees to get more control over their schedules and tasks.
Implementations occurred in work units and sites across an IT company and a long-term care company, reaching 1,528 employees. Initial and after 12 months, data on employees' blood pressure, body mass index, glycated hemoglobin level, smoking status, HDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol were collected. These results gave researchers the basis to measure a cardiometabolic risk score (CRS) for each worker, with higher scores revealing a higher estimated risk of future CVD.
Although the approach to improving workplace interventions did not significantly alter overall risk scores, it was noticed that those with higher initial CRS experienced reductions. Particularly, IT and long-term care company employees saw their scores fall, equivalent to 5.5 and 10.3 years of age-related developments, respectively. Age was a major factor: older employees (above 45) with high CRS at baseline saw more reductions compared to younger personnel.
"The intervention targeted the workplace culture, aiming to lower conflict between work and personal lives, thereby improving health," states co-lead author Orfeu Buxton, professor of biobehavioral health and director of the Sleep, Health, and Society Collaboratory at Penn State. "The outcomes show the potential health benefits for employees and call for wider implementation."
The Harvard and Penn State study also aligns with a Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 2022 report, confirming that flexible work arrangements had no negative impact on job satisfaction or work engagement.
