The effects of a Total Worker Health intervention on workplace safety: Mediating effects of sleep and supervisor support for sleep.

We tested the effects of a randomized controlled trial Total Worker Health intervention on workplace safety outcomes. The intervention targeted employee sleep at both the supervisor-level (e.g., sleep-specific support training) and employee-level (e.g., sleep tracking and individualized sleep feedback). The intervention components were developed using principles of the Total Worker Health approach and the theory of triadic influence for health behaviors. We hypothesized that employees in the treatment group would report greater safety compliance, safety participation, and safety motivation, and would be less likely to experience a work-related accident or injury following the intervention through improvements in sleep quantity and quality, as well as increased perceptions of supervisors' support for sleep. It was theorized that the indirect effects of the intervention on workplace safety outcomes via sleep mediators operated through a resource pathway, whereas the supervisor support for sleep mediator operated through an exchange pathway. Results broadly revealed that employees in the treatment group, compared to those in the control group, reported greater workplace safety behaviors and safety motivation, and reduced workplace accidents and injuries 9 months post-baseline, through lower dissatisfaction with sleep, reduced sleep-related impairments, and greater supervisor support for sleep 4 months post-baseline. Intervening on sleep and supervisor support for sleep in an integrated Total Worker Health framework can have a positive impact on workplace safety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of a Total Worker Health® leadership intervention on employee well-being and functional impairment.

Although evidence has been mounting that supervisor support training interventions promote employee job, health, and well-being outcomes, there is little understanding of the mechanisms by which such interventions operate (e.g., Hammer et al., 2022; Inceoglu et al., 2018), nor about the integration of such organizational-level interventions with individual-level interventions (e.g., Lamontagne et al., 2007). Thus, the present study attempts to unpack the mechanisms through which supervisor support training interventions operate. In addition, the present study examines an integrated Total Worker Health® intervention that combines health protection in the form of supervisor support training (i.e., family supportive supervisor behaviors and supervisor support for sleep health) with a health promotion approach in the form of feedback to improve sleep health behaviors. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial drawing on a sample of 704 full-time employees, results demonstrate that the Total Worker Health intervention improves employee job well-being (i.e., increased job satisfaction and reduced turnover intentions), personal well-being (i.e., reduced stress before bedtime), and reduces personal and social functional impairment at 9 months postbaseline through employee reports of supervisors' support for sleep at 4 months postbaseline, but not through family supportive supervisor behaviors. Effects were not found for general stress or occupational functional impairment outcomes. Implications are discussed, including theoretical mechanisms by which leadership interventions affect employees, supervisor training, as well as the role of integrated organizational and individual-level interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between leadership support and employee sleep.

Sleep is critical to employees' health and well-being, safety, and performance at work. Sleep leadership refers to supervisor behaviors that aim to improve employees' sleep, such as showing concern for the quantity and quality of employees' sleep. Using a sample of 180 employees and their 91 supervisors working as full-time National Guard military service members, we examined the relationship of sleep leadership and family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) to employees' sleep. As outcomes we measured objective sleep quality and quantity using validated wrist actigraphy methods, as well as self-reported sleep hygiene, subjective sleep quantity, and subjective sleep quality (sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment). As a novel contribution to the literature, we included both supervisors' self-reports and employees' reports of supervisors' engagement in sleep leadership and FSSB. Contradicting our hypotheses, our results show that higher employee ratings of FSSB were related to shorter objective sleep time. Regarding self-reported sleep outcomes, higher employees' ratings of sleep leadership were associated with less sleep disturbance and less sleep-related impairment among employees. Higher supervisors' self-ratings of FSSB, in turn, were related to better sleep hygiene and less sleep-related impairment among employees. Overall, our study demonstrates the importance of supportive supervisor behaviors for employees' sleep quality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Supervisor support training effects on veteran health and work outcomes in the civilian workplace.

This randomized controlled trial involved the development and evaluation of a supervisor support training intervention in the civilian workforce called VSST: Veteran-Supportive Supervisor Training. A theoretically based intervention in the workplace is critical to ensuring a smooth transition for service members and their families to civilian life, leading to improved psychological and physical health and improved work outcomes among service members. Thirty-five organizations were recruited and randomized to the VSST training program or a waitlist control group. Within those organizations, 497 current or former (post 9/11) service member employees were asked to complete baseline and 3- and 9-month follow-up surveys covering work, family, and health domains. The computerized 1-hr training, and the behavior tracking that followed were completed by 928 supervisors from the participating organizations. Intervention training effects were evaluated using an intent-to-treat approach, comparing outcomes for service members who were in organizations assigned to the training group versus those who were in organizations assigned to the control group. Moderation effects revealed the intervention was effective for employees who reported higher levels of supervisor and coworker support at baseline, demonstrating the importance of the organizational context and trainee readiness. The results did not show evidence of direct effects of the intervention on health and work outcomes. Qualitative data from supervisors who took the training also demonstrated the benefits of the training. This study affirms and adds to the literature on the positive effects of organizational programs that train supervisors to provide social support, thereby improving health and work outcomes of employees who receive more support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

A longitudinal study of the effects of dual-earner couples' utilization of family-friendly workplace supports on work and family outcomes.

Little research exists on the effects of the utilization of workplace supports on work-family conflict and job satisfaction. With family systems theory as a framework, 2 waves of national survey data were collected from 234 couples (N = 468) caring for children and for aging parents. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling techniques. Longitudinal results indicate that individuals' use of workplace supports was related to work-family conflict in the direction opposite to expectations and was related to job satisfaction in the direction consistent with expectations. Differential effects for wives versus husbands were found. In addition, couples' use of workplace supports was only minimally related to wives' outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of gender differences, family systems theory, and methodological and measurement issues related to the longitudinal study of utilization of workplace supports.