Wellness in the Workplace - A behavioural experiment with DBS Bank to uncover what's really needed to make a difference

“People’s mental wellbeing has been worsening. In the last 10 years the number of people expressing stress, sadness, anxiety, anger or worry has been on the rise, reaching its highest levels since the Gallup surveys began.” 2023/2024 Human Development Report, United Nations Development Programme

Supporting workplace wellness is hard to get right

Employee stress levels are on the rise globally – over 80% of all employees say they are stressed, and unmanageable stress now impacting a quarter of Gen Z employees. And it’s not just front-line employees who feel the effects, 25% of leaders feel burned out most or all the time. Given the long hours spent at work, there are many opportunities for organisations to intervene and help employees pay more attention to their health and equip them with skills to manage stress and minimise burnout risk.?

In recent years there has been an uptick in individual-level mental health interventions like mindfulness, resilience, stress management and wellbeing apps.? Many organisations (over 85% worldwide) have rolled out wellbeing initiatives through employee assistance programs, workshops, activities, and targeted campaigns to support their staff. ?

But there is sometimes a disconnect between the wellness initiatives offered and the actual needs and preferences of employees, leading to low participation rates.

This is supported by recent research by the University of Oxford which found “little evidence in support of any benefits from wellness interventions with even some small indication of harm,” noting that although mindfulness apps or meditation can be effective for individuals, they can be counterproductive in workplaces with poor management or a negative culture.

Hybrid work is also seen as another strategy to support wellbeing at work – many organisations like DBS have chosen to retain a flexible work arrangement, allowing employees to work from home when required, giving them the space for ‘heads-down’ work.? But while working from home enables employees to balance “on” and “off” moments during the day, when in the office employees are now hyper-focused on work activities with reduced time and opportunities for breaks.?

This edition of Work Explorer reviews behavioural science-based experiments that we undertook with DBS Bank to examine not just what works but in what context and why.? We hope you will be surprised and challenged by some of the results as we were!

Digging deep into what might work and why

No organisation wants to waste valuable resources on wellness initiatives that don’t work, and we should evaluate rigorously the methods used to assess the impact and effectiveness of wellness programs to ensure they provide tangible benefits to both employees and the organisation.

In an internal DBS-led survey a few years ago, employees voiced their desire for more “reset” spaces as they see work and life being more integrated.? However, at a more fundamental level there was simultaneously a fear of judgement when using such spaces, especially during work hours.? The narrative of wellness needed to change.

So Workplace Revolution partnered with DBS Bank to ask ourselves:

“might there be ways to influence how employees integrate wellness practices in the office and to nudge the conversation on wellbeing at work?”

Further investigation suggested that incorporating wellness breaks in the office can improve performance and overall employee well-being.? Several studies have explored different types of breaks and their effects on cognitive performance, stress reduction, trust and empathy, physical health and overall productivity.

Our experiment goals

We decided to jointly investigate how spaces and prompts could encourage employees to incorporate wellness breaks into their workday, using a behavioural science approach to conduct a series of rigorous in-situ experiments, founded on hypotheses drawn from credible institutional and internal research.? The experiments were designed to achieve three main outcomes that could be replicated in future:

1. Awareness/Knowledge: employees know where to go, when to go and what to do for their wellness (Understanding)
2. Effectiveness: employees feel recharged after using the space and the tools/resources that support their personal wellness journey/practices (Utility)
3. Psychological Safety: employees feel a sense of permission from supervisors, peers, and company leadership to use the space, and so allow themselves to use the space and the tools/resources the way they want (Motivation).

We hypothesised that specific characteristics of a space design would help employees take initiative to integrate wellness practices into their day:

• A multi-functional space that addresses different stress responses;
• Curated functional zones for reset and decompression to increase the perceived level of safety in using the space and reduce overall perception of stress;
• Different types of resources and spaces to increase the likelihood of employees making wellness practices part of their work routine during office hours;
• Informational prompts that motivate people to increase their knowledge and try new approaches;
• Nudges to encourage positive mindset and behaviours during practice; and
• The ability to personalise wellness practices to encourage a sense of autonomy in using the space to meet individual needs.

What our experiment revealed

1.??There are different ways of pursuing wellness at work

There is no one-size-fits-all solution; as individuals we all recharge differently.? While some may find comfort in retreating to a personal safe space away from external activities, others may require an active workout to disconnect from the morning’s intense discussions.?

Offering our employees choice is the first step to acknowledging and inviting them to engage in their desired wellness practice in the office

2.??Simplicity and adaptability are more important than an over-engineered design

The experimental wellness space included different zones and set-ups to give employees a choice about where to go and what to do depending on their needs and preferences, and whether they were alone or with colleagues.?

We found that there was a fine balance between a nudge that gave people permission and ideas, and one that people felt was too prescriptive or detailed which created unwanted effort for users and was mostly ineffective.?

Instead, pairs and small groups often visited to ‘check out’ the space before returning to use it another time.

While the prompts and nudges were a bit ‘hit and miss,’ the simple, intuitive, flexible and unintimidating furniture and elements worked well for people.? Instead of following suggested activities, most said that a relaxed ambience that allowed them to get away from noises and have the privacy of some “me” time was most effective to reset/recharge.?

The less over-engineered the design and tools, the more users seemed to feel comfortable using and adapting the space to their needs.?

Across all four zones employees consistently said the most beneficial activities were surprisingly simple – chatting quietly with a colleague, browsing their phones, or taking a nap/mindfulness break.

This simplicity and modesty of design encouraged people to take decent breaks – the Reconnect and Replenish zones were used for an average of 28 minutes, frequently in pairs or small groups.? The Reflect and Release zone were mostly used by individuals for close to 20 minutes on average.

3.??Psychological safety is important for everyone, but explicit permission help address the stigma around breaks at work

We were not surprised to find that a sense of privacy and personal space was crucial to encourage activities that are not typical office activities - such as wellness practices.? Almost one quarter of the wellness space users we interviewed felt even the most private zones were still “too exposed” to use.

“The partition to be more opaque so can block while doing stretching.”

“It requires more privacy to relax, still quite exposed as it is.”

“Really like the privacy screens, feels more hidden.”

“Felt like intruding others’ space if to walk around the floor through the zones.”

However employees did say that the explicit prompts and nudges gave them tacit ‘permission’ to use a zone for a specific practice by signalling what behaviours and activities are encouraged.

But psychological safety as a concept runs deeper – it is naturally affected by non-spatial elements such as fear of judgement from managers and peers.? Lack of sufficient psychological safety can manifest in different ways, such as being ‘too busy’ or not wanting to be perceived as not hard working, or as being deficient or unable to cope with their role.? These fears discourage employees from actively taking care of their wellbeing in the office. ?

4.??Time is needed for behaviours to change, and awkward behaviours to shift to accepted behaviours

Months after the experiment ended we observed a different set of behaviours around wellness space utilisation.

Firstly, we noticed that while utilisation of the wellness space was concentrated during the lunch period in the original experiment, later data showed the utilisation peaking several times during the day.? This suggests a growing acceptance that the space is available for use anytime throughout the day, not just when you’re “allowed” to break at lunch.

Secondly, while initial observations showed a high sense of self-consciousness around privacy and type of activity amongst users, over time we’ve noticed many users comfortably laying down with yoga-mats and cushions in a space which would’ve been considered too ‘open’ when the experiments were first run.? Perhaps it is a sense of ‘safety in numbers’ that have led to this change;

seeing that these behaviours are accepted, a norm has been created around how users would like to use the space.?

5.??Generational and culture differences matter

When we subsequently created wellness interventions in other Asian countries, they supported our theory that wellness preferences and practices in the office are influenced significantly by gender, culture, and ethnicity, as well as other personal factors.? These factors shape how people perceive and engage with wellness programs and activities, so it’s important to be aware of site demographics, consult appropriately and gather systemic feedback when new wellness interventions are being designed and implemented at different sites.

For example, Gen Z’s have grown up in an era where mental health conversations have been normalized, reducing the stigma associated with seeking out mental health services and becoming much more comfortable speaking about it. ?As a result, they place a higher priority on their wellbeing at work - 60% of Generation Z said they would strongly consider leaving their current job if offered a new one with significantly better mental health benefits, and just over half of new graduates would turn down a job offer if an employer did not offer work/life balance.?

While wellness initiatives must be flexible, adaptive and sufficiently diverse to support all employees in a specific office environment, local demographics such as age will inform aspects such as accessibility, privacy and permission, balance of active versus passive nudges and spaces, and the level of communication needed to improve personal awareness.

Beyond place to permeate

We carried out the wellness space study so we could better understand employee preferences, practices and perceived permission for self-initiated wellness in the office.? The evidence-based research supported our past experience and anecdotal feedback that suggested wellness needs are diverse, changeable, personal and influenced by demographics.

Although some of the wellness zones in our experiment space were designed to promote a physical element of wellbeing practice (yoga, stretching, walking on the pebbles etc), we frequently observed spaces being used for more sedentary activities.?

This suggests that in future we could consider integrating opportunities for light physical activity and posture change closer to team areas, making it easy and not overly prescriptive, and educating employees about the benefits could help bolster this dimension of wellness.? For example, activity-promoting features in team areas like sit-stand desks and flexible workspaces have been proven in other organisations to contribute positively to employee physical activity levels and overall well-being when they are readily available and well-integrated into the daily routines of workers.

We hope that as understanding of wellness evolves and becomes mainstream within the organisation that there will come a day where practicing wellness and resting at work becomes a norm that can be done anywhere in the office - not just in a dedicated wellness space.?

Workplace wellness is complex and multi-disciplinary

Ultimately, workplace wellness is complex, shifting, contextually dependent and intensely personal.? Organisational challenges, priorities, and resources to support wellness also vary significantly.

Wellness - like related aspects of employee engagement and experience – is not the domain of any one group or area of expertise in the organisation.

Corporate real estate professionals provide physical enablers and resources and influence mood and perceptions.

Human capital experts design and implement management training and coaching programs, cultural initiatives, employee communication and development programs, workplace policies and flexible work programs and influence performance management incentives and measures.

Technology teams evaluate and rollout programs and apps to support company-wide and individual wellness practices, and facilitate data collection, analysis and reporting to monitor and measure the outcomes of wellness programs.

And managers have an undisputed role in influencing productivity, psychological safety, employee engagement and job satisfaction.? Helping managers help their teams is a sure-fire way to amplify the results of well-designed wellness programs and spaces.

When corporate real estate, human resource and tech professionals recognise the different roles they have in influencing the return on wellness investments and commit to communicating and collaborating across silos, the results are more likely to be sustainable, adaptable, and meaningful approaches to empowering and encouraging employees to help themselves.

We envisage a time not far into the future where wellness at work becomes what we do, not where we sometimes go.

Acknowledgement

This paper was published with the involvement and approval of DBS Bank Limited.? Our thanks to the DBS Corporate Real Estate Strategy and Administration Workplace Experience Team for partnering with Workplace Revolution to undertake and share this experimental research, and for being open to being challenged and surprised during the process.