Creating Compassionate Workplaces in 4 European countries: first findings from the EU-CoWork project
D De MoortelAbstract
Objectives
Individuals spend a significant portion of their lives at work. Therefore, they inevitably encounter end-of-life (EoL) experiences (i.e., being seriously ill, providing care to loved ones that are seriously ill, or experiencing the loss of someone close). Yet, workplace support for these experiences remains suboptimal and underexplored in occupational health research. The EU-CoWork project aims to design and evaluate Compassionate Workplace Programmes (CWPs) that foster supportive work environments and subsequently promote employee (mental) health.
Materials and methods
The EU-CoWork project combines (a) an international co-creative development and evaluation of tailored CWPs and (b) a mixed-methods process and impact evaluation. CWPs are being developed and implemented in more than ten workplaces across Austria, Belgium, Greece, and Sweden. EU-CoWork has currently collected baseline survey data, and conducted expert interviews and focusgroups with employees, and (HR) managers of 13 workplaces, which will, amongst others, serve as a benchmark for evaluating the impact of CWP interventions and changes over time.
Results
Preliminary findings from EU-CoWork are based on the baseline measurements, with international survey data indicating that a substantial share of European employees is affected by end-of-life (EoL) experiences. A large proportion of workers notice and feel the suffering of colleagues and take actions to alleviate suffering of colleagues (i.e. compassion towards others). Yet, fewer employees experience compassion from others. Expert interviews and focusgroups show that formal organisational responses (e.g. leave policies or workload adjustments) are perceived as compassionate or non‑compassionate depending on employees’ working conditions and contextual circumstances.
Conclusions
EU-CoWork’s outcomes will foster more compassionate and sustainable work environment across divers organisational settings.