Enhancing Employee Well-being and Mental Health Through AI

Today’s workplaces are characterized by an environment that is often detrimental to well-being, as our lives are technologically overloaded with work that leads to stress and burnout. There is growing recognition that for business to continue operating successfully and at a profit, it is important to address the mental well-being of employees. In this regard, wellness services are actively being developed and are now moving away from standard cookie-cutter solutions to solutions with a personalized, technological approach. This chapter will look at artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) through the theory of positive emotions (PERMA) developed by Martin Seligman to create a more holistic understanding of technological advancement in wellness. It’s a qualitative case study of three companies using innovative technologies for well-being: Happily.ai, Amazon, and Deloitte. The tools of AI are applied by Amazon to assess the mood of employees and recognize early symptoms of burnout to provide quick assistance to employees in distress to keep them positive. Deloitte has utilized VR tools to assist employees with emotional resilience and stress management in a controlled, safe space. Happily.ai utilizes AI mindfulness to help employees have an improved emotional experience and build healthier workplace relationships that ultimately lead to a sense of accomplishment and connection in the long term. PERMA will provide with a theoretical backbone on technology use in workplace wellness which could help to set the stage for sustainable business decision-making more broadly, as technology continues to increase in importance for data-driven predictions.