Employee Well-being, Work-related Outcomes
Conditions
Keywords
Workplace well-being, Rest cabin, Micro-breaks, Burnout, Workplace intervention, Recovery at work, Employee mental health, Mindful attention awareness, Psychological detachment from work
Brief summary
This study examines whether access to a rest cabin in the workplace supports employee well-being. Employees of a Canadian insurance company are randomly assigned to one of two groups: immediate access to the rest cabin or a waiting-list control group that receives access after one month. The rest cabin is installed directly in the workplace and can be reserved for short sessions during the workday. It offers multiple relaxation options, including guided meditation, massage therapy, light therapy, and a zero-gravity chair. Employees choose which options to use during each session. Participants complete questionnaires before group assignment and again one month later. Employees who receive immediate access to the cabin also complete additional follow-up questionnaires at later time points. The study compares changes in general well-being and work-related outcomes between employees who have access to the cabin and those who do not during the initial study period.
Detailed description
This pragmatic randomized controlled trial evaluates the effects of a multi-modal rest cabin on general and work-related well-being among employees of a Canadian insurance company. The study takes place in real-world workplace settings across multiple office locations. After providing informed consent, participants complete a baseline survey assessing general well-being and work-related outcomes. Participants are then randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) immediate access to the rest cabin or (2) a waiting-list control condition with delayed access. Employees assigned to the immediate-access group are encouraged to use the rest cabin over a four-week period. Cabin sessions are self-scheduled during work hours and are designed to be brief. The rest cabin is fully enclosed and located within the workplace. It includes several relaxation modalities, such as guided meditation, massage therapy, light therapy, and a zero-gravity chair. Participants are free to select and combine modalities based on their preferences during each session. Participants in both the immediate-access group and the waiting-list control group complete a follow-up survey one month after the baseline assessment. To examine whether any observed changes are maintained over time, participants in the immediate-access group also complete additional follow-up surveys two months and four months after baseline. It is hypothesized that workers in the experimental (vs. control) group would have better changes in scores in their general (positive and negative affect, flourishing, anxiety, depression, mindful attention awareness, insomnia) and workplace (thriving at work, burnout, absenteeism, presenteeism, job satisfaction, psychological detachment from work) positive and negative well-being when comparing Time 1 (follow-up survey) to Time 0 (baseline) (H1). Specific to those in the experimental condition, it is hypothesized that: positive changes observed following cabin use (at Time 1) would remain evident at the subsequent follow-up timepoints (Times 2 and 3), relative to baseline (H2), and changes in well-being outcomes between Time 1 and Time 0 would be greater for those who have used the cabin more often (H3). It is also hypothesized that: 4) the change in outcomes between T1 and T0 associated with being in the experimental (vs. control) condition (as discussed in H1) would be mediated by changes in psychological detachment from work and mindfulness awareness (H4), and 5) the relationship between cabin use frequency and changes in well-being outcomes (as discussed in H3) would be mediated by changes in psychological detachment and mindfulness awareness (also between T1 and T0; H5).
Interventions
DEVICERecharjme Multi-Modal Rest Cabin
Enclosed workplace cabin with guided meditation, massage, luminotherapy, and zero-gravity chair.
Sponsors
Mitacs
Laval University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Employee of participating insurance company * Aged 18 or older
Exclusion criteria
* Mental health leave in past year * Diagnosed mental health disorder
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Presenteeism (impaired productivity and troublesome symptoms at work) | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using the Employment Absence and Productivity Scale; Min.: 1; Max.: 5; Higher scores indicating a more negative outcome. |
| Absenteeism | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Calculation based on the World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire; Min.: 0; Max.: 100; Higher scores indicating a more negative outcome. |
| Job satisfaction | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using an adapted item from Life in Transition Survey; Min.: 1; Max.: 5; Higher scores indicating a more positive outcome. |
| Anxiety and depression | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using the two subscales of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4; Min.: 1; Max.: 4; Higher scores indicating a more negative outcome. |
| Insomnia | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using the Insomnia Severity Index; Min.: 0; Max.: 4; Higher scores indicating a more negative outcome. |
| Burnout (physical fatigue, cognitive weariness, emotional exhaustion) | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using the three subscales of the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure; Min.: 1; Max.: 7; Higher scores indicating a more negative outcome. |
| Flourishing | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using the Flourishing Scale; Min.: 1; Max.: 7; Higher scores indicating a more positive outcome. |
| Thriving at work | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using Index of Psychological Well-Being at Work (Thriving at Work Subscale); Min.: 0; Max.: 5; Higher scores indicating a more positive outcome. |
| Mindful attention awareness | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Carlson & Brown, 2005); Min.: 1; Max.: 6; Higher scores indicating a more positive outcome. |
| Psychological detachment from work | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using adapted items from Recovery Experience Questionnaire; Min.: 1; Max.: 5; Higher scores indicating a more positive outcome. |
| Positive and Negative Affect | Time 0 (baseline) to time 3 (four months after baseline) | Measured using the two subscales of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; Min.: 1; Max.: 5; For positive affect: higher scores indicating a more positive outcome; For negative affect, higher scores indicating a more negative outcome. |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed