Supportive leaders and well-being

We congratulate Leslie Hammer, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center and her team, on their recent blog shared by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This October 13, 2021 NIOSH Science Blog is titled “Supportive Leaders Drive Organizational Improvements and Employee Health and Well-Being.” It opens with this paragraph:

Job stress has significant impacts on the short and long-term health and well-being of the U.S. workforce. Interpersonal conflict, lack of supervisor support, low job control, task overload, and work-family imbalance are examples of job stressors that can have detrimental health effects and interfere with the ability of employees to function optimally both in and outside of work. Here, we introduce three web-based Total Worker Health® training programs that promote supportive leadership behaviors to reduce employee exposure to workplace stressors and corresponding job stress to improve employees’ physical and mental health, including cardiovascular disease risk factors such as hypertension

We encourage you to access and read the blog in its entirety.

Hammer and her team at the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center, which is housed at OccHealthSci, have spent the past 15 years developing and evaluating training interventions to promote healthy leadership within organizations. The work has stretched across diverse industries including retail, forestry, information technology, healthcare and military, and has been funded by NIOSH, the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense. The work has also produced several 1-hour evidence-based training programs designed to improve supervisor and managerial support for workers to facilitate improvements in employee health, safety, and well-being. These include:

  • Safety Support (also known as the Safety & Health Improvement Program, SHIP)
  • Sleep Support
  • Veteran Support

More information on these and other training opportunities can be found on the newly established Center for Supportive Leadership website. Information on SHIP can also be found on YourWorkPath.

Learn more about Dr. Hammer and her research team.