Stress in the workplace: The effectiveness of mindfulness and positive psychology in the

Welsh Government.

Organisations can be fast-paced and can place pressure on their employees; when these work
demands and pressures outweigh the employee’s capabilities to cope with it and threatens
their performance, a stress response can occur (Le Pine, Le Pine, & Jackson, 2004). Stress is
an everyday part of being human, serving as a positive adaptive response to our environment
(Walter, 1932). However, when stress becomes chronic (i.e. continuous), stress manifests
itself in both physical and mental ways, for example; increased blood pressure, fatigue, slow
thinking or racing thoughts, depression, and mood swings (Canadian Centre for Occupational
Health and Safety, 2000). These changes, particularly the mental changes, can lead to
negative behaviours such as procrastination, changes in social habits and lead to poor job
performance (Bickford, 2005). According to the Labour Force Survey (2016/2017), 526,000
workers suffered from work-related stress, anxiety, or depression between 2016 and 2017,
with 12.5 million working days lost; these statistics highlight why work-related mental health,
and particularly stress, are major problems for workplaces.
Job stress comes from two different sources: The nature of the task, such as
complexity or time-pressure, or interpersonal stressors from conflict with others in the
organisation (Fiedler, 1992). Organisations implement several different strategies and
practices to tackle both these sources of stress in the workplace, and the strategies fall under
three brackets; individual, individual and team, or organisational (Petrie et al., 2018). Two
individual/team strategies that have exploded in popularity in workplaces are mindfulness and
positive psychology (or positive psychological resources); big businesses, such as those in
Silicon Valley, like Google, and governmental organisations have hailed the benefits of such
interventions and course (Norton, 2015). Mindfulness is defined as “Paying attention in a
particular way: On purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally” (Kabat-Zinn,
1994); it includes practices such as meditation and progressive-relaxation. Positive
psychology refers to a collective study of positive emotions, positive character traits and
productive, entrepreneurial thinking (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005); it focuses
around the traits hope, efficacy, optimism, and resilience (Avey, Luthans, Smith, & Palmer,
2010).
One organisation that suffers from absences caused by stress is the Welsh government.
Between 2012 and 2017, on average 321 people per year had been absent in the Welsh
government due to mental illness including stress (Freedom of Information [FOI], November
2017). By March 2018, there were 53 staff absent due to mental health (FOI, March 2018).

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The welsh government have, however, introduced a five-year health and wellbeing plan
beginning January 2017; this aims to give stress guidance for individuals and managers,
awareness training, and promotion of mental health. This included efforts to increase the
number of people taking positive psychology and mindfulness courses.
This essay will examine how the Welsh government are implementing mindfulness
and positive psychology and make a judgement of its efficacy to reduce stress. To do this,
research surrounding the causes of stress and the efficacy of mindfulness and positive
psychology will be discussed. Qualitative data gained from an interview with a Welsh
government employee will give context and an inside view into the organisations practices.

Method
To gain an understanding of how the Welsh government implement mindfulness and
positive psychology, a 40-minute interview was conducted with an employee from the
department of Economy and Infrastructure; they have had experience with the Health and
Wellbeing initiatives in the Welsh government. The employee opted to remain anonymous, so
will be referred to as AJG in this essay. This interview gives an employee and small-team
leader perspective of the Welsh government. The questions asked related to a wide range of
topics surrounding wellbeing, stress and training; statements referring to mindfulness, positive
psychology, wellbeing interventions and stress-training were extracted for analysis in this
essay. Analysis of Welsh government online information packs, intranet documents and
freedom of information requests was also undertaken to gain a more rounded view of the
issues.

Stress in the workplace

Healthy organisations are those that are successful at maintaining a workforce that is
characterised by good psychological, physical and mental health; these workforces are the
most financially and psychologically successful businesses (Cooper & Cartwright, 1994). In
order for these organisations to perform at their peak in these terms, companies should
understand the factors that cause stress in the workplace. One particularly well-established
theory of workplace stress is the Demand-Control model; when psychological demands are
higher than perceived work control, this results in adverse psychological strain (Karasek,
1979). This is a job-focussed theory, and organisations may focus on ensuring that the
demands placed on employees are reasonable; this can be done through quarterly appraisals
and leadership training (Kendall, Murphy, O’Neill, & Burnsall, 2000). Work demands include
a range of components, including workload, time-pressure, ambiguous roles (i.e. lacking

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information about the job requirements) and conflict in the workplace (Bent, 1998; Chan, Lai,
Ko, & Boey, 2000; Muchinsky, 1997; Toohey, 1994). Research has also found several other
factors that associate with employee stress levels; interviews from 12 organisations found
that demand-control situations, effort-reward imbalance, managerial style, and type of job
were also stress factors (Bhui, Dinos, Galant-Miecznikowska, Jongh, & Stansfeld, 2016).
However, job-related factors cannot alone be blamed for workplace stress, as this
ignores employees' distinct experiences and perceptions of their work days and stressors.
Individuals have variable personality traits that may help or hinder the way the person copes
with stress; resilience, for example, is seen as a key trait that positively predicts wellbeing
while negatively predicting stress (Britt, Shen, Sinclaire, Grossman, & Klieger, 2016). Thus,
stress cannot be attributed solely to a persons’ vulnerabilities or Job factors, but results from
the degree to which these actors ‘fit together’ (or not); for example, how well a persons’
social and psychological needs match the job environment and demands (Blau, 1981).
Although traits appear stable (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), they can be changed over time
and individuals can have a sense of agency over their thought patterns (Wright, 2005);
mindfulness and positive psychology can enable employees to have a sense of mastery over
their own mental states and reactions.

Mindfulness and Positive Psychology

Mindfulness aims to increase awareness of personal feelings and thoughts, to be less
judgmental towards these thoughts, and be more in the present than constantly thinking about
the future (Mindful Nation UK [MNU], 2015). Mindfulness can be practised in many settings,
from everyday situations such as your morning commute, to small classes in purpose-built
meditation rooms. It works through several processes including increasing attentional and
emotional regulation and body awareness; research has found that it results in a literal change
in brain and neural structure (e.g. increased grey matter density) (Holzel et al., 2011). The
most common and empirically supported delivery of mindfulness involves eight 2.5 hour
classes, one every week, with 10 minutes of individual daily mindfulness practice (Carmody
& Baer, 2009); however, this covers both Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (M-BCT)
that is designed for clinical populations, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and is
aimed at non-clinical populations (MNU, 2015). Because this demanding program is used for
clinical populations, it begs whether non-clinical populations can benefit from a shorter, less
time-intensive program; I will discuss this later in terms of research around shorter courses
and the Welsh government initiatives.

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 Positive psychology promotes a forward-thinking approach to work and life,
incorporating so-called positive resources of hope, optimism, resilience, and efficacy (i.e. the
confidence in personal ability) (Froman, 2010). Hope, for example, was found to positively
influence wellbeing and resilience in employees, relating positively to job satisfaction and
self-reported performance (Youssef, & Luthans, 2007); according to Youssef and Luthans
(2007), positive psychological resources contribute between 4-15% variance to work-related
outcomes, so are an important factor for companies to enhance in their workforce. This can be
done by increasing engagement of the workforce in enhancing their own wellbeing and
performance, instead of the organisation focusing efforts on managing people (Brann, 2018).
Positive psychology training is delivered via presentation or passive communication, whereby
the audience listens to theories and advice about increasing positive psychology in their life
and work (Academi Wales, 2018). The Welsh government tends towards this more passive
method of delivery, and the implications of this will be discussed in the next section.

Mindfulness and Positive psychology in the Welsh government.

The Welsh government prides itself on its employees’ health and wellbeing and has in
the past received awards for its good practice, such as the Corporate Health Standard Silver
award; the key demonstrable components for this award are organisational support,
communication, employee involvement policy development and monitoring (Healthy
Working Wales, 2018). As part of this, several health and wellbeing courses are compulsory
for employees:

“Everyone in the Welsh government has to do a number of mandatory

training courses, and anybody who is a manager has to do a number of
training courses over and above the mandatory ones for everybody working
as a civil servant.” (AJG)

The courses on mindfulness are not compulsory, however, according to the Welsh
government website (2018). This makes sense, because like any kind of therapy or holistic
activity, the individual must be open minded about the method and experience. Many
employees, especially in older generations, see these interventions as fads of the time,
possibly due to misunderstanding or poor information and communication about the approach
(Carter, Tobias, & Spieglhalter, 2016; MNU, 2016). This is a potential problem as only a
small minority of the workforce may begin mindfulness practice voluntarily; this is
highlighted by AJG:

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 “[There is] mindfulness that’s been set up within our office, and that’s an
hour a week, for people to attend… about half a dozen people go to the
mindfulness on a Thursday lunchtime; I’m still thinking about it.”

This small force of mindful people can have both benefits and disadvantages for the
organisation, dependent on the organisations view of employee feedback and employee-led
workplace changes. By taking mindfulness classes, individuals can become more aware of
their own negative thoughts and ineffective practices, and also any unhealthy working
conditions in the workplace (Walach et al., 2007). If organisations are open to employee
feedback and ideas for change, this may cause a positive outcome were the new ideas are
taken on board and monitored for their outcome. However, when organisations are
dysfunctional with less focus on employee feedback, this could cause conflict between those
who prefer the status quo or management and the mindful group; this could lead to disillusion
with the job and more stress, or resignation (Oxford Mindfulness Centre [OMC], 2016). The
Welsh government website states there is a ‘Whistleblowing’ policy in place, whereby if staff
suspect or see problems with workplace practices, they have a duty to report it (Welsh
Government [WG], 2016). Thus, the Welsh government is supportive of staff views and input,
so mindfulness courses in this organisation will likely enhance the positive side-effects rather
than the negative stress-inducing effects.
Another common reason that mindfulness is often not taken up is time constraints and
competing priorities in the working day; practising mindfulness or attending courses may
come last on the ‘list of importance’ (Carter et al., 2016). For example, in a clinical study for
the effectiveness of mindfulness, out of 131 potential participants, only 45% took part, citing
time constraints as the main reasoning (Carmody, 2008). For organisations this is a big issue
with competing demands in the day, meaning it is difficult for people to commit to the
average 2.5 hours per week of training. One way that workplaces are trying to get around this
to encourage staff to attend is by using mindfulness training based on brief practices (MBBP);
mindfulness but with a reduced training period or practice time (Arrendondo et al., 2017). The
Welsh government have opted for this, incorporating it into their ‘wellbeing hour’:

“The mindfulness session is on a Thursday lunchtime, but you can take it as

a wellbeing hour, or if you do that anyway you do something else as a
wellbeing hour. I think it depends how busy you are and if you have a
deadline to meet, whether you go to it or not…[The Wellbeing Hour] allows
for staff to have an hour a week, and they can split it however they want to.

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 It basically just allows you to take a small amount of time each week to focus
on your own health.”

Implementing this ‘wellbeing hour’ is a good approach, as it ‘permits’ workers to take

the time to think about their health and wellbeing needs, without being penalised. As for the
effectiveness of briefer mindfulness practices, evidence is sparse, but promising. For example,
Arrendondo et al. (2017) studied the effects of an MBBP stress reduction (1.5 hours) before
and after eight and 20 weeks, between a mindfulness and control group; their findings showed
the mindfulness group scored significantly better on several stress and mindful questionnaires
compared with the control group. A meta-analysis of 30 mindfulness courses ranging from 1
to 2.5 hours also found no difference in the effectiveness of short versus longer courses
(Carmody & Baer, 2009). This suggests that the Welsh government are valid in their use of 1-
hour sessions, and that these should be effective as long as the content is professionally
delivered.
However, another note of interest stated by AJG is the method of mindfulness delivery
in the Welsh Government:

“What I understand is that you sit, and basically, it’s a tape, and you sit and
listen to the tape and it tells you what to do. So, it’s not a person going and
doing it, it’s a recorded session.”

Although this method is good for distance mindfulness and saving money, whether it is an
efficacious method is questionable, especially as I found no research for ‘tape-delivered’
mindfulness. There has been research on mindfulness delivered via internet or online
resources, with positive findings showing substantial stress reduction and moderate increases
in mindfulness (e.g. Jayawardene, Lohrmann, Ereb, & Torabi, 2017; Spijkerman, Pots, &
Bohlmeijer, 2016); this shows that non face-to-face delivery can be effective in reducing
stress. However, I recommend that the Welsh government monitor the stress levels of
mindfulness participants, versus a group of employees who do not participate, to see whether
stress levels and mindfulness differ (i.e. is the tape-recorded program working). Using
qualitative or valid scales to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of stress
prevention programs is very important for ensuring interventions effective, and ensuring legal
health and wellbeing targets are being met (Biron & Karinaka-Murray, 2013).
Positive psychology in the Welsh government, unlike mindfulness, is compulsory in
some courses that employees are expected to attend, particularly those in positions of

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leadership. Although this is the case, there are also several other courses relating to positive
psychology that are open to anyone:

“There are actually a couple of workshops available open to anybody. One

is emotional resilience, one is positive psychology and another called
mindful advantage; overcome stress and develop resilience, and practical
mindfulness.”

This means that there are multiple options for taking lessons on positive psychology.
However, the names given to these courses and descriptions on the website seem ambiguous,
and this could affect the likelihood of employees attending these events. The name ‘positive
psychology’ can sometimes be mistaken as ‘common sense’ (Seligman et al., 2005). The
language used and context is very important in increasing the uptake of such courses in
workplaces. For example, at Google, uptake of a tailor-made mindfulness course was initially
very low when labelled ‘mindfulness’, however, when the name was changed to emotional
intelligence and personal effectiveness, uptake increased (Carter et al., 2016). This is likely
because in a work environment, stress can sometimes be seen as a ‘badge of honour’, so
removal of that may seem like the employee is less effective; making sure the names and
focusses of interventions are effectiveness-focussed may be more likely to encourage
participation than something sounding like ‘therapy’ or ‘common sense’. I would recommend
that the Welsh government conduct a survey on positive psychology courses attendees, and
whether those who had not attended had been put off by the name and descriptions; if this
were the case, the Welsh government should look for more productivity, rather than health-
based names and descriptions.
Not only are the names ambiguous, but AJG found the positive psychology course
content they attended to be ambiguous and difficult to implement in day-to-day work life:

“It was quite vague, because it was only half a day, it was really just to
understand what positive psychology is all about in terms of glass half empty
idea; it was more how people think…If it had been a full day, I’d have
benefitted more.”

It would benefit the organisation to ensure follow-up sessions for courses that may be deemed
as ambiguous by employees, or to have the course run over a few sessions. Evidence for this
comes from Avey et al. (2010); they tested the impact of psychological resources on
wellbeing over time of two time-points at three weeks apart, using online surveys. They found

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that positive resources led to desirable outcomes in wellbeing or stress; this shows how
exposing employees to more than one session of positive psychology may be better at
improving personal wellbeing management. Not only that, but using methods other than
lectures or presentations, such as the online surveys in the case of Avey et al. (2010), may
have a greater impact on wellbeing and stress (see also Luthens, Avey, & Patera, 2008). The
Welsh government should not take for granted that one method of delivery may be the most
effective, and should consult the literature before deciding which interventions to use. Doing
so may help employees manage perceptions of stress, but also save the organisation time and
money in terms of not wasting resources on courses that are, in reality, not having the desired
effect.

“I think the policies and procedures in place are excellent. I think there’s a
lot of opportunities for staff to understand stress, and how to alleviate stress,
and there are a lot of programmes put in place for staff to access
information and to assist with stress.”

Overall, AJG perceives the Welsh government as doing a superb job of helping its
employees to reduce and manage their stress through programs and courses, including
mindfulness and positive psychology, but sees issues which have been highlighted above.
That the Welsh government has a number of courses and interventions in places is positive,
and shows they care about tackling stress in their employees; however, they should
commission an examination and evaluation of the effectiveness of these courses over time.
According to AJG, the Welsh government are monitoring the use of the wellbeing hour by
staff, so do have in place action plans for monitoring; this should be extended to all forms of
health and wellbeing management to target the most effective methods:

“The welsh government are going to monitor it [wellbeing hour], to see how
many people are taking it up, and see whether it’s actually working or not.
And what people are doing in their wellbeing hour….As there is a pub
across the road…”

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