Being urged to optimise every aspect of our lives to improve well-being is sometimes counterproductive, say two organisation researchers
Fitter, happier, more productive. If you need a wry slogan for the growing pursuit of wellness or well-being at every turn then Radiohead's lyric seems a good fit. And if there is a natural home for talking up wellness, then medicine may be it. American surgeon and writer Atul Gawande recently argued medics should not just ensure the health and survival of patients, they should also seek to enhance well-being. For Gawande, that means nothing less than "sustaining the reasons one wishes to be alive".
But medicine is far from the only walk of life to embrace this idea. It has crept into much of society. The UK's Office of National Statistics now measures national well-being to gauge policy impact. Museums justify their existence on the basis of their contribution to well-being. Each year, thousands of university students in the US sign voluntary "wellness contracts", pledging to abstain from anything vaguely unhealthy. You can even find such initiatives in prisons.
Perhaps most pervasive though are the growing number of companies, in the US and UK, that offer corporate well-being or workplace wellness programmes. In the US, around half of all employers with 50 or more staff offer such schemes.
It sounds like a good idea. But, given the enthusiasm with which they are promoted, are wellness programmes always wonderful? A body of research points to unexpected side effects and impacts that don't always match expectations.
Discussing disgust
For starters, there is evidence suggesting that paying attention to your happiness, a crucial part of well-being, can actually make you less happy. In one study, two groups watched a video that usually makes people happy – a figure skater winning a prize. Afterwards, participants filled in a questionnaire to assess happiness. The only difference was that before viewing the video, one group read a statement emphasising the importance of happiness and the other group did not. Those who did not read the statement were more happy after the video. Consciously focusing on our happiness can backfire.
An obsessive focus on wellness can also make us more judgmental, potentially worsening societal divisions. Those who highly value well-being tend to view those who don't come up to their high standards as "disgusting", even if the truth is they can't afford a personal yoga instructor or the latest lifelogging technology.
A fascinating stream of research in moral psychology has found that when feelings of disgust are triggered, we tend to rapidly make highly punitive moral judgements. For example, we are more likely to harshly judge people who "turn our stomach" and we ascribe morally unattractive traits to them, such as being lazy and untrustworthy.
While workplace programmes promise great things, they sometimes deliver disappointing results. For instance, some studies have found wellness initiatives only helped a small number of employees lose on average half a kilogram over a year. While any weight loss is not to be sniffed at, it is uncertain whether such modest results are worth the billions spent achieving them.
It is hard to argue against a healthy diet, regular exercise, not smoking and drinking in moderation. However, we say wellness can become a problem and deserves greater scrutiny when it is an unceasing command people feel they must live up to and it becomes a moral demand. When this happens, it can actually undermine the very thing it tries to promote.
Profile
André Spicer is a professor of organisational behaviour at Cass Business School, London, and Carl Cederström is associate professor in organisation theory at Stockholm University, Sweden. Their new book is The Wellness Syndrome (Polity)
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