Science for a happier, healthier, longer-living workforce

Our Motivation

About

percent
​of your waking life will be spent working.

​Yet this activity that takes up so much of our time is consistently reported as one of the top sources of stress.
​The consequences of work stress are a serious threat to organizations and public health. ​

Work stress...

Loses organizations billions in preventable healthcare costs annually,

Causes over

deaths per year,
​

And is as dangerous to health as second hand smoke.

Lab Aims

 I/O psychologists have the ability and, therefore, responsibility to create workplaces that allow people to live long, healthy, and fulfilling lives inside and outside of work. 

​The WORST Lab aims to conduct research that...

​(1)
​ Identifies elements of modern work that threaten and support employees' physical health, mental health, and ability to live fulfilling personal lives, both immediately and over the lifespan.

(2)
​Tests and develops rigorous theory explaining the extent of and reasons for these effects.

​(3) 
​Highlights challenges to health faced by high-risk or marginalized groups including healthcare workers, racial and ethnic minorities, and sexual orientation minorities.

Strategies to drive change

Research alone cannot create change. Good intentions and cutting-edge methodology are not enough if science is not read, understood, and applied.

There have been millions of scientific articles published, but they can be difficult to access and interpret. Some estimate that around 1/3 of peer-reviewed articles in the social sciences are never cited by other researchers.

Aligned with the scientist-practitioner model, our lab commits to creating at least one output relevant to disseminating and/or applying our findings to a non-research audience for each new data collection (check out our Guides and Resources!)

Practical outputs include...

​Personalized stress and health reports for research participants,

White papers summarizing take-away points for employees and organizations,

Training sessions on occupational health topics including burnout, sleep, and work-life balance.