HELIOS-VUB Chair Mental well-being at work

About the Chair

Mental health in the workplace is under increasing strain. Yet little progress has been made in developing effective (preventive) policy measures that address the root causes of this strain. Studies indicate that the one-sided focus on “tertiary prevention” and reintegration is problematic and often leads to failure. Improvement lies instead in primary prevention (making the workplace healthier) and secondary prevention (preventing people with early symptoms from dropping out). The HELIOS-VUB Chair for Mental Well-being at Work is funded by the HELIOS Foundation.

Objectives

The workplace interventions focus on both primary and secondary prevention: on the one hand, preventing mental health issues, and on the other, identifying and addressing emerging problems early on to prevent absenteeism. These interventions will be developed in consultation with various selected organizations in Belgium. The HELIOS-VUB Chair aims to provide guidelines for prevention and intervention strategies in the workplace.

To achieve this objective, the study comprises five work packages:

1) Establishing a prospective career panel—that is, a representative group of employees who are systematically monitored over a longer period. This panel serves as a benchmark to accurately assess mental health issues in the selected workplaces,

2) Developing a methodological framework for the co-development of workplace interventions,

3) Applying this framework to specific cases at various workplaces in Belgium and across different sectors,

4) Developing personalized interventions through a new conceptualization of burnout,

5) Investigating facilitating and hindering leadership styles.