The Working for Wellness Program: RCT of an Employee Well-Being Intervention

This paper details the design and evaluation of a positive psychology-based employee well-being program. The effect of the
program on well-being was evaluated using a mixed method design comprising of an RCT to assess outcome effectiveness, and
participant feedback and facilitator field notes to assess process and impact effectiveness. Fifty government employees were
randomly allocated to either an intervention or a control group (reduced to n = 23 for complete case analysis). The intervention
group participated in the 6-week Working for Wellness Program and completed measures of subjective, psychological, affective
and work-related well-being (SWB, PWB, AWB and WWB) at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and three and 6 month follow-ups.
The control group completed the questionnaires only. As predicted, mixed ANOVAs revealed improvements in SWB and PWB for intervention
group participants over time relative to control participants but these effects had reduced by time 4. There was a main effect
of group on AWB in the predicted direction but no effect on WWB. Participant feedback indicated that the focus on strengths
and group delivery were the most effective components of the program. Key issues were sample attrition and a lack of on-the-job
support for change. Findings suggest employees can learn effective strategies for sustainably increasing their subjective
and psychological well-being.