Healthways, Inc. (HWAY) is a provider of specialized, comprehensive health and care support(SM) solutions to help millions of people maintain or improve their health and, as a result, reduce overall healthcare costs. Healthways’ solutions are designed to help healthy individuals stay healthy, mitigate and slow the progression of diseases associated with family or lifestyle risk factors, and promote the best possible health for those already affected by disease. Healthways also provides a national, fully accredited, complementary and alternative Health Provider Network, offering convenient access to individuals who seek health services outside of, and in conjunction with, the traditional healthcare system.
Research released last Friday from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reveals that the downward trend in overall well-being appears to be cushioned when workers experience a positive work environment; one where they get to use their strengths, and where their supervisors create a trusting environment. In the first six months of 2008, 56% of workers in high-quality jobs – those who express satisfaction with their work, report using their strengths daily in their area of work, and work in a culture of trust and where there is an employee-boss partnership – were classified as thriving. Only 39% of workers in low-quality jobs (having two or less of the above-mentioned attributes) were thriving.
Research from the Index also revealed that people in a negative work environment are less psychologically resilient and are more vulnerable to stress from economic downturns. While some stress in life is good stress, and necessary to motivate people, those in negative work environments report a high percentage of stress and worry without happiness or enjoyment.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is an ongoing, long-term measurement of personal well-being based on the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health as “not only the absence of infirmity and disease but also a state of physical, mental and social well-being.” The Well-Being Index determines the correlation between the places where people work and the communities in which they live, and how that and health-related factors impact their well-being.
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