Response to Enhancing Well-being in the University Workplace: The Context of Higher Educational Institution (JPC-23-0187)

We thank the authors of the letter to the editor regarding our article in the Journal of Primary Care and Community Health. ¹ We agree that no single solution exists for the complex issue of burnout among health care workers. Approaches to prevent and manage burnout should address all categories of burnout drivers and, as the letter writers recommend, should model a responsibility for well-being that is shared by both the individual workers and the organizations in which they learn and work.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the ways we think about the workplace. As many workers moved into remote or hybrid work environments, known structures that support well-being changed; for example, social connectedness decreased. ² Social connection and well-being in the workplace are current priorities of the US Surgeon General. ³ Well-being in the workplace is supported by a culture of fostering positive health outcomes, and in turn, a healthy workforce promotes productivity, higher job satisfaction, lower turnover rates, and decreased burnout.^{4 -6} Although we acknowledge that factors outside the workplace do contribute to individual health and well-being, the workplace environment contributes to the well-being of the organization and the community at large.

The US Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health & Well-being is a model to cultivate and sustain well-being at work. ⁵ The Surgeon General’s report discusses the “Five Essentials for Workplace Mental Health and Well-being”: 1) protection from harm, 2) connection and community, 3) work-life harmony, 4) mattering at work, and 5) opportunities for growth. ⁵ This framework may be 1 approach to help guide health care, academic, and other organizations to develop and use comprehensive strategies aimed at supporting well-being at an organizational level.

The evolution of well-being in the workplace continues to be dynamic and complex. Ongoing discussions, such as this exchange of ideas, draw awareness to the importance of workplace well-being. We hope that our study encourages future interventional research studies that will identify effective methods for improving work-life integration and well-being.