Friendly strangers

I write this From the Editor on a flight back to Boston when I was on a quick trip to the Azores. I find it interesting to engage in conversations with friendly strangers when on a flight. That is, a friendly stranger is someone you encounter unexpectedly who is approachable where you might make pleasant small talk. Typically, the small talk begins with where did you travel? where are you going? where are you from? and evolve into what do you do for work, favorite foods, music, family and so forth. For me, I always introduce myself as an occupational therapists and ergonomist which lends itself to explaining what I do if they are unfamiliar with the professions. On today’s flight, I was sitting next to a video game designer. I was fascinated by the serendipitous path of their career which evolved over the last 14 years, the workplace culture and the impact of the world economies on their profession. Our conversation evolved into them sharing that they have De Quervain’s tenosynovitis which was attributed to their mouse use. Of course, it gave me the perfect opportunity to suggest ergonomic strategies and changes they could make to their workstation. We had an engaging conversation until the people behind us asked if we could stop talking so they could sleep! Our pleasant conversation concluded with an exchange of a business card on my end and them finding me on LinkedIn. Perhaps in this case, the friendly stranger may become an acquaintance I can share I met on a flight.

This issue of WORK contains 40 papers on topics such as hearing loss, the effect of age on musculoskeletal injury compensation costs, De Quervain’s tenosynovitis (like the diagnosis the friendly stranger shared with me), anxiety, depression and stress in healthcare professionals, attrition and retention, organizational culture and many more topics that readers will find interesting.

This issue’s Editor ’ s Choice paper is The Effect of Organizational Culture in Health Services on Employee Flourishing co-authored by Hüseyin Tolga Çağatay, Yüksel Demirel, Bekir Ertuğrul, and Esra Tekinyıldız. The authors conducted a descriptive study of almost 300 healthcare professionals working in a university hospital. They shared that “Culture has an important role in maximizing the value of human capital, which is regarded as the main source of organizational effectiveness”. In their study, they reported that the perception of organizational culture had a positive impact on employee flourishing. This finding made me think of the conversation with the friendly stranger who described their organization culture as demanding, but with positive feedback from upper management on a job well done.

I am thoroughly enjoying being the moderator of our Learn at WORK podcast and learning more about the lives and work experiences of our guests. An upcoming episode is with editorial board member Dr. Bhibha Bhibha M. Das, PhD, MPH, FACSM, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesio-logy at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, USA. I’m sure you will enjoy learning from her.

Learn more about WORK on our website: workjournal.org

With gratitude,

Founding Editor, WORK

Occupational therapist & ergonomist

E-mail: [e-mail]

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