The effects of a workplace intervention on employees’ cortisol awakening response

ABSTRACT

Work-related stressors are known to adversely affect employees’ stress physiology, including the cortisol awakening response (CAR) – or the spike in cortisol levels shortly after people wake up that aids in mobilizing energy. A flat or blunted CAR has been linked to chronic stress and burnout. This daily diary study tested the effects of a workplace intervention on employed parents’ CAR. Specifically, we tested whether the effects of the intervention on CAR were moderated by the type of days (workday versus non-work day). Data came from 94 employed parents from an information technology firm who participated in the baseline and 12-month diurnal cortisol components of the Work, Family, and Health Study, a group-randomized field experiment. The workplace intervention was designed to reduce work-family conflict (WFC) and implemented after the baseline data collection. Diurnal salivary cortisol was collected on 4 days at both baseline and 12 months. Multilevel modeling revealed that the intervention significantly increased employees’ CAR at 12 months on non-workdays, but this was not evident on workdays or for employees in the usual practice condition. The results provide evidence that the intervention was effective in enhancing employees’ biological stress physiology particularly during opportunities for recovery that are more likely to occur on non-work days.

RÉSUMÉ

Les facteurs de stress liés au travail affectent la physiologie du stress des employés, y compris la réaction d’éveil au cortisol (CAR) – c’est-à-dire la hausse des niveaux de cortisol peu après le réveil qui aident à mobiliser l’énergie. Une CAR plat ou émoussé a été lié au stress chronique et à l’épuisement professionnel. Cette étude quotidienne a examiné les effets d’une intervention en milieu de travail sur la CAR des parents employés. Plus précisément, nous avons demandé si les effets de l’intervention sur la CAR étaient modérés par le type de jours (journée de travail versus journée hors travail). Les données provenaient de 94 parents employés à une entreprise de technologie de l’information. Ils ont participé aux données de base et de la collection du cortisol diurne pendant 12 mois dans une étude sur le travail, la famille et la santé, une expérience de groupe randomisée. L’intervention sur le lieu de travail a été conçue pour réduire le conflit travail-famille (WFC) et a été mis en œuvre après la collecte de données de base. Le cortisol salivaire diurne a été recueilli pendant 4 jours à l’inclusion et ensuite après 12 mois. La modélisation multiniveau a révélé que l’intervention augmentait significativement la CAR des employés à 12 mois en dehors des jours de travail, mais cela n’était pas évident ni les jours de travail ni pour les employés randomisés à la condition de pratique habituelle. Les résultats indiquent que l’intervention a été efficace pour améliorer la physiologie du stress biologique des employés, en particulier pendant les jours hors travail.

KEYWORDS:

• Cortisol awakening response (CAR)
• daily diary
• workplace intervention
• multilevel modeling

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Réponse au réveil au cortisol (CAR)
• étude quotidien
• intervention sur le lieu de travail
• modélisation multi-niveau

Acknowledgements

The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of these institutes and offices.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

David M. Almeida is a professor at the Pennsylvania State University in the department of Human Development and Family Studies and affiliated with the Center for Healthy Aging.

Soomi Lee is an assistant research professor at the Pennsylvania State University in the department of Biobehavioral Health and affiliated with the Center for Healthy Aging.

Kimberly N. Walter is a postdoctoral fellow, NIAAA T32 Institutional Training Grant at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in the department of Psychiatry.

Katie M. Lawson is an assistant professor at Ball State University in the department of Psychological Science.

Erin L. Kelly is a professor in Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management and affiliated with the Institute for Work and Employment Research.

Orfeu M. Buxton is an associate professor at the Pennsylvania State University in the department of Biobehavioral Health, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in the Division of Sleep Medicine, associate neuroscientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the department of Medicine, and an adjunct associate professor at Harvard Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted as part of the Work, Family and Health Network, which is funded by a cooperative agreement through the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U01HD051217, U01HD051218, U01HD051256, U01HD051276), National Institute on Aging (U01AG027669), Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U010H008788). Special acknowledgement goes to Extramural Staff Science Collaborator, Rosalind Berkowitz King, PhD (NICHD) and Lynne Casper, PhD (now of the University of Southern California) for design of the original Workplace, Family, Health and Well-Being Network Initiative. We also thank Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2004-12-4), The W.T. Grant Foundation (9844), The Penn State General Clinical Research Center (NIH Grant M01-RR-10732), and the Penn State Social Science Research Institute for providing additional support for this research.