Addressing workload through experiments in a learning network
This project, in collaboration with Christelijke Mutualiteit (CM), explores how organizations can strengthen workable work and prevent absenteeism through small scale experiments and a learning network.
Type project
Research and development project with an experimental organizational network
In Flanders, more than one third of employees report experiencing work related stress, while workload remains a key risk factor for long term absence. Workload is rarely caused by a single, clear factor. It is usually the result of a combination of elements, such as:
the volume of work
the way work is organized
unexpected interruptions
and expectations within the organizational culture
Workload is therefore not just an individual issue, but is closely linked to daily work practices and organizational choices.
A significant group of employees is in the so called “orange zone”: they experience increasing pressure but have not yet dropped out. For this group, it is important to better understand which factors in their work context contribute to workload and what can help reduce it.
Despite numerous wellbeing initiatives, workload continues to rise in many organizations. Traditional solutions often fall short because they do not address the day to day reality of how work is actually organized.
Experimenting within your own organizational context
This project is based on the idea that there is no one size fits all solution to workload. What works in one organization cannot automatically be applied to another. That is why the project helps organizations discover for themselves what works in their specific context.
This happens through small, temporary experiments in daily work practices. Over the course of several weeks, organizations deliberately try out different ways of working. They track the impact and reflect together afterwards on what they have learned.
The goal is not to find a definitive solution right away, but to gradually discover what works and why.
The participating organizations form an experimental workplace lab where they exchange experiences and learn together what works in practice. This creates not only local learning, but also shared knowledge on how workload and work related stress can be addressed across different contexts.
Step by step: tackling workload in practice
The project runs over three years and brings together various organizations in a network focused on workable work. Within this network, organizations learn how to better understand and address workload and work-related stress.
In the first year, an approach is developed that enables organizations to set up their own small-scale experiments in daily work practices. Participants also follow a short learning trajectory in which they learn how to prepare, implement, and evaluate these experiments.
Organizations then carry out experiments within their own work context. Experiences are shared during network sessions, where participants exchange insights on what worked, what didn’t, and why. By combining these experiences, a clearer understanding gradually emerges of how workload can be addressed across different organizations.
The benefits of participating in the project
Organizations
Insight into workload and work related stress within their own context
Hands on experience with small scale experiments in daily work practices
Participation in a learning network
Better understanding of how to make workload open for discussion and more manageable
Employees
Active involvement in improving work practices
Room to explore and try out new ways of working
Policy & practice
Deeper insights into addressing workload
Concrete examples of experiments in practice
“Addressing workload does not require standard solutions, but a learning approach that starts from the reality of work.”
—
Eva Geluk, Professor of Mental Health at Work at Antwerp Management School
Practical tools and insights to address workload
The project sheds light on how workload arises in daily work practices and how organizations can deal with it in a realistic way.
Experiences are collected and shared within the network. This leads not only to learning at the organizational level, but also to broader insights into how workload and work related stress can be addressed across different contexts.
The project will result in:
a toolbox with practical guidance to set up your own experiments
a catalogue of experiments
publications and accessible knowledge sharing for organizations, prevention services, and policymakers
In this way, the project supports organizations in not only better understanding workload, but also addressing it in a sustainable and practice oriented way, with attention to both employees and the wider organizational context.
*De SERV’s Vlaamse Werkbaarheidsmonitor, 2023
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