**3. Job crafting/leisure crafting**

Another important happiness-increasing intervention for hybrid-working employees is job crafting. Job crafting acknowledges the fact that employees proactively shape their tasks around their needs and wishes, which can be done at the workplace, at home or virtually. Slemp and Vella-Brodrick [49] claim that job crafting is a promising yet relatively unexplored approach that employees can use to boost their well-being. Job crafting can be executed on three different levels: 1) task level (e.g. changing the nature or scope of the task), 2) relationship level (e.g. deciding how and with whom to collaborate) and 3) cognitive level (e.g. reframing the meaning and purpose of certain tasks to create more meaningful work). Various job crafting examples have been put forward [50] and these would work equally well for hybrid-working employees. One of the most influential job crafting studies was conducted by Wrzesniewski, Dutton and Debebe [44] who showed that some of the cleaning staff in a hospital actively crafted their jobs to make their jobs more meaningful. Those active crafting activities ranged from talking to patients to comfort them, helping relatives of patients find their way around the hospital or even changing the environment for patients in coma to provide a more stimulating atmosphere, which was believed to help with their recovery. All of those activities were not in their job description, but this group of cleaning staff did it anyway to find a higher purpose within their job. Berg, Wrzesniewski and Dutton [51] present a variety of practical examples of what job crafting can look like on a task, relationship and cognitive level. One of the examples of task crafting (changing the scope/nature of tasks) is quoted from Berg et al. ([51], p. 166):

*"I really enjoy online tools and Internet things . . . So I've really tailored that aspect of the written job description, and really "upped" it, because I enjoy it. I spend hours exploring what else we're paying for with this service . . . So it gives me an opportunity to play around and explore with tools and web applications, and I get to learn, which is one of my favorite things to do. (Associate/Coordinator #3, Non-Profit)"*

Some scholars also developed relevant job crafting training interventions. For example, Van de Heuvel and associates [52] created a short training intervention (4 weeks) based on the Job Demands-Resource model, which asks participants to reflect on their demands and resources at work to shape their work environment in a way that increases resources and decreases demands. This resulted in a personal crafting plan with self-chosen job crafting goals.

The concept of 'crafting' has also been successfully applied to leisure time. One reason for this is the fact that some job roles leave relatively little space for job crafting because of a high degree of standardisation of tasks or a negative organisational culture where crafting activities are not encouraged [49]. Leisure crafting is characterised by Petrou et al. [53] as a technique to help people structure their leisure time according to three core principles 1) goal setting, 2) learning and 3) human connections. By applying these three core principles to a hobby or leisure activity, people can obtain more meaning from their leisure time, which contributes more effectively to their well-being. Research on the effects of leisure crafting as well as relevant training interventions are emerging and so far, only a handful of leisure crafting studies are available [53]. Despite this, leisure crafting is likely to become an influential technique to increase subjective well-being, in particular for those who feel that job crafting for them is limited. A variety of training courses are available for job crafting and leisure crafting [52].

### **4. Acts of kindness**

Performing acts of kindness is gaining more and more importance as an intervention technique that enhances people's well-being—be it at work or elsewhere [43]. Acts of kindness are commonly defined as 'voluntary, intentional behaviours that benefit another and are not motivated by external factors such as rewards or punishment' ([54], p. 63). There is now a substantial body of literature demonstrating how acts of kindness could be performed to be beneficial to one's well-being and how to make them more effective.

It is generally recommended that people avoid taking the approach to 'be kind to others as much as I can', but rather identify how to be kind to others to obtain the greatest personal happiness boost from their actions. Furthermore, performing different acts of kindness has been shown to boost happiness more than performing similar acts of kindness repeatedly—so variety is key [43]. The frequency and timing of people's acts of kindness are important as well. Research shows that performing several acts of kindness in one day increases happiness more than performing a daily single act of kindness throughout an entire week [53]. Dunn, Aknin and Norton [55] show that the size of your kind action does not seem to matter. For example, gifting \$5 or \$20 does not make a significant difference with regard to their own happiness benefits.

However, receiving feedback on how one's act of kindness has been perceived by the recipient typically increases the happiness of the giver. Another strand of research has shown that the act of kindness needs to be genuine, which means it needs to be heartfelt rather than a mechanical, cold act. This obviously differs from person to person, and what is an authentic, heartfelt act of kindness for one person might be a more or less meaningless act for another person. So, investing time to understand what the beneficiary appreciates helps in preparing appropriate acts of kindness. However, for those who work remotely, getting to know colleagues can be challenging, since most online meetings offer limited time for casual conversations, including compliments and act of kindness. The occasional corridor or water fountain chats have become rare, so it is important to find time and plan for them. For example, hybrid-working employees can create 'kindness rounds', where colleagues are encouraged to compliment and acknowledge each other's success and achievements [56]. Research also suggests that the happiness-boosting effect of an act of kindness can be increased if people see the positive impact of their actions on others [55]. Finally, remembering one's acts of kindness can also have happiness-boosting effect of equal strength to performing the actual act of kindness itself [57].

Given the nature of this intervention technique, it seems self-explanatory that acts of kindness could be performed at work as well as in private life domain. This is especially important as positive effects in one domain also have positive spill-over effects in other domains [42]. Hybrid-working employees can be kind to one another by, for example, holding the door open, offering advice or providing a compliment both at work and in their private lives. Sometimes, all this can happen without being aware of it. However, as previously explained, acknowledging the acts of kindness, remembering and focusing on the positive impact of their actions on others can boost people's well-being [55, 57].

### **5. Gratitude exercises**

Gratitude exercises have been identified as an important happiness-increasing intervention technique and have been found effective in a number of different

### *Selected Well-Being Interventions for Hybrid-Working Employees DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106766*

settings including at work and in one's personal life [50, 58]. Peterson and Seligman ([59], p. 30) define gratitude as 'being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen, taking time to express thanks'. The components of gratitude are numerous and include behaviours, emotions and cognitive elements [60]. Gratitude exercises and associated interventions have been found effective in boosting well-being across different age groups and professions, from college students [61] to soldiers [62].

Gratitude exercises are flexible and can be performed with various people (friends, colleagues, neighbours) in a range of different places—onsite and online. Gratitude exercises are recognised as another important technique to increase subjective well-being, and they are useful in various life domains. According to Wood, Froh and Geraghty [63], there are three main types of gratitude exercises: the gratitude list, grateful contemplation and behavioural expression of gratitude. The first refers to writing a list of things for which one is grateful. Ideally, this is done on a regular and daily basis. The second exercise, grateful contemplation refers to a short intervention that can boost positive mood in the short run. The exercise encourages people to think and reflect upon the things they are grateful for. Finally, the behavioural expression of gratitude refers to the act of expressing gratitude to someone, which can be done in writing or in person [63].

The three gratitude exercises could all be applied by hybrid-working employees. For instance, a meeting (both with colleagues and with friends) could start by creating a gratitude list and sharing positive thoughts. Here, the gratitude intervention can be verbal, with the use of gratitude affirmations. Another gratitude exercise is thanking people, which could be verbal or written. Some behavioural expressions of gratitude could be writing gratitude notes to both colleagues and friends. Other simple gratitude behaviours could be smiling to acknowledge someone's presence and asking them about their day. Another well-recognised way to practise gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal where the entries act as reflections of what the writer is grateful for. Gratefulness journaling can increase people's positive emotions and improve their personal growth and accomplishments [60]. It can also strengthen friendships and social relationships [64], and stimulate engagement in prosocial behaviours, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic [65]. According to scholars, this gratitude intervention can increase people's empathy and affect, and in turn, their well-being [65]. There is evidence showing that the perceived friendship quality, generated by gratitude journals, can also create long-term life satisfaction [64]. Gratitude exercises also encourage collaboration along with prosocial and moral behaviour, and research shows that those who received expressions of gratitude are more likely to help others in return [66] and that it can reduce depression [67]. Gratitude exercises are most effective when they are varied, performed daily and regularly over an extended period of time, and they are more pronounced when combined with other positive psychology interventions [58]. Overall, appreciating what we have is the key and such reflections boost well-being.
