Mid Sweden University

The purpose of this paper is to examine associations between workplace learning and the health of the employees. In addition, connections to flow, sense of coherence, sexual harassment and workplace bullying are investigated. A questionnaire was constructed including previously tested constructs of workplace learning, workplace health and flow as well as new constructs concerning Sense of Coherence, sexual harassment and workplace bullying. The survey was delivered to a sample of Swedish secondary school teachers. 311 questionnaires were returned. They were analysed with correlation analyses and cluster analysis. The findings indicate significant associations between workplace learning and workplace health as well as Sense of Coherence, flow and workplace bullying. However, there was no significant correlation between sexual harassment and any of the other factors except workplace health. On the other hand, workplace health was found to be significantly related to flow and sense of coherence. The research implications of the findings are that workplace learning can be a means of improving the health of the employees as well as decreasing the risk of workplace bullying. Moreover, workplace learning may contribute to flow which in turn is also connected to workplace health. The findings are related to a theoretical framework with contributions from workplace learning, positive psychology and workplace health promotion. The implications for practitioners are that there is an additional reason to focus on workplace learning in organisations, namely the prospect of a healthier workplace. No previous research has addressed the associations between workplace learning, flow, bullying and health and in general, research into connections between learning and health at workplaces is very limited. Thus, the study has certain originality.