Argyll and Bute Council is taking part in WISHES (Workplace Intervention for Sustainable Health and Employment Support), a UK-wide research project led by the University of Strathclyde and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The study is exploring how “job crafting” can help employees make small, positive changes to the way they work to improve wellbeing, engagement and job satisfaction.
Download a copy of WISHES recruitment information.
Who can take part?
It’s open to Argyll and Bute Council employees who are interested in learning about job crafting and contributing to a national research study exploring different approaches to workplace wellbeing and effectiveness.
What’s involved?
Participants will be randomly allocated to one of two groups:
- Receive expert-led job crafting training and support workshops; or
- Receive self-guided job crafting resources.
All participants will be asked to complete a number of short surveys over the course of the project. Those taking part will receive a £27.50 shopping voucher as a thank you for participation, with the opportunity to enter a prize draw for a £1,000 voucher on completion of all project surveys.
Interested?
Applications are open until 4 September 2026.
If you would like to take part in the WISHES job crafting trial, then please complete the short sign-up form. Your participation is entirely voluntary and you can withdraw at any time without any consequences. You can ask any questions about the research to the research team on: wishes-project@strath.ac.uk
When will workshops take place?
Participants randomised to the workshop group will need to attend two half-day online workshops and a final 60 minute follow up workshop of 10-20 individuals. The workshop dates are below. Please only sign-up for the trial if you can attend all three workshops, you only need to attend one of each:
Workshop 1 options:
26/10/26 13.30-16.30; 27/10/26 13.30-16.30; 28/10/26 9.30-12.30;
29/10/26 9.30-12.30;
Workshop 2 options:
9/11/26 13.30-16.30; 10/11/26 13.30-16.30; 11/11/26 9.30-12.30;
12/11/26 9.30-12.30;
Workshop 3 options:
7/12/26 13.30-14.30; 8/12/26 13.30-14.30; 9/12/26 9.30-10.30;
10/12/26 9.30-10.30;
Payments
To thank you for your participation and insights in the trial, the project offers each randomised trial participant a £27.50 shopping voucher which you can use at a wide range of supermarkets and high street stores. In order to randomise individuals to the trial, the project first needs to receive your consent to join the trial and your baseline survey responses so we know your access requirements and delivery preferences.
It is important that the trial is able to collect the data that it needs to across the 4 short surveys. All trial participants who complete and submit all four surveys will be entered into a draw where five individuals will be randomly selected to win a £1000 shopping voucher.
Will you share information with my employer?
The project will never share any of the information you submit in the sign-up form or surveys beyond the research team. We would suggest that you consider talking to your line manager about joining the trial since you may need to attend workshops and you might need manager support for some of your job crafting activities and goals.
The project are running an information and Q&A session for line managers and they ask in the sign-up form if you are happy for them to contact your line manager to invite them. The project will only do this if you agree and share their details with them.