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The Well-Being Palette: An Action-Word Selection Tool Designed for Low-Burden Reflection on Workplace Well-Being
Nobuhiko Muramoto, Takayuki Nagaya, Tomoko Tanaka, Koichiro Iwai, Katsunori Kohda
TL;DR
Workplace well-being interventions need brief formats that can be repeated without disrupting daily work, but evidence on low-burden reflection and reflective breadth remains limited. This study evaluated the Well-Being Palette in a three-month Japanese workplace field study using daily action-word selections, PERMA assessments, application logs, and Shannon entropy. The application was feasible for repeated use, PERMA increased from baseline to post-intervention, and log data provided complementary information about workers’ recognized well-being-related experiences, with exploratory workshop-associated patterns.
Problem
Workplace interventions need low-burden formats for repeated use, while little is known about whether selected-word distributions reveal reflective breadth beyond average well-being scores.
Method
In a three-month exploratory field study, 88 analyzed workers selected up to three action words daily, while researchers examined PERMA scores, application logs, departmental patterns, Shannon entropy, and workshop associations.
Results
3,480 formal-period input records and all 72 available action words were recorded; overall PERMA increased from baseline to post-intervention, without clear follow-up decline among available cases.
Takeaways & Limitations
The Well-Being Palette was feasible for repeated workplace use and provided complementary log-based information about how workers recognized and labeled well-being-related experiences.
Takeaways & Limitations
Without randomized control conditions, observed PERMA, diversity, and workshop-related patterns are exploratory associations rather than causal effects.
Abstract
from arXiv · showhide
Background: Workplace well-being interventions need formats that can be used repeatedly with minimal disruption to daily work. We developed the Well-Being Palette, a web-based action-word selection tool designed for brief, low-burden reflection on workplace well-being. Methods: In a three-month exploratory field study at a private-sector corporate research institute in Japan, 88 analyzed participants selected up to three well-being-related action words after reflecting on positive actions or experiences from each workday. We examined application usage, PERMA Profiler scores, selected-word patterns across departments, selected-word diversity using Shannon entropy, and exploratory associations with sharing workshops. Results: During the formal intervention period, the application captured 3,480 input records and 10,104 selected words, and all 72 available action words were selected. Overall PERMA scores increased from baseline to post-intervention, and no clear decline was observed at the one-month follow-up among available cases. Application logs revealed departmental differences in selected-word categories. Cumulative selected-word diversity increased over time, and sharing workshops showed exploratory associations with more sustained PERMA patterns and broader cumulative selected-word diversity. Conclusion: The Well-Being Palette was feasible for repeated use in a real workplace and provided complementary log-based information on how workers recognized and labeled well-being-related experiences. The findings should be interpreted as exploratory and hypothesis-generating, because the study did not include a randomized control condition and did not directly measure perceived burden or completion time.
1 Introduction
The paper addresses the need for brief, low-burden workplace well-being reflection tools that can support repeated use despite engagement and adherence challenges. It introduces the Well-Being Palette and examines whether daily action-word selections can complement conventional well-being scores by characterizing reflective breadth.
- Motivation: Digital well-being interventions can be scalable, but sustained engagement is difficult when exercises require additional cognitive or temporal effort.Workplaces constrain time, attention, and mental resources, motivating tools integrated into existing routines.
- The Well-Being Palette: The Well-Being Palette presents 72 action-oriented words for brief end-of-day reflection on positive workplace actions or experiences.Users select up to three words from a mandala-style grid rather than describing well-being as an abstract state.
- Research gap: Selected-word distributions may reveal the breadth of workers’ reflective well-being repertoires beyond average well-being scores.The approach provides a structured alternative to open-ended journaling, gratitude exercises, or mood tracking.
- Social reflection: Sharing workshops exposed participants to others’ interpretations of well-being-related experiences, with the intended possibility of broadening how individuals recognize and describe their own well-being.Participants discussed selected words and the reasons for their choices.
- Study aims: The study used a three-month corporate field study to examine usage, PERMA scores, departmental word patterns, Shannon entropy, and workshop-associated differences.It combines questionnaire-based assessment with daily application logs in a real-world workplace setting.
2 Materials and Methods
The study used a three-month longitudinal field design in a Japanese corporate research institute, where workers repeatedly used a desktop-oriented web application for brief daily word selection. The system provided reminders, review functions, and visualizations intended to support self-reflection and sharing workshops.
- Study setting: The three-month field study observed real-world use of the Well-Being Palette from October 1 to December 26, 2024.Ninety participants were recruited across departments, with 88 participants analyzed.
- System design: The main interface presented 72 action-oriented words in eight categories, and users selected up to three words after reflecting on each workday.The daily interface is shown in Figure 1.
- Daily use: The input task was designed for completion in a few minutes, with a 17:30 reminder email supporting daily use.Participants were instructed to use the application primarily on desktop or laptop computers.
- Privacy: Individual selected-word records were restricted to participants and study administrators, while workplace supervisors and other participants could not access them.Department labels in the participant characteristics table were anonymized.
- Review and visualization: Dashboards displayed previous selections through palette markers, heat maps, category charts, frequency rankings, and co-occurrence visualizations.These functions supported self-reflection and supplied materials for sharing workshops.
2.4 Development of the Action-Word Set
The action-word set was developed as a configurable, practice-oriented vocabulary for brief reflection rather than a validated psychometric scale. The study combined repeated application logging, PERMA assessment, and entropy-based analysis of selected-word diversity across time windows.
- Action-word set: Five internal well-being researchers organized 72 action words into eight workplace-relevant categories centered on Emotional Well-Being.The categories were acknowledge, evolve, play, create, hope, symbiosis, wellness, and contact.
- Action-word set: The categories drew on multiple well-being research traditions but were structured specifically for a brief, multidimensional reflection format.The resulting vocabulary covered interpersonal, developmental, playful, creative, future-oriented, ecological, health-related, and relational prompts.
- Action-word set: Action-oriented labels framed well-being as something enacted through daily behavior, while English labels functioned as practical translations rather than validated constructs.The word count and grid structure were chosen for visual clarity and usability.
- Scope: The word set was intended as a configurable reflection vocabulary, not a fixed universal taxonomy or validated psychometric scale.Its purpose was low-burden self-reflection and word selection.
- Measures: Application logs recorded anonymized timestamps, up to three selected words, input frequency, category patterns, departmental patterns, and selected-word diversity.The records represented recalled and self-recognized experiences rather than objectively verified actions.
- Measures: PERMA assessments covered five time points, with follow-up analyses based on 74 available participants rather than all 88.The general PERMA Profiler structure was used, and the internally translated Japanese version was treated as an exploratory index because it lacked independent validation.
- Selected-word diversity: Shannon entropy quantified the distribution of selected words within time windows using raw selection proportions and natural logarithms, producing values in nats.The primary analyses used unnormalized entropy across the same 72-word set.
- Selected-word diversity: The study extended entropy-based diversity analysis to well-being reflection data to capture selected-word distribution rather than intensity alone.This application was described as limited in prior well-being-related reflection research.
2.7 Analysis
The analysis used exploratory comparisons to characterize changes in PERMA, selected-word diversity, departmental patterns, and workshop-associated differences. Statistical tests were interpreted as descriptive of data patterns rather than as confirmatory causal evidence.
- Analysis plan: Exploratory analyses compared baseline with post-intervention PERMA, post-intervention with follow-up PERMA, departments, and participants with versus without sharing sessions.These comparisons addressed both questionnaire outcomes and group-associated patterns.
- Statistical analysis: Paired-sample t-tests examined PERMA changes, with Wilcoxon signed-rank tests used as sensitivity analyses.Cohen’s dz quantified paired comparisons and Cohen’s d quantified group comparisons.
- Diversity analysis: Alpha diversity was analyzed separately in monthly, cumulative, and workshop-based windows.Workshop analyses also examined correlations between pre-workshop diversity and subsequent changes using Pearson’s and Spearman’s coefficients.
- Interpretation: The baseline-to-post-intervention change in overall PERMA was the main outcome, while domain, follow-up, workshop, diversity, departmental, and correlation analyses were exploratory.The analysis was not designed to support confirmatory causal inference.
2.8 Well-Being Sharing Workshop
The workshop used a structured, multi-stage social reflection format in which participants discussed their selected words, reviewed group-level patterns, and reflected on what went well, what they learned, and what to try next.
- Workshop design: 11 workshop sessions involved four participants from the same department, with groups balanced by age, sex, and managerial status.Participation was not allocated according to application input counts, and each session used members from one department.
- Workshop design: Participants first shared their selected words and reasons, while others asked questions to deepen understanding.This individual sharing stage was repeated for every participant.
- Workshop design: The workshop then reviewed aggregated group-level data, including frequently selected words.The session included additional group-level review before retrospective reflection.
- Workshop design: Retrospective reflection adapted the YWT framework into prompts about what went well, what was learned, and what to try next.The first prompt was changed because all participants had completed the same application-use task.
- Analytic framing: The workshop was treated as a multi-component social reflection session, with exploratory associations examined between PERMA scores and selected-word diversity.Workshop notes were qualitatively reviewed to interpret the social reflection process.
3 Results
Across three months, repeated application use captured broad word-selection coverage and departmental variation, alongside increased PERMA scores and exploratory workshop-related patterns in well-being and selected-word diversity.
- 3.1 Usage Patterns and Departmental Patterns: 3,480 formal-period input records contained 10,104 selected action-words from 88 participants.Participants used the application an average of 39.55 ± 9.22 days, and all participants recorded entries in each intervention month.
- 3.1 Usage Patterns and Departmental Patterns: All 72 available words and eight categories were selected across the full sample.The most frequent words were communicate (922), think deeply (800), think as a team (435), feel delicious (388), and appreciate (323).
- 3.1 Usage Patterns and Departmental Patterns: Hope-related words were more frequent in research-oriented than administrative departments (22.5% vs. 12.4%).Contact-related and acknowledgment-related words were more frequent in administrative departments.
- 3.1 Usage Patterns and Departmental Patterns: Department-level heatmaps and grouped comparisons showed variation in category selection across seven anonymized departments.The grouped comparison contrasted administrative departments A-E with research-oriented departments F-G.
- 3.2 Changes in PERMA Profiler Scores: Overall PERMA increased from 5.90 ± 1.30 at baseline to 6.28 ± 1.33 post-intervention.The mean difference was 0.39, with 95% CI [0.18, 0.60], p < .001, and Cohen’s dz = 0.39; 61 of 88 participants increased.
- 3.2 Changes in PERMA Profiler Scores: Positive emotion increased from 5.67 ± 1.53 to 6.22 ± 1.57, and accomplishment increased from 5.73 ± 1.48 to 6.31 ± 1.40.Relationship and meaning showed small increases, while engagement’s increase did not reach p < .05.
- 3.2 Changes in PERMA Profiler Scores: At one-month follow-up, overall PERMA changed from 6.32 ± 1.30 to 6.33 ± 1.28 among 74 available participants.The mean difference was 0.01, 95% CI [-0.13, 0.14], p = .911, with no clear post-follow-up change.
- 3.2 Changes in PERMA Profiler Scores: Follow-up respondents had more formal-period input days and selected more words than nonrespondents.Input days were 41.16 ± 8.32 versus 31.00 ± 9.31, and selected words were 119.08 ± 27.84 versus 92.29 ± 27.53.
4 Discussion
The Well-Being Palette appeared feasible for repeated workplace use and offered log-based perspectives complementary to subjective well-being scores. Exploratory patterns included temporal changes in selected-word diversity, workshop-related differences, and departmental variation in word selection.
- Feasibility and repeated use: 3,480 input records were generated during the formal intervention, with 93.6% containing all three possible word selections.Participants used the application on an average of 39.55 workdays, although session duration was not recorded.
- Subjective well-being and workshops: Overall PERMA scores increased after the intervention, while workshop participants showed a numerically more sustained upward pattern and broader cumulative diversity, with exploratory noncausal evidence.Participants with lower pre-workshop diversity tended to show larger subsequent increases, but the workshop was not randomly assigned.
- Selected-word diversity: Shannon entropy distinguished short-window from cumulative diversity: monthly alpha diversity decreased from the second to third month, while cumulative alpha diversity increased across the three-month period.The discussion links this contrast to input frequency, stabilization of word choices, and the observation window.
- Feasibility and repeated use: The brief palette interaction was designed to reduce the cognitive and temporal burden of daily reflection without structured writing or extended exercises.Users selected up to three action-words after reviewing a visual palette of well-being-related words.
- Action-based reflection: Selecting action-words enabled participants to notice and label concrete positive actions or experiences rather than report only general mood states.The approach provided an opportunity to describe well-being-related experiences in participants’ own terms.
- Selected-word diversity: Higher selected-word diversity should not automatically be interpreted as better well-being, because repeated use of fewer meaningful words may also reflect stable sources of well-being.Diversity is presented as complementary to, not a replacement for, PERMA Profiler scores.
- Limitations and future directions: The study’s exploratory associations require replication because it lacked randomized control conditions and included multiple exploratory analyses without formal correction for multiple comparisons.Future comparisons could use alternative reflection tools, blank logging systems, or delayed-intervention designs.
- Departmental patterns: Selected-word categories differed across departments, with research-oriented departments selecting relatively more hope-related words and administrative departments relatively more contact- and acknowledgement-related words.These patterns may reflect work content, culture, participant composition, input frequency, workshop participation, or company-specific context.
5 Conflict of Interest
The authors report financial and inventorship ties to Toyota Central R&D Laboratories, Inc., which supported the research and is associated with patent applications for the technology.
- NM, TN, TT, KI, and KK are employees of Toyota Central R&D Laboratories, Inc. and inventors of filed patent applications for the study technology.
6 Author Contributions
The author-contribution statement assigns conceptual, methodological, analytical, software, data, visualization, supervision, validation, and writing responsibilities across the authors.
- NM, TN, TT, KI, and KK contributed across conceptualization, methodology, data-related work, analysis, writing, and other listed research activities.
7 Funding Statement
Toyota Central R&D Laboratories, Inc. provided financial support for the research and publication, while the authors state that funding did not influence the study design or reported results.
- Toyota Central R&D Laboratories, Inc. funded the research and article publication, with no reported influence on study design or results.
8 Ethical Considerations
The study received institutional ethics approval, obtained informed consent from all participants, and used anonymized participant identifiers for analysis.
- The Toyota Central R&D Laboratories, Inc. Research Ethics Review Committee approved the study under approval no. 24A-22.
- All participants provided informed consent before participation.
- Analyses used anonymized participant identifiers.
11 Supplementary Material
The supplementary material documents the application’s visual analyses, word set, category rationale, and PERMA Profiler translation used in the study.
- Supplementary Figure S1 presents six views of selected-day reviews, word-by-date patterns, weekly categories, rankings, and co-occurrence relationships.
- Supplementary Figure S2 compares exploratory PERMA trajectories between participants with higher and lower cumulative selected-word diversity.Diversity was defined by a median split of Shannon entropy calculated across the full three-month intervention period.
- Supplementary Table S1 lists the full set of well-being-related action words with Japanese and official English labels.Its categories include Acknowledge, Play, Hope, Wellness, Contact, Create, and Evolve, with category rationales tied to prior well-being concepts, creative actions, and organizational values.
- The listed action words span categories such as Play and Create, including actions like Move, Compete, Experience, Remember, and Think as a team.
- Supplementary Table S2 provides the internal Japanese translation of the 23-item PERMA Profiler.The table includes item codes, Japanese item wording, and 0-10 response anchors.