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The economics of Wellbeing
... Policy and research priorities formed by the European Commission and the World Health Organization support the view that a focus on promoting mental health and wellbeing is crucial for long-term growth and sustainable development (EU, 2019;Forsman et al., 2015;WHO 2005). Strategies should be comprehensive, and may involve approaches such as universal public mental health promotion in the whole population (Fusar-Poli & Santini, 2021;Koushede & Donovan, 2022;Salazar de Pablo et al., 2020;van Agteren et al., 2021), specific interventions in various settings or tailored toward specific segments of the population (Salazar de Pablo et al., 2020;van Agteren et al., 2021), workplace interventions and the promotion of positive workplace cultures (Cameron et al., 2011;Green et al., 2017;Harter et al., 2003;Rath & Harter, 2010), as well as collaborative approaches between workplaces and the local community Rath & Harter, 2010;Santini et al., 2021). The intervention conducted by Sears et al. (2013) aimed to create a workplace culture of wellbeing, which consisted of personalized wellbeing plans, access to a self-directed Web portal containing resources and support, telephonic coaching for lifestyle and chronic condition management, health education courses, and health and wellbeing messaging around the workplace. ...
... Policy and research priorities formed by the European Commission and the World Health Organization support the view that a focus on promoting mental health and wellbeing is crucial for long-term growth and sustainable development (EU, 2019;Forsman et al., 2015;WHO 2005). Strategies should be comprehensive, and may involve approaches such as universal public mental health promotion in the whole population (Fusar-Poli & Santini, 2021;Koushede & Donovan, 2022;Salazar de Pablo et al., 2020;van Agteren et al., 2021), specific interventions in various settings or tailored toward specific segments of the population (Salazar de Pablo et al., 2020;van Agteren et al., 2021), workplace interventions and the promotion of positive workplace cultures (Cameron et al., 2011;Green et al., 2017;Harter et al., 2003;Rath & Harter, 2010), as well as collaborative approaches between workplaces and the local community Rath & Harter, 2010;Santini et al., 2021). The intervention conducted by Sears et al. (2013) aimed to create a workplace culture of wellbeing, which consisted of personalized wellbeing plans, access to a self-directed Web portal containing resources and support, telephonic coaching for lifestyle and chronic condition management, health education courses, and health and wellbeing messaging around the workplace. ...
Background
Few studies have assessed associations between mental wellbeing (MWB) and productivity loss using nationally-representative longitudinal data. The objective of the study was to determine how different levels of MWB are associated with future productivity loss due to sickness absence.
Methods
Data stem from a Danish nationally representative panel study of 1,959 employed adults (aged 16-64 years old) conducted in 2019 and 2020, which was linked to Danish register data. The validated Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) was used to assess MWB in 2019. The outcome was days absent from work due to sickness in 2020. Linear regression models were used to predict sickness absence in 2020 while adjusting for sickness absence in 2019, sociodemographics and health status, including psychiatric morbidity. Productivity costs were estimated using the human capital approach (HCA) and friction cost approach (FCA).
Results
Each point increase in MWB was significantly associated with fewer sick days and, by extension, lower productivity loss (reported in the order HCA/FCA). As compared to low MWB, moderate MWB was associated with $-1,614/$-1,271 per person, while high MWB was associated with $-2,351/$-1,779 per person. Extrapolated to the Danish population (2.7M employed adults aged 16-64), moderate MWB (67.3% of the population) was associated with lower productivity costs amounting to $-2.9bn/$-2.3bn, while high MWB (20.4% of the population) was associated with lower costs amounting to $-1.3bn/$-0.9bn.
Conclusions
Higher levels of MWB are associated with considerably less productivity loss. Substantial reductions in productivity loss could potentially be achieved by promoting higher levels of MWB in the population workforce.
... Researchers in various fields (economists, psychologists, sociologists, and doctors) have evaluated the conditions that ensure a better life for employees and create a sense of WB [30]. Based on long-term studies and research, Rath and Harter [30] distinguish five critical areas of WB: career, social life, financial situation, health, and community. ...
... Researchers in various fields (economists, psychologists, sociologists, and doctors) have evaluated the conditions that ensure a better life for employees and create a sense of WB [30]. Based on long-term studies and research, Rath and Harter [30] distinguish five critical areas of WB: career, social life, financial situation, health, and community. These areas interact, influence each other, and impact overall WB [26,[31][32][33]. ...
Employees' engagement (EE) and well-being (WB) are considered two interesting issues by many scientific researchers and practitioners within organizations. Most research confirms a positive correlation between EE and WB. EE is an essential premise for specific dimensions of employees' WB. At the same time, satisfied and physically and mentally healthy employees increase EE, both EE and WB thus being fundamental to individual and organizational performance. This paper aims to evaluate the relationships between EE and WB and between the dimensions of these two complex constructs. These relationships were assessed based on data obtained from a sample of 269 employees in Romania, using as a method a mix of analyses based on structural equation modeling (SEM) and artificial neural network analysis (ANN). The results highlighted a positive two-way relationship between EE and WB. Among the dimensions of EE, motivation and work environment are those that ensure a more pronounced perception of WB by the employee. Emotional WB, occupational WB, and social WB are the dimensions of WB with a significant influence on the general level of EE.
... In terms of business operation wellbeing, is a tool supporting and increasing employee engagement and thus the performance and competitiveness of the organization (Inceoglu et al., 2018). We understand wellbeing as five areas: career area, social area, financial area, health area and community area (Prothea, 2014;Rath and Harter, 2010). The first area of career is concern with how we spend our time, and if we like what we do every day. ...
... Therefore, it can be stated that the results in the area of health do not correspond to the worldwide survey executed by Gallup Company, where at least 53% of employees should be thriving in the area of health (Gallup, 2020). Vice versa, it is in line with the results of Rath and Harter (2010), who additionally highlight the economic impact of the non-compliant level of this wellbeing component. The employers must understand the impact of their employee health issues. ...
Well-being and its evaluation, is currently considered one of the key trends in the practice
of companies in the world and in the Czech Republic. Research in the field of well-being confirms that there is a positive correlation between a company’s well-being and the company’s performance. Satisfied and healthy employees contribute to the prosperity of the company through their higher work productivity and efficiency, and indirectly, through reduced incapacity for work and presenteeism. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the employees’ well-being of a specific company in the Czech Republic and propose activities for increasing the level of the most problematic of five areas of employees’ well-being. The authors formulated two research questions and two hypotheses.
Research questions were answered on the basis of the evaluation of an online questionnaire survey among 463 production staff of the company, hypotheses were statistically confirmed. The main results of this article include the identification of the most problematic area of well-being—the area of health—as well as the proposal of specific activities to improve the level of this area, the introduction which should achieve higher level of employees work productivity. The benefits of well-being show that companies should pay attention to it.
... Employee wellbeing is proposed to have three components: Subjective well being, workplace well being and psychological well being (Kathryn et al, 2009).From a workplace perspective, psychologists believe that consequences of job dissatisfaction affect life satisfaction, employee performance, organizational citizenship behavior, role withdrawal and counter productive behavior. Danna and Graffin (1999)high light how work experiences affect individuals themselves through impact on physical and psychological health and how this can "spill over" into non-work domains .A good employee well being serve as a competitive advantage and serves in recruiting and retaining employees (Rath and Harter 2010). ...
... Tom Rath and Jim Harter (2010),has explained in their paper 'Economics of well being' that in a research carried out in 150 countries for exploring demands of life well -lived,five distinct statistical factors emerged which best differentiate lives that are spent thriving from those that are spend struggling or suffering. These five factors identified were: career well being, social well being, financial well being, physical well being and community well being. ...
The present study is focused on the impact of overeducation on employee well being. Overeducation is a phenomenon resulting in the possession of more qualification by employees than required by the job. It results in under fulfilled expectation of employees with respect to their occupational attainments. Instances of voluntary overeducation were also found due to the presence of certain job attributes which affect the individual utility levels. Since contradictory findings exist with regard to the consequence of overeducation a research gap has been identified and the present study attempts to measure the job satisfaction of overeducated employees in Kerala and its impact on employee well being. The findings show that overeduation has not made much impact on the well being of employees as they are being compensated through the factors both internal and external to their job.The consequence of overeducation has been found to be more severe when it is subjective. The employees in fact get contented with what they receive and try to derive satisfaction out of it considering the different aspects of the job. The influence of certain other factors was also explored.
... Many scientists studied the phenomenon of "well-being". There are a sufficient number of studies devoted to this problem (Rath & Harter, 2010). However, a unified classification of the components of well-being still does not exist. ...
... Each element contributes to a higher level of well-being, but "well-being does not come down to any of the components." Making a choice in life, we strive to achieve the greatest success in each component (Rath & Harter, 2010). ...
... Whereby, affect represent emotions and moods, whereas satisfaction with life brings up the cognitive aspect. Rath and Harter (2010) findings from many previous studies led to a discovery of emerged five distinguishable statistical components of well-being, which are interrelated and universal in nature. These components are as follow according to Rath and Harter (2010): ...
... Rath and Harter (2010) findings from many previous studies led to a discovery of emerged five distinguishable statistical components of well-being, which are interrelated and universal in nature. These components are as follow according to Rath and Harter (2010): ...
The purpose of the investment is to improve the current level of life satisfaction by achieving investment goals. Investors tend to attain high levels of life satisfaction when their investment goals are achieved and lower levels of life satisfaction when goals are far from achievement. The idiosyncratic characteristics of an individual may often hamper the achievement of investment goals and ultimately influence the level of life satisfaction. These characteristics can either contribute towards low life satisfaction or high life satisfaction. Income and the subjective financial well-being play a determining role in whether an investor has a positive or negative life satisfaction. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine whether income and subjective financial well-being have an influence on the life satisfaction of investors. The results of this study reveal that a strong relationship exists between income, financial well-being, and life satisfaction. Investors who perceived themselves, to have high financial well-being were more likely to have high life satisfaction. On the contrary, investors with low perceived financial well-being were more likely to have low life satisfaction. Similar results were observed for income and life satisfaction since a positive relationship was also found.
... The current study investigated the personal PsyCap state-like resources and personal Core Self-Evaluations (CSE) trait-like resources, and their relationships with well-being. As a consequence of advances in technology and globalisation, business and professional workplaces have become increasingly demanding and high levels of well-being in staff are needed to contribute to successful performance (Rath & Harter, 2010). ...
... By understanding and recognising the need to support the wellbeing of employees, organisations can place greater emphasis on intervention programs that strengthen PsyCap and increase positive personality traits in the workplace (Russo & Stoykova, 2015). It is beneficial for the organisation, because employees with elevated wellbeing tend to take fewer sick-leave days, are more productive, and have greater organisational commitment (Rath & Harter, 2010). Research now suggests that despite personality traits generally being stable, there is still flexibility for change in those personality traits. ...
The uncertainty of today’s working environment, including prevalence of temporary employment conditions in many industries, has affected the psychological well-being of people in the workforce. Psychological well-being affects all aspects of a person’s life, including: pleasure, job satisfaction and fulfilment, and life meaning (Seligman, 2002). Previous studies have investigated how Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and Core Self-evaluations (CSE) are positively related to job satisfaction and performance, but there is little research on the relationships of PsyCap and CSE with psychological well-being (PWB). This present study explored the relationships among PsyCap, CSE, and PWB in a convenience workplace sample of 121 Australian working adults. Results revealed that both PsyCap (involving hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy) and CSE (involving evaluations of one’s own locus of control, self-esteem, generalised self-efficacy, and adaptive vs ‘neurotic’ behaviour) were separately positive predictors of wellbeing, consistent with previous studies. There were overlaps in concepts but both PsyCap and CSE together predicted higher levels of well-being than either alone, and CSE was found to be a partial mediator between PsyCap and well-being indicating that both elements were needed in prediction of well-being. Practical implications include that PsyCap and CSE measures can be used together in the workplace in assessment, selection, training and development to help improve the quality of health and well-being of employees. Limitations and future research directions are indicated.
... Managing employee well-being is essential when handling a few people, leading a large group, or administrating an entire organization (Rath & Harter, 2010). Well-being within the working environment is generally conceptualized through life-related measures, such as depression, the link between personal life and job satisfaction, workplace friendship, work motivation, and the life cycle (Saijo et al., 2015). ...
Sri Lanka is one of the most vulnerable developing countries suffering from the emergence of novel COVID-19 pandemic. Along these lines, the Sri Lankan apparel sector was mainly impacted. Examining the impact of epidemics on the well-being of employees who work in the Sri Lankan apparel industry is a notable research direction as per the empirical evidence. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the attributes of perceived pandemic concerns in terms of physical, psychological, financial, and concerns regarding social gaze while investigating the well-being of employees working in the apparel sector during COVID-19. A total of 100 apparel sector employees from 10 different companies in Sri Lanka was selected as respondents using simple random sampling technique. A Google-form based questionnaire was developed for the data collection. Data analysis was conducted applying structural equation modelling using SMART PLS software. The results revealed that employees' physical, psychological, financial, and concerns regarding social gaze, have a significant influence on their work stress during COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, work stress during pandemic significantly influences employee well-being in the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Moreover, significant indirect influences were identified between physical, psychological, and financial concerns and employee well-being via work stress. The present study provides valuable insights to the human resource officials attached to the apparel industry to mitigate possible work stress of employees to ensure higher employee well-being during pandemic situations.
... Managing employee well-being is essential when handling a few people, leading a large group, or administrating an entire organization (Rath & Harter, 2010). Well-being within the working environment is generally conceptualized through life-related measures, such as depression, the link between personal life and job satisfaction, workplace friendship, work motivation, and the life cycle (Saijo et al., 2015). ...
Sri Lanka is one of the most vulnerable developing countries suffering from the emergence of novel COVID-19 pandemic. Along these lines, the Sri Lankan apparel sector was mainly impacted. Examining the impact of epidemics on the well-being of employees who work in the Sri Lankan apparel industry is a notable research direction as per the empirical evidence. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the attributes of perceived pandemic concerns in terms of physical, psychological, financial, and concerns regarding social gaze while investigating the well-being of employees working in the apparel sector during COVID-19. A total of 100 apparel sector employees from 10 different companies in Sri Lanka was selected as respondents using simple random sampling technique. A Google-form based questionnaire was developed for the data collection. Data analysis was conducted applying structural equation modelling using SMART PLS software. The results revealed that employees' physical, psychological, financial, and concerns regarding social gaze, have a significant influence on their work stress during COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, work stress during pandemic significantly influences employee well-being in the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Moreover, significant indirect influences were identified between physical, psychological, and financial concerns and employee well-being via work stress. The present study provides valuable insights to the human resource officials attached to the apparel industry to mitigate possible work stress of employees to ensure higher employee well-being during pandemic situations.
... A growing amount of evidence is demonstrating that wellbeing is beneficial to workplaces (e.g., Foresight, 2008;Jarden & Jarden, 2016;Lewis, 2011;Oswald, Proto, & Sgroi, 2009;Rath & Harter, 2010), schools (e.g., Jarden & Jarden, 2015;Norrish, 2015;PESA, 2020;Waters, Sun, Aarch, & Cotton, 2016), families (e.g., Conoley, Winter-Plum, Hawley, Spaventa-Vancil, & Hernandez, 2015;Sheridan & Burt, 2009), and communities as a whole (e.g., Neto & Águeda, 2014;Schueller, 2009). The question then becomes how to cultivate and sustain wellbeing in schools. ...
This chapter summarizes the essentials of assessment, principles of good assessment, and wellbeing assessment in the context of school communities. Drawing from positive education initiatives, what wellbeing assessments in schools look like, and why they are important is outlined and discussed. Examples of good assessment tools and their use in practice are explored. The chapter further focuses on the content, processes, and systems involved in assessment, before addressing the use of assessment data in decision-making and providing examples of good assessment in practice. The chapter ends by highlighting questions schools and decision-makers may draw from in choosing and developing assessment tools and approaches for their unique school community.
... Adicional a la información sobre el mercado laboral que generan las redes familiares y sociales, se ha visto que las personas que ingresan a trabajar con individuos que ya conocían son más productivas, lo cual, puede deberse a que el ambiente laboral fortalecido por redes de contactos previas genera amenidades no pecuniarias que incentivan a los trabajadores, dicha situación tiene mayor relevancia en personas de baja cali cación (Hellerstein et al., 2013). De igual manera, los individuos sienten más satisfacción de trabajar en una empresa donde tienen amigos, incluso les lleva a tener un mayor nivel de compromiso con la rma (Rath & Harter, 2010). ...
La investigación tiene como objetivo verificar la existencia de disparidades salariales en México a partir del canal de búsqueda de empleo. En este caso, el análisis se centró en las redes de contactos de los individuos, emplea datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Ocupación y Empleo (enoe) del 2019, estimando una ecuación de determinación salarial semilogarítmica. Los resultados exhiben una prima salarial por haber obtenido empleo mediante
Internet (12.4 %), un sindicato (6.7 %), bolsa privada (8.9 %) y contactos personales (6.7 %). Cuando se distingue por edad, se observa que las personas con más de 30 años reportan el mayor impacto positivo de encontrar empleo a través de sus redes de contactos.
... This also applies to the work environment (Kahn, 2007). As Rath and Harter (2010) state: "We are social beings, and our need to be connected to others does not disappear when we enter the office." The organization benefits as well, because face-to-face contact at work boosts mood and productivity (Pinker, 2014), and high-quality connections are a source of organizational improvements (Dutton and Heaphy, 2003). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to aid conceptualization of social well-being at work by identifying its components in a contemporary office context, so adequate measures can be developed to monitor social well-being and to assess the impact of interventions in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used existing interview data from recent post-occupancy evaluations of two large activity-based flexible offices in the Dutch public sector. Data-driven concept mapping of 182 different employees' statements on social aspects of well-being was used to find communalities in their perceptions.
Findings
From the data 14 key concepts emerged referring to employees' social needs, reactions to (anti-)social behaviour of others and perceived social affordances of the work environment. Contrary to established theory, social well-being appeared to be a context-bound phenomenon, including components of both short-term hedonic and long-term eudaimonic well-being.
Research limitations/implications
The findings serve as an inductive source for the further development of adequate measures of social well-being at work. Limitations concern the specific (cultural) setting of the cases and the use of existing data.
Practical implications
Preliminary suggestions for fostering social well-being include change management, participatory design, being alert of the identified risks of activity-based offices and supporting privacy regulation, identity marking and a sense of community, as well as a diversity of informal face-to-face interactions balanced with quiet spaces.
Originality/value
This article contributes to the conceptualization of social well-being in contemporary offices by discussing established social well-being theory and analysing real-world data, using a method novel to management research.
... Beyond the individual, the costs of low levels of subjective wellbeing can also be directly seen within society. For example, individuals that report to be suffering can cost a company three times more in sick leave than individuals that report to be thriving [12]. This does not take into account the loss of productivity while these individuals are at work. ...
While self-reported life satisfaction (LS) has become an important research and policy tool, much debate still surrounds the question of what causes LS to change in certain individuals, while not in others. Set-point theory argues that individuals have a relatively resilient LS or "set point" (i.e. there is a certain LS level that individuals return to even after major life events). Here, we describe the extent to which LS varies over time for 12,643 individuals living in Australia who participated in at least eight annual waves of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. We use the standard deviation (SD) of year-on-year LS by individuals (SD of LS) as a measure of instability and an inverse proxy for resilience. We then model SD of LS as the dependent variable against average LS scores over time by individual, Big Five personality scores by individual, the number of waves the individual participated in, and other control variables. We found that SD of LS was higher (lower resilience) in participants with a lower average LS and greater degrees of extraver-sion and agreeableness. Set-point theory thus applies more to individuals whose average LS is already high and whose personality traits facilitate higher resilience. We were able to explain about 35% of the stability in LS. These results are critical in designing policies aimed at improving people's lives.
... Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data indicates that well-being is composed of five components: Physical, social, career, financial, and community well-being (Rath & Harter, 2010, 2014. While the impact of chronic disease on productivity is significant, research shows that overall feeling of well-being has an even greater influence (Gandy, Coverley, Pope, Wells, & Rula, 2014). ...
Background: The impact of financial well-being on health is significant. Research connects individual and organizational well-being to the strength of financial knowledge and sound finance practices among employees. Learning more about financial topics is critical for comprehensive well-being yet few articles exist which describe implementation of such initiatives within organizations.
Aim: While traditional worksite wellness programs have emphasized physical activity, stress management and nutrition, an increasingly larger number of organizations want to expand beyond those categories to topics such as community health and financial well-being.
Methods: A Midwestern research-intensive university has offered financial well-being programs for faculty and staff over the last three years. A description of the initiative, and each programming effort, is included within this article.
Results: Numerous positive, qualitative outcomes have been experienced by program participants.
Conclusions: Learn more about the evidence and practical efforts easily implemented within higher education institutions through this description of one university’s program experience and outcomes.
... Notably, respondents' financial situation-and not actual reported income-was a predictive variable. Rath and Harter (2010) reported on a large-scale Gallup study. At the exact same pay and job responsibilities, some people believed their pay was adequate, while others did not. ...
Self-care can be an important tool in assuaging professional burnout, workplace stress, vicarious or secondary trauma, and other deleterious employment circumstances. Despite this importance, few studies have examined self-care among social work practitioners. This exploratory study examined the self-care practices of self-identified social workers (N = 2,934) throughout the United States. Primary data were collected with an electronic survey. Data indicate that social workers in the sample engage in moderate self-care practices. Analyses revealed group differences in self-care by several variables including geographic locale of participants' primary place of employment, race, educational level, and social work licensing status, among others. Significant predictors of self-care included perceived health status (self-report), education level, being a supervisor, and financial status. Overall, findings from this study indicate the need for a systemic response to improving self-care practices among social workers.
... Bolstered by the belief that a happy employee is one that delivers a return on investment, many organizations today are constantly looking at their employees' well-being to improve performance and productivity. On average, an organization could expect a three to five dollar return for every dollar of investment in employee well-being (Rath and Harter, 2010). With its intuitive appeal and burgeoning research, meaningful work promises to be "the next big thing that organizations should leverage on to improve performance" (Steger, 2017, p. 60). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of meaningful work against dimensions of job burnout, with psychological capital (PsyCap) as the mediator.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 223 social workers were analyzed using the partial least squares–structural equation modeling.
Findings
As expected, meaningful work displayed a positive, direct and significant relationship with PsyCap. Contrary to expectations, meaningful work did not establish a negative direct relationship with all, but one dimension of job burnout. However, the results showed that it had indirect relationships with all job burnout dimensions through PsyCap where it displayed a mediating influence over the relationship.
Practical implications
Given the malleable attributes of PsyCap and the results showing meaningful work being a strong predictor of PsyCap, this study suggests that organizations should focus on imbuing greater meaningfulness in work to improve social workers’ PsyCap, which is essential in reducing their propensity for experiencing job burnout.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to explore in detail the effects of meaningful work on the dimensions of job burnout, with PsyCap being the mediator. This study has advanced the body of knowledge on meaningful work by contesting the claim that meaningful work was an effective predictor in reducing job burnout. In addition, this study has extended the understanding of the upward-spiral concept and the resource caravan concept.
... As a matter of fact, Joo (2008) stated that financial well-being is a sub-element of general well-being which makes it among the five crucial elements of well-being (Rath & Harter, 2010b). Consequently, financial wellbeing research is increasingly popular in the 21st century (Rath & Harter, 2010a). Financial educators, coaches and practitioners work together hand-inhand to help people improve their financial lives and alleviate to a better financial well-being state. ...
... Berdasarkan hasil penelitian Rath, & Harter (2010) ...
... Berdasarkan hasil penelitian Rath, & Harter (2010) Adapun big five Personality tersebut menurut (Costa & McCrae, 1992;John & Srivastava 1999 Ross (1967), lalu direvisi oleh (Darvyri, et al, 2014) sejumlah 14 item. Skala yang digunakan adalah skala likert dari nilai 1 sangat tidak setuju sampai dengan 5 sangat setuju. ...
... Historically, health-related medical expenditures and disability have been the focus of worksite well-being interventions. However, employee retention, 5 productivity, 6,7 and engagement 8 are increasingly recognized as potential programmatic benefits and have resulted in employers embracing interventions to improve psychological health and quality of life (QoL) among employees. [9][10][11][12] Although well-being interventions have been implicated in improving key QoL measures, such as vitality and purpose in life (PiL), 13 to our knowledge, there has been only 1 randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing the ability of a worksite intervention to positively impact vitality. ...
Purpose:
Programs focused on employee well-being have gained momentum in recent years, but few have been rigorously evaluated. This study evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention designed to enhance vitality and purpose in life by assessing changes in employee quality of life (QoL) and health-related behaviors.
Design:
A worksite-based randomized controlled trial.
Setting:
Twelve eligible worksites (8 randomized to the intervention group [IG] and 4 to the wait-listed control group [CG]).
Participants:
Employees (n = 240) at the randomized worksites.
Intervention:
A 2.5-day group-based behavioral intervention.
Measures:
Rand Medical Outcomes Survey (MOS) 36-item Short-Form (SF-36) vitality and QoL measures, Ryff Purpose in Life Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies questionnaire for depression, MOS sleep, body weight, physical activity, diet quality, and blood measures for glucose and lipids (which were used to calculate a cardiometabolic risk score) obtained at baseline and 6 months.
Analysis:
General linear mixed models were used to compare least squares means or prevalence differences in outcomes between IG and CG participants.
Results:
As compared to CG, IG had a significantly higher mean 6-month change on the SF-36 vitality scale ( P = .003) and scored in the highest categories for 5 of the remaining 7 SF-36 domains: general health ( P = .014), mental health ( P = .027), absence of role limitations due to physical problems ( P = .026), and social functioning ( P = .007). The IG also had greater improvements in purpose in life ( P < .001) and sleep quality (index I, P = .024; index II, P = .021). No statistically significant changes were observed for weight, diet, physical activity, or cardiometabolic risk factors.
Conclusion:
An intensive 2.5-day intervention showed improvement in employee QoL and well-being over 6 months.
... This argument that balancing multiple dimensions of health and wellness is imperative, corresponds with the definitions of well-being provided by most authorities, ranging from international, to educational, to professional institutions ("Constitution of the world health States, over 95% of respondents are not thriving in all dimensions of health and wellness (Rath & Harter, 2010). These statistics demonstrate that despite general consensus that health and wellness is multi-dimensional, many people do not address or feel a lack of options that allow them to maintain all the dimensions of health and wellness. ...
This research is a qualitative case study of the perspectives and behaviors of individuals
in the practice of sound bathing. Sound bathing is a recently popular Eastern health and wellness practice in which a group of reposed attendees are induced into meditation and introspection through the sonic experience and vibrations of percussion instruments played by professional practitioners. Because of the rising demand for holistic health and wellness options, including the growth of integrated an Eastern and Western healthcare approach, research on why individuals participate in and how they interpret specific Eastern practices can offer insight into trends disrupting the health and wellness-consumer landscape.
Through evidence from interviews and observations, I argue that individuals maintain a
holistic view of health and wellness that focuses on proactive self-care. However, due to
perceived limitations in many options, participants have become seekers attempting to address and balance multiple dimensions of health and health. This holistic framework coupled with the sacred atmosphere of a sound bath creates a practice that individuals perceive as ideal to attending to their unmet needs. My findings add to the body of knowledge about how and why individuals participate in Eastern practices and can be applied in a number of settings including how to approach future studies of the integrated health and wellness model.
... A survey of employees revealed that 88% of respondents feel that their employers are a detriment to their well-being. 29 This finding may in part be explained by heavy workplace productivity demands, and/or perceptions of inadequate resources to enable employees to find fulfillment, maintain job security, or protect their health. ...
: Employers have been challenged by low employee participation rates in health-related programs, and have often relied on incentives and other engagement approaches to overcome this difficulty. One of the apparent barriers to employee engagement in health-related activities is represented by social determinants of health (SDH). According to some, these factors comprise as much as 40% of an individual's health status, and while they have been the focus of attention in the public health domain, their role in the workplace has not been broadly recognized. In this manuscript, we provide an overview of the significance of SDH in the workplace, addressing their influence on employee involvement in health-related offerings. We also acknowledge the unique role of the workplace as both a physical and social determinant of worker health.
... want to be involved and valued, not isolated and bullied. Building on the definitions offered above, engagement practices and placemaking approaches share several characteristics: (a) involve citizens in the change process (Forgeard et al., 2011;PPS, 2016;Shuck et al., 2016;Silberberg et al., 2013); (b) work to develop trusting, quality relationships (PPS, 2016;Rath & Harter, 2010a;Silberberg et al., 2013); (c) encourage purposeful and autonomous contributions (Forgeard et al., 2011);and (d) have the potential to inspire purpose-driven involvement which can contribute to the well-being of the people taking part in the change process (Rath & Harter, 2010b). ...
... Organizations frequently look to employee well-being as an engine for improved performance, motivated by the idea that a happy worker is a better worker and by data suggesting that work well-being delivers impressive return on investment. Every dollar an organization invests into its employees' well-being provides a return of roughly three to five dollars ( Goetzel & Ozminkowski, 2008;Rath & Harter, 2010). Driven by an intuitive appeal and a growing body of research, meaningful work holds the promise of being the "next big thing" among organizations seeking a lever for improving organizational performance ( Dik, Byrne, & Steger, 2013). ...
This chapter reviews current theory, assessment, and research on meaningful work with the hopes that a better understanding might enable meaningful work to be cultivated and harnessed to maximize performance, build strong brands, nurture innovation, and benefit both employees and their host communities while they are at it. Building on a long tradition, recent years have been particularly exciting ones for meaningful work, with accelerating publication of research reports detailing the many desirable characteristics and outcomes linked to meaningful work. The chapter focuses on the relevant scholarship to review those qualities that characterize such meaning&;#x02010;friendly conditions. First, meaningful work theory is reviewed to identify the major themes and dimensions of meaningful work. Second, meaningful work assessment is reviewed. Third, correlates, predictors, and benefits of meaningful work are reviewed. Fourth, practical recommendations for fostering meaningful work are suggested to guide individual workers, leaders, and organizations.
... The epidemic levels of stress and obesity, as well as the physical, mental and psychological problems stemming from these unhealthy habits, are not at all surprising. Smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise are some of the biggest challenges faced by society today (Rath & Harter, 2010a). Also, lack of sufficient physical activity has been linked to at least 17 unhealthy conditions. ...
This capstone presents the SEMEAR project. The SEMEAR project is the main initiative of the Brazilian Coaching Society Foundation. The project aims to stimulate and support flourishing in Brazil through positive coaching programs in three major areas: social, educational, and corporative. A set of interventions designed to enhance well-being, facilitate healthy relationships, promote flow and engagement, stimulate social contribution, as well as other aspects that can help people flourish, will be proposed. The project will explore how to use coaching, positive psychology and philanthropy to develop virtues, promote human flourishing and generate people’s well-being in families, schools, companies and communities through change agents such as coaches, parents, educators and leaders. Therefore, the project plans to engage and prepare 1,000,000 positive coaches who will directly or indirectly impact 50,000,000 people by 2050, contributing to the flourishing of 25% of the Brazilian population.
... Our study involved exploring the concept of 'thriving at work'; as behavioral and positive organizational research shows that thriving has ties to different behavioral outcomes like: innovative work behavior; work engagement; health care cost; commitment; performance; productivity; resiliency to change and well-being (Abid, 2014;Abid et al., 2015;Spreitzer et al., 2005;Porath et al., 2012;Rath & Harter, 2010). ...
The objectives of the study are to explore and enhance our understating about the construct of ‘thriving at work’. As it is not merely the sense of learning and vitality but also depicts an individual’s actions and behaviors. It is a very important construct as the positive organizational research shows that, thriving has ties to different behavioral outcomes, like: innovative work behavior, work engagement, health care cost, commitment, performance, productivity, resilience to change and employee well-being. During our study, we found lack of consensus in existing literature about the conceptualization of thriving at work as a construct; since, the existing research either conceptualizes it as a psychological state or as a behavioral aspect of human functioning. The conceptualization and incorporation of an additional ‘behavioral dimension’ of thriving along with the existing two dimensions, i.e. cognitive and affective, our study opens the doors for further research and provides guidance for developing a comprehensive and an objective measure of thriving which can gauge thriving in its true essence.
... As a World Health Organization (WHO; see Friedli 2009, p. 2) report summarizes: ''These individual attributes and skills can be measured through a range of well-being scales and a growing number of longitudinal studies confirm their power to predict outcomes, for example, longevity, physical health, quality of life, criminality, drug and alcohol use, employment, earnings and pro-social behaviour…''. Researchers at Gallup (Rath and Harter 2010) have estimated the average per-day cost of employees' ill-being to employers in the US at $200 per sick day (based upon the median salary in the US, and adjusted for non-working days). Such direct costs associated with ill-being do not begin to assess the opportunity costs associated with the absence of flourishing, and the depletion of vitality associated with it . ...
Research and theory concerning the nature and sources of well-being has been undertaken through varied approaches. Two such approaches are the capability approach and self-determination theory (SDT), both of which have postulated specific factors deemed necessary for human well-being and flourishing. In two studies we examine the relations between capabilities and well-being indicators, as well as the mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction in these relations. Results indicate that both capabilities and SDT’s basic psychological needs are substantially associated with well-being, and that SDT’s basic needs partially mediate the relation between capabilities and indicators of wellness.
... Financial well-being is one of the well-being elements besides career, physical, social and community (Rath & Harter, 2010). The increasing level of standard of living, uncertain lifestyle habits, variety of commitments and fluctuation of stress level can impact not just towards individual financial well-being but also among employees generally. ...
Public employee’s innovativeness, responsiveness, efficiency and friendliness in services are the core prescriptions to enhance the competitiveness of one’s country. Financial well-being and employees are two aspects that consequently related with each other that have received substantial deliberation from researchers, employers and financial advisor. Financial well-being can affect both direct and indirectly towards an individual, team and also organization. Changes in employee’s financial well-being level whether it becomes high or low will affect their job performance. The purpose of this study is to discuss the level of public employee’s financial well-being in Malaysia as well as to examine the determinants of financial well-being. A total of 73 questionnaires have been distributed through e-survey (email based) using convenient sampling technique in order to conduct this pilot test (pre-test). Only 30 public employees have participated in this study. The results identified that majority of public employees is at the moderate level of financial well-being. Even so, appropriate action should be taken through financial education in order to prevent worst case scenario in the future. © 2015, Canadian Center of Science and Education. All rights reserved.
... Many disparate quality of life models have been formulated, to which end this paper acknowledges Sen's three dimensions: social, economic, and political is acknowledged by this paper [16]. wellbeing [17]. ...
Knowledge is generally acknowledged as essential for everyday life and a requisite for quality of life. Although arguably more so for people with disabilities, disabled people are often excluded due to their impairments. Worsening this exclusion, the expected benefits of information and communications technologies (ICT) in enabling knowledge practices and for assisting disabled people has not been realized as evidenced by a lower adoption rate of ICT by people with disabilities when compared to the adoption rate of ICT by non-disabled people. A review of literature identified two concomitant shortcomings. Firstly, there is a dearth of knowledge available on how disabled people gather and share knowledge, with research about knowledge practices focused predominantly on organizations and largely disregarding knowledge practices of the individual. Secondly, despite the fact that ICT is recognised as important both for disabled people and for knowledge practices, the relationships between disabled people, ICT, and knowledge practices are fundamentally unexplored. Considering information elemental for quality of life, this paper proposes a conceptual model for informing an investigation into the knowledge practices of disabled people and the role that information and communication technology plays in these practices.
This study aims to analyze and explain the relationship between perceived organizational support, work engagement, and employee well-being. This research was conducted at Toya Devasya. The population in this study is 128 people. The number of samples used were all Toya Devasya employees, 128 employees, using the total sampling method. Data collection was obtained through questionnaires and interviews. The analysis technique used is descriptive statistical analysis and inferential statistical analysis. Data were analyzed using SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) with Partial Least Square (PLS) approach. The results showed that perceived organizational support had a positive and significant effect on employee well-being and work engagement, work engagement had a positive and significant effect on employee well-being. Work engagement complementary partially mediates the effect of perceived organizational support on employee well-being. Companies need to pay attention to the implementation of perceived organizational support and work engagement in a comprehensive manner so that employee well-being can be implemented better.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between trait self-control (TSC) and emotional exhaustion, and to examine the mediating role of effort–reward imbalance (ERI) and emotional demands.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative study was conducted using data from 441 employees working in different organizations in the information technology sector in India. PROCESS macro with a bootstrap sample size of 5,000 was used for mediation analysis.
Findings
TSC demonstrated a significant negative relationship with emotional exhaustion. Results indicated the crucial role played by ERI and emotional demands in influencing the emotional exhaustion of employees with higher TSC.
Originality/value
This study adds substantially to our knowledge of the role of TSC in employee experiences of emotional exhaustion. Results suggest how employees’ ERI perceptions and experiences of emotional demands determine whether higher TSC would reduce experiences of exhaustion. This adds to the knowledge of positive outcomes of self-control while throwing some light on why the use of self-control does not always incur a psychological cost, as suggested by some studies. The findings suggest that self-control is an individual resource that has the ability to alleviate emotional exhaustion through its influence on employees‘ effort–reward perceptions and experiences of emotional demands.
The aim of this study is to define the essence of wellbeing in employee management, and present the functionality of the PERMA model in positive psychology. The first part of the study describes the multidimensionality of the concept of wellbeing and the difficulties in defining it. An important element of the conducted analysis is the presentation of the positive effects of the implementation of wellbeing in organisations, including elements of wellbeing dimensions and activities affecting wellbeing, while the most important part of the article is the diagnosis of the applicability of the PERMA model in the study of employee wellbeing and positive education. Different elements of the model are described and the latest solutions with regards to its improvement are presented. An analysis of the literature showed that a model with four additional dimensions - physical health, mindset, work environment and economic security - may be the most useful for analysing employee wellbeing. The next part of this publication is devoted to the use of the PERMA model in the classification of interventions, where we show that the model not only enables diagnosis of the weaknesses of wellbeing, but even facilitates the assigning of specific interventions. These solutions make it possible to build wellbeing that positively impacts employee behaviour, with the authors indicating discrepancies in the activities undertaken by organisations and the needs of employees with regards to wellbeing. The findings suggest that employees expect activities related to the development of their mental dimension and economic security, not necessarily related to physical health, which are most commonly implemented by organisations.
It should come as no surprise that personal wellbeing is strongly influenced by the satisfaction or dissatisfaction that is experienced in the workplace. A happy job environment allows employees to develop a comfortable work-life balance, protects them from the insecurities of the gig economy, and minimizes the stress and harassment that is often experienced in the workplace. From the employer perspective, a comfortable workplace leads to greater employee engagement, lower turnover, better customer service, and an improved bottom line. This chapter summarizes thirteen indexes that specifically address the assessment of job satisfaction and workplace engagement.
Supply chain workers’ well-being was critically affected during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. During this period, workers were suspended, retrenched, and short-pay which tells on their personal, family, and household wellbeing. Therefore, this study qualitatively examined the impact of COVID-19 on Supply Chain workers' well-being in Nigeria. The study was carried out in Agbara Industrial Estate in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study adopted a phenomenological research methodology to explore and provide an in-depth description of participants’ well-being experiences during COVID 19 pandemic. In total, 150 participants were selected randomly from the study area. Both Atlas.ti 7.0 and In Vivo software were used to transcript the interview while analysis was done qualitatively. The findings of the study revealed that most respondents consented that they went through difficulties in feeding themselves and their families during the pandemic due to their job loss and short payment. The study concluded that the supply chain workers were retrenched/short-pays during the period of COVID 19 and they were not adequately catered for their well-being in terms of food and health care. The study recommends that the supply chain companies can support an inclusive COVID-19 recovery for workers.
This chapter utilizes a unique approach in examining a small passage from Christian Scripture, and its impact on work, through leadership, in an organization. Offered is an intertexture analysis of Colossians 3:23–24. The analysis yielded four themes for spiritual work: responsible and accountable instruction, reward-based guidance, the heart/motivation of work, and cultivating purpose at work. Work that provides the connection between instructed work and Scripture is applicable to contemporary organizations.
There are increasingly more discussions on and guidelines about different levels of indicators surrounding smart cities (e.g., comfort, well-being and weather conditions). They are an important opportunity to illustrate how smart urban development strategies and digital tools can be stretched or reinvented to address localised social issues. Thus, multi-source heterogeneous data provides a new driving force for exploring urban human mobility patterns. In this work, we forecast human mobility using indoor or outdoor environment datasets, respectively, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Wi-Fi and LinkNYC kiosks, collected in New York City to study how comfort and well-being indicators influence people’s movements. By comparing the forecasting performance of statistical and Deep Learning (DL) methods on the aggregated mobile data we show that each class of methods has its advantages and disadvantages depending on the forecasting scenario. However, for our time-series forecasting problem, DL methods are preferable when it comes to simplicity and immediacy of use, since they do not require a time-consuming model selection for each different cell. DL approaches are also appropriate when aiming to reduce the maximum forecasting error. Statistical methods instead have shown their superiority in providing more precise forecasting results, but they require data domain knowledge and computationally expensive techniques in order to select the best parameters.
Research efforts in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic focused on the actual and potential impacts on societies, economies, sectors, and governments. Less attention was paid to the experiences of individuals and less still to the impact of COVID-19 on an individual’s wellbeing. This research addresses this gap by utilising a holistic wellbeing framework to examine the impact of COVID-19 on the overall wellbeing of individuals in the Australian state of South Australia through an online survey. The research framework for the survey comprises six dimensions: psychological and emotional health, physical health, living standards, family and community vitality, governance, and ecological diversity and resilience. The results show that most respondents (71%) were able to maintain overall wellbeing during the pandemic. However, more than a half of the respondents could not maintain wellbeing in psychological and emotional health. Further examination of the drivers of inability to maintain overall wellbeing reveals that low-income individuals, younger respondents (aged 18–24) and women suffer disproportionate hardships. Defining poverty in terms of multi-dimensional deprivations in wellbeing enables a nuanced analysis of the unequal impacts of COVID-19 mitigation policies that can be used to improve policymaking.
The purpose of this paper is to assess the determinants of financial wellness among employees in Sarawak. Samples are selected using multi-stage sampling technique among employees work at Kuching City and regression analysis is applied to examine the impacts of financial literacy, financial stress, and financial behavior towards the financial wellness among employees. A total of 300 questionnaires was distributed to the public and private sector employees with a response rate at 71 per cent. Generally, the results suggest that all determinants significantly affect the financial wellness of the workers. Additionally, education level is found important to the financial wellness among employees in Kuching, Sarawak.
This article aims to provide a large-scale study, without geographical restrictions, on how people’s habits can influence their comfort and well-being. In this sense, sensing techniques are used, through smart devices, such as the smartphone, with the main objective of collecting information about the user and the environment that surrounds him. The collected data are subsequently processed, and several models of deep learning are built that aim to predict the well-being and comfort in the different environments in which a person is inserted. However, due to the pandemic, the main focus has been changed and the main objective is to understand if it is possible to predict comfort and well-being in the quarantine.
Wellbeing is an emerging priority that poses a “wicked” problem. Current directives from policy makers are that schools address student wellbeing. However, the lack of a clear definition, simple solution or process for ensuring wellbeing creates a difficult task for schools. This article seeks to add to the current understanding of wellbeing in schools by drawing on the findings of a systematic literature review to investigate the characteristics and outcomes of school-based wellbeing interventions. Four databases were searched to identify relevant peer-reviewed articles published in English. The background discussion is set in the Australian context; however, the geographic scope of the literature review is international. Findings of the study align with previous research that views definitions of wellbeing as problematic. The broad range of wellbeing interventions found in the literature highlights a lack of consensus around best practice for wellbeing in schools. Despite evidence showing the benefits of a whole school approach, the majority of articles describe programmes and strategies targeted at small groups of students. The outcomes of the interventions are difficult to compare because they do not necessarily relate directly to wellbeing. This article raises questions about the evidence base to support the validity and trustworthiness of the interventions. Further research is necessary to consolidate understandings of wellbeing and to provide solid research evidence to inform further development of school wellbeing practices.
The growing awareness of the role of spirituality in bringing about myriad of beneficial organizational outcomes is leading to a surge of interest in the topic in both in Corporates and academic world alike. On the other hand, wellness is witnessing substantial attention, especially regarding adoption of various intervention programs to facilitate healthy living. Interestingly, many wellness models include the dimension of spirituality at the core of their model (Myers, Sweeney and Witmer, 2000). This study attempts at examining the potential influence of workplace spirituality on the overall wellbeing of the respondents. A sample of 298 employees from IT, ITES and BFSI organizations based in Delhi NCR was empirically tested using a survey design to explore the relationship between workplace spirituality and employee wellness. Correlations and regressions were applied to the data and results indicate that workplace spirituality is indeed a significant predictor of employee wellbeing. The reasons for the data findings, its consequences and implications as well as directions for future research have been discussed.
Both the domestic and international academic literature’s analysis of links between transport and wellbeing focuses mainly on urban settings and vulnerable population groups including older people, people with health issues, socio-economically disadvantaged people, or people undergoing more frequent extreme climatic events. While the relationship between remote Australians wellbeing and travelling activities is evident, its complexity still remains an under-researched topic. This is paradoxical when considering that extreme distances, high supply chain costs, limited access to services and to economic participation are well recognised obstacles for sustaining vibrant remote Australian communities. The latest accessibility-driven technological innovations in both the digital and the sharing economies are highly topical in transport projects in urban agglomerations but still a distant reality for remote Australia. There is a need for researching an appropriateness framework of such technologies because of the strong relevance of the multiple outcomes in terms of wellbeing that some of these innovations provide. Furthermore what defines a good quality of life can sometimes be very similar and other times greatly differ between remote and urban contexts. In the light of some recent transport and mobility research this paper analyses the potential connections between more appropriate transport innovations and increasingly resilient remote communities.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate a newly developed brief, cost-effective, flexible, and broadly accessible online programme designed to enhance employee well-being. Considering the demands of the working world, the development of the positive intervention (PI) programme was based on empirical findings and latest theoretical advances from the field of positive psychology, namely the PERMA model of well-being. The new PERMA-based programme’s effectiveness to increase employee well-being was evaluated with a longitudinal field experiment, including a wait list control group and an already established PI programme (i.e., gratitude programme) for comparison (three-armed randomized controlled trial; n = 303, Nmale = 99, Nfemale = 203, Mage = 41.16, SD = 12.26). Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) supported that on average, participants of the gratitude programme and the PERMA-based programme reported significant increases in employee well-being after the intervention, as compared to no increases in the wait list control group. The significant increases yielded small effect sizes for general subjective well-being and medium effect sizes for work-related subjective well-being. Post-hoc analyses controlling for baseline well-being also supported the efficacy of the PIs. Contrary to the prediction of the PERMA-based programme’s superiority, participants of both online PI programmes reported similar gains in employee well-being components. Practical implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.
JT03360594 Complete document available on OLIS in its original format This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
This chapter summarizes the benefits of well&;#x02010;being at work, and the case for well&;#x02010;being assessments and the use of positive psychological assessment measures is made. It discusses current workplace well&;#x02010;being assessment practices, drawing on various related literature. The chapter outlines a new framework for conceptually evaluating organizational well&;#x02010;being research, which is also a practically useful framework when obtaining commitment for workplace well&;#x02010;being programs (WWPs) and implementing them within organizations. Workplace stress is a chronic and pressing issue for organizations. To maximize the potential of positive psychological assessment for workplace well&;#x02010;being and health promotion, various avenues of research are suggested. More research is needed in order to fully understand the scale and scope of current well&;#x02010;being assessments in organizations and to establish firmer baseline usage and characteristics as a basis for change. The chapter ends with some suggestions for further research and conclusions.
Background:
Long-term stress-related sick leave constitutes a serious health threat and an economic burden on both the single worker and the society. Effective interventions for the rehabilitation and facilitation of return to work are needed.
Objective:
The aim of the study was to examine the effects of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM), a psychotherapy intervention including relaxation, music listening, and imagery, on biopsychosocial measures of work-related stress.
Methods:
Twenty Danish workers on sick leave were randomized to music therapy versus wait-list control. Data collection was carried out at an occupational health ward in the period 2008-2010. Changes in salivary cortisol, testosterone, and melatonin were explored, and self-reported data on psychological stress symptoms (perceived stress, mood disturbance, sleep quality, physical distress symptoms, work readiness, well-being, anxiety, depression, immediate stress) were collected. Data regarding sick leave situation and job return were collected from participants throughout the study.
Results:
Significant beneficial effects of GIM compared to wait-list after nine weeks with large effect sizes were found in well-being, mood disturbance, and physical distress, and in cortisol concentrations with a medium effect size. A comparison between early and late intervention as related to the onset of sick leave showed faster job return and significantly improved perceived stress, well-being, mood disturbance, depression, anxiety, and physical distress symptoms in favor of early intervention. In the whole sample, 83% of the participants had returned to work at nine weeks' follow-up.
Conclusions:
The results indicate that GIM is a promising treatment for work-related chronic stress, and further studies are recommended.
Organizational researchers have long been interested in the role played by employee “happiness” in workplace life. What remains less clear is what exactly constitutes happiness. The present purpose is not to invent a new definition of happiness. Rather the goal is to present the extant body of knowledge about “happiness” in a more manageable and consistent manner to assist future research endeavors. To that end, an overview of the literature is provided, which summarizes the differing approaches to the study of the “happiness” and “well-being” constructs into a more coherent framework. More specifically, the four faces of happiness taxonomy is used to highlight the conceptual diversity of happiness. These four faces include objective indicators, eudaimonic well-being, facets of satisfaction, and emotion-based conceptualizations of well-being. The present research highlights the importance of emotion-based measures of well-being (Category 4) in the prediction of such important organizational variables as job performance and employee retention. Several avenues for future research endeavors on workplace happiness and well-being are suggested, including the possibility of additional faces of happiness. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Based on Gallup World Poll data collected in seven regions of the world, this chapter studies the relationship between hours worked, perceived job fit, and well-being. Workers who are in more satisfying jobs, where they have the opportunity to do what they do best (job fit), have higher life evaluation and better daily experiences/affect across all regions studied. This finding emerges after controlling for demographics and other subjective life domains. Job fit and hours worked interact such that the addition of hours worked results in increasing declines in positive daily experiences (enjoyment, feeling treated with respect, and choice) for people with low job fit. As daily hours worked increased from 5-10 across workers, daily experiences/affect did not deteriorate as rapidly for those reporting high job fit. Hours worked in a day did not significantly impact negative daily affect/experiences in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. Job fit explained about 1.5 steps on the ladder of life (life evaluation), across the range of hours worked per week, whereas hours worked per week explained less than one-half step on the ladder of life.
To objectively assess the economic impact of insomnia on direct medical and prescription costs and indirect absence-related salary replacement costs and on absences and to compare the prevalence and costs of comorbidities in employees with and without insomnia.
A retrospective analysis was performed on employee data from the Human Capital Management Services Research Reference Database (January 2001-September 2007). Employees were identified as having insomnia (ICD-9 criteria) based on history of receiving medications used to treat insomnia or physician's diagnosis of insomnia. Control employees had no history of medications used to treat insomnia and no insomnia diagnosis. Annual costs and number of absences were compared using 2-part regression models, controlling for demographics, job information, geographic region, comorbid disorders, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index score. Comorbidity prevalence, costs, and services were compared.
Data were collected for 299,188 employees (17,230 employees with insomnia and 281,958 control employees). Annual mean incremental costs were $2,053 greater (in total) for employees with insomnia compared with controls (specific increments: medical $751, drug $735, sick leave $208, short-term disability $179, long-term disability $10, and workers' compensation $170). Employees with insomnia missed a mean of 3.10 more workdays annually than those without insomnia. Nearly all comorbid conditions were more prevalent, were more costly, and resulted in a greater utilization of services in employees with insomnia compared to those without. All of the above comparisons were significant (P < .05).
Insomnia was associated with increased costs, greater absenteeism, and an increased number of comorbid conditions in an employed population. Consistent with other analyses based on these data, the study estimated the annual cost of insomnia in the US civilian labor force to be approximately $15.0-17.7 billion (US dollars).
A multi-employer database that links medical, prescription drug, absence, and short term disability data at the patient level was analyzed to uncover the most costly physical and mental health conditions affecting American businesses. A unique methodology was developed involving the creation of patient episodes of care that incorporated employee productivity measures of absence and disability. Data for 374,799 employees from six large employers were analyzed. Absence and disability losses constituted 29% of the total health and productivity related expenditures for physical health conditions, and 47% for all of the mental health conditions examined. The top-10 most costly physical health conditions were: angina pectoris; essential hypertension; diabetes mellitus; mechanical low back pain; acute myocardial infarction; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; back disorders not specified as low back; trauma to spine and spinal cord; sinusitis; and diseases of the ear, nose and throat or mastoid process. The most costly mental health disorders were: bipolar disorder, chronic maintenance; depression; depressive episode in bipolar disease; neurotic, personality and non-psychotic disorders; alcoholism;, anxiety disorders; schizophrenia, acute phase; bipolar disorders, severe mania; nonspecific neurotic, personality and non-psychotic disorders; and psychoses. Implications for employers and health plans in examining the health and productivity consequences of common health conditions are discussed.
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