Employee Well-being and Organizational Support

Abstract

Growing numbers of organizations believe that implementing well-being programs increases their productivity and public image. A firm's success is not based solely on its profits and productivity, but also on its capacity to attract, motivate, develop and retain its workers. Therefore, programs designed to increase well-being in the workplace have steadily expanded and gained popularity, and, in many corporations, are an established part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. An important but often neglected part of organizational well-being, is its social well-being component.

Overview

Well-being refers to a series of conscious efforts to make intelligent health decisions, meant to benefit an individual–or a community's—mental, physical, and social needs. Organizational well-being, then, are programs and practices implemented by firms to ensure that the organization provides employees with a workplace that leads to a safe, healthy, and happy environment.

Modern organizations, both public and private, find it important to have a healthy and satisfied workforce. Performance and the delivery of a high-quality product or service has been proven to correlate directly with employee well-being. It also correlates with behaviors that affect morale in the organization, such as commitment and absenteeism. In fact, according to a wide variety of studies, healthy sense of employee well-being in the organization is related to a wide variety of positive outcomes, such as satisfaction, feelings of happiness and productivity. When factors exist that lower employee well-being and morale, workers report feelings of stress, work overload, and burnout. It is not surprising, then, that workers would be more prone to falling sick and being absent.

As organizations became aware of this, many now include policies of workplace well-being under their CSR programs. CSR refers to a firm's strategies of taking responsibility for its impact on the public good, that is, the environment and communities that surround them. The idea behind CSR is that they engage in efforts that go over and beyond what is expected or required of them by law and government regulations. CSR is also expected to transcend merely ameliorating or reducing any negative impact it may have on the world around it.

The concept of CSR first appeared in the United States in the late 1950s, as an organizational trend aimed at making firms, internally and externally, more sound and sustainable. This implied a vision of an organization as an entity that lived not only as a self-sustained profit-making firm, but also as an entity that lived socially and environmentally. In the years after World War II, Asian business experts began to implement practices that included the development of their workers. As Japanese firms became internationally successful, organizations worldwide began to take note of the inclusive workplace practices.

In time, American firms discovered that to implement successful CSR programs, it was important to take into account the firm's relationship with its employees. As stated before, CSR includes going beyond what is required by regulations and norms; this applies to the relationship with employees. CSR includes, then, efforts to advance employees' health and human development beyond what is required of work contracts between organizations and its workers. In other words, engaging in actions that improve the workers capacity and environment, and makes them feel a valued part of the firm.

Organizations that invest in the development of their workers, not only for workplace skills but also their physical and psychological health, have been shown to significantly increase their productivity. A firm oriented toward its workers, then, offers quality of life improvements, including not only the employees' workplace environment, but also their life beyond the workplace, especially their family life.

For example, individuals may face conflict in their family life or situations that impact their family life, such as addiction or mental health problems. When employees suffer personal strife outside of the workplace, it may affect their workplace performance in negative ways, such as increasing absenteeism, lowering motivation and performance, and ultimately termination. Therefore, many firms offer psychology or counseling services for workers and their families, not only to help them cope, but also to ensure that valuable employees stay with the firm.

Another issue that may impact the workplace negatively, is that of intolerance, and its attendant behaviors of harassment and bullying. Harassment and bullying refers to any uninvited and unwanted behavior that creates feelings of hostility in the workplace, and makes others feel offended, intimidated, humiliated or persecuted. Such behaviors may be single or group behaviors, overt or covert. In fact, it may even occur without management's awareness and include a wide variety of actions, such as spreading rumors, unwanted physical contact, undermining behaviors, and unwarranted exclusion.

Workplace intolerance and discriminatory behaviors lead to unhappiness in the workplace and, in consequence, affect company morale and performance. Furthermore, these behaviors are illicit. Firms must be dealt with as soon as they occur. Leading organizational experts suggest that in order to prevent these behaviors before they occur, firms should have in place a set of pertinent strategies, which may include training workshops on tolerance, awareness, and anti-discriminatory legislation; developing policies and procedures that help identify intolerance; and implementing an action plan to deal with these events as they arise. The latter should include a confidential channel of communication in which employees feel safe in filing discrimination or bullying complaints without becoming a target of retaliation.

Finally, a company health and well-being promotion program may prove very beneficial to the firm and its employees. In 2017, The World Health Organization defined workplace health promotion as the shared efforts of a firm with its employees to improve the health and well-being of people in the workplace. This includes the elements of encouraging the development of personal and professional skills. Health promotion in the workplace should include elements that are not covered in legislation, such as workplace safety. Health promotion should include family well-being and practices that lead to a healthy lifestyle.

In short, a firm reaps the benefits of having healthy and happy employees. A thoughtful and inclusive well-being program decreases stress and absenteeism, while increasing workers' morale and productivity. Making workers feel valued and safe leads them—and the firm—to make intelligent decisions. Moreover, most well-being programs are relatively inexpensive to implement, whereas the negative outcomes from stress, hostility, discomfort, and fatigue in the workplace are likely to generate long-term difficulties and high costs. Problems stemming from low levels of well-being may lead a firm to gain a negative reputation which, in turn, may affect its brand reputation and ability to attract and retain quality talent.

Applications

Firms implement well-being programs to improve the physical and mental health of their workers. These programs may include training workshops or educational seminars, counseling, clinics, childcare, healthy lifestyle education, recreation, and many others. Some firms offer well-being programs on company premises, while others may hire third party companies to provide them. They may cover the full costs as part of a benefits package or, in some cases, employees cover part of the cost.

Experts offer some basic recommendations for implementing company well-being programs to ensure that workers feel valued by the firm and develop feelings of ownership and loyalty. According to Business Insider's 2016 ranking of the best 50 companies to work for in the United States, the companies that report the highest level of worker satisfaction are precisely those that most invest in their workers' well-being. Companies with the highest reported level of employee well-being include American Express, Google, and Facebook. As company leaders comment, they realized that workers' creativity and innovation increase proportionally with their rate of workplace satisfaction.

Other recommendations provided by firms with high rates of employee satisfaction are the following:

• Maternity and paternity leave. Google famously offers five months parental leave with a full salary for new mothers and fathers.
• Ergonomic workstations and furniture. Poor posture may cause strain to back, neck and wrists, leading to chronic health problems and decreased productivity. Ergonomic design optimizes products and spaces for best workplace use.
• Healthy snacks. Many clinical studies have shown that what people eat affects their well-being and productivity. Healthy snacks may increase nutrition and provide a hungry worker with a clearer mind and more long-term energy. Firms that provide healthy snacks for employees help them improve their performance and health.
• When possible, allow employees to work from home. Some corporations allow 30 to 50 percent of their employees to work from home if they prefer to do so.
• Meaningful work. Beyond earning a salary, employees work best when they believe they are engaged in meaningful work, that is, that it somehow contributes to society.
• Allow pets. More and more companies worldwide are adopting pet-friendly policies. The presence of animals is used to reduce stress in a variety of organizations.
• Pay well. People who earn competitive salaries feel rewarded and are unlikely to want to leave.
• Pampering. Companies such as Facebook offer employees the services of doctors and chiropractors as well as generous vacations. Others offer play rooms and other recreational opportunities.
• Workplace nurseries and daycare. More and more companies are providing workers with diverse forms of on-site childcare. Workplace daycare is correlated with a marked decrease in workplace absenteeism by parents facing childcare challenges.

Not all firms are able to follow these suggestions or need to do so. However, all workplaces may come up with workable ideas of their own. The final purpose is to work toward providing a happy and healthy environment for workers as a way of keeping them motivated and of incentivizing their productivity.

Moreover, in addition to treating employees well, intelligent management invests in ensuring that a worker is a good fit for the job. Many studies have found that the fit between worker and work does impact performance and outcomes. An organization's well-being strategy, then, should include ways to provide an appropriate environment and matching work tasks with an employee's personal skills and inclinations. Employees who feel out of place or unproductive, will soon become frustrated and discontent.

Issues

Organizations often focus on employees' physical well-being: for instance, investing in occupational safety, an ergonomic environment, and promoting healthy lifestyles programs. These may include allowing spaces and time for exercise, healthy food options and pleasant eating areas, sports programs, gym memberships, and clinics and plans for specific health problems. However, while all the former are good organizational practices, firms often neglect the social aspect of well-being.

Social well-being is an important factor of organizational well-being and can have a profound impact on the general sense of well-being in a workplace. To a large extent, social well-being involves a healthy balance between work life and personal life, as well as positive interactions in the workplace and outside of it. Firms frequently underestimate the impact that social interactions have on an employee's sense of self and satisfaction with life.

Studies amply demonstrate that workers that are ranked as the highest producers tend to be those who also report an excellent sense of social well-being. Therefore, it behooves firms to create environments that promote social interactions in ways that also stimulate productivity. These may include the creation of environments appropriate to interaction—open spaces, spaces for informal interaction, playrooms. It may also include providing events that promote these interactions, such as potlucks, friendly intraoffice competitions, and yoga classes.

Social well-being includes emotional and psychological well-being. Individuals need to feel that, as chaotic as the world may be, they are in control of their own life and goals. This includes developing a sense of acceptance and belonging to his or her different environments, including their workplace. People may be extraordinarily healthy in body, but if they do not enjoy emotional well-being, they tend to report low levels of well-being in general. Moreover, experts stress the importance of workers feeling a sense of belonging, so that firms should promote a positive organizational culture and optimal social conditions for employees. For this, it is important to bear in mind that workers who feel excluded or harassed will develop negative feelings in the workplace, likely to impact directly their psyche and their work.

Moreover, it is important that employers bear in mind that, according to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, harassment becomes unlawful under several conditions, such as when it is severe or constant enough that people find it hostile, intimidating, or abusive. Discrimination and harassment are hostile or aggressive behaviors based on race or ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability, and genetic information. Harassment is naturally unwelcome and disruptive and may take the form of gestures, words, or actions. Further, harassers may be supervisors, coworkers, and even clients.

Discriminatory behavior is inherently hostile in that it is uninvited and causes personal discomfort, although it may take the form of seemingly friendly actions. In this case, it is called "microaggression." Microaggressions may be unintentionally hurtful or insulting and generally result from stereotypical assumptions, violations of personal boundaries, and exploitation of social or workplace power dynamics. A hostile work environment not only impacts its victims negatively, but also lowers workplace morale overall. It is of interest to a firm, then, to ensure that it informs and educates all employees, from management down, on all elements that may be considered workplace discrimination, harassment, and bullying.

Organizational wellness impacts firms positively, by improving creativity and productivity. Thus, employee well-being programs also make good business sense. The best wellness program is that in which workers actively choose to participate in a healthier lifestyle, rather than feel compelled to it, and in which its positive effects transcend the workplace. It is important to remember that people are motivated by different things, so that an appropriate wellness program is that which offers a variety of options for collaboration and participation.

Terms & Concepts

Absenteeism: Being absent from the workplace or school, usually without a valid reason.

Bullying: Using superior power or strength—or the appearance of superior strength—to dominate or intimidate another. It may also be known as strong-arming or browbeating.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Federal Agency in charge of enforcing civil rights in the workplace and investigating workplace discrimination.

Harassment: Unwelcome or uninvited behavior that causes feelings of discomfort, alarm, or distress.

Organizational: Pertaining to a corporate firm, business, or public entity organized in a specific administrative and managerial structure.

Plan: A broad yet short-range set of aims or goals focusing on solving a problem or accomplishing an action. It usually is implemented by way of programs.

Policies: Formal courses of action, strategies, and/or laws adopted by an organization.

Program: A program is one of the parts of a plan, meant to take action toward a specific objective or target.

Microaggression: Actions, such as hair touching or personal remarks, that express often unintentional prejudice.

Well-being: A state characterized by health, happiness, and comfort.

Bibliography

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Suggested Reading

Barrett, R. (2017). The values-driven organization: Cultural health and employee well-being as a pathway to sustainable performance. London, UK: Routledge.

Botezat, A. (2017). Austerity plan announcements and the impact on the employees' wellbeing. Journal of Economic Psychology, 63, 1–16.

Boyd, N. M., & Nowell, B. (2017). Testing a theory of sense of community and community responsibility in organizations: An empirical assessment of predictive capacity on employee well-being and organizational citizenship. Journal of Community Psychology, 45(2), 210–229. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Sociology Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sxi&AN=121182742&site=ehost-live

Caesens, G., Stinglhamber, F., Demoulin, S., & De Wilde, M. (2017). Perceived organizational support and employees' well-being: The mediating role of organizational dehumanization. European Journal of Work & Organizational Psychology, 26(4), 527–540. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Sociology Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sxi&AN=123828174&site=ehost-live

Moen, P., Kelly, E. L., Fan, W., Lee, S., Almeida, D., Kossek, E. E., & Buxton, O. M. (2016). Does a flexibility/support organizational initiative improve high-tech employees' well-being? Evidence from the work, family, and health network. American Sociological Review, 81(1), 134–164. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Sociology Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sxi&AN=112802597&site=ehost-live