Considerations for Incorporating “Well-Being” in Public Policy for Workers and Workplaces

Abstract

Action to address workforce functioning and productivity requires a broader approach than the traditional scope of occupational safety and health. Focus on "well-being" may be one way to develop a more encompassing objective. Well-being is widely cited in public policy pronouncements, but often as ". . . and well-being" (e.g., health and well-being). It is generally not defined in policy and rarely operationalized for functional use. Many definitions of well-being exist in the occupational realm. Generally, it is a synonym for health and a summative term to describe a flourishing worker who benefits from a safe, supportive workplace, engages in satisfying work, and enjoys a fulfilling work life. We identified issues for considering well-being in public policy related to workers and the workplace.

Research Methodologies for Total Worker Health ®

“…64 Defining and measuring well-being can be complex, but many validated measures are available that address such facets as functional status, quality of life, and stress or distress. Recently, NIOSH and RAND published an article on the development of a worker well-being framework to expand upon current understanding of well-being in the occupational safety and health literature.…”

Psychosocial job quality, mental health, and subjective wellbeing: a cross-sectional analysis of the baseline wave of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health

“…Subjective measures include positive emotion or satisfaction dimensions (including satisfaction with life as a whole), as well as social and psychological functioning dimensions, including perceptions of meaningfulness and sense of purpose in life) [15, 16, 19, 23, 24]. Previous research has characterised the distinctions between wellbeing and mental illness.…”

“…Most research on worker wellbeing to date has focused specifically on work context or domain-specific wellbeing, most prominently job satisfaction [16, 17, 26, 27]. This has yielded valuable insights into a range of areas including work and organisational performance, employee engagement, employee retention/intentions-to-quit, organisational citizenship behaviours, and various aspects of productivity [15–17, 23, 26, 27].…”

“…This has yielded valuable insights into a range of areas including work and organisational performance, employee engagement, employee retention/intentions-to-quit, organisational citizenship behaviours, and various aspects of productivity [15–17, 23, 26, 27]. Recent interest in worker wellbeing continues to be driven by relationships with performance and productivity, but also by the changing nature of workplace health and safety [16]. Many workplace injuries and occupational diseases have been controlled in industrialised countries, and current concerns about worker health are driven more by chronic disease, disability, and workability—which usually occur due to long periods of exposure to risk and protective factors which may include both work-related and other causes [15, 16].…”

“…Recent interest in worker wellbeing continues to be driven by relationships with performance and productivity, but also by the changing nature of workplace health and safety [16]. Many workplace injuries and occupational diseases have been controlled in industrialised countries, and current concerns about worker health are driven more by chronic disease, disability, and workability—which usually occur due to long periods of exposure to risk and protective factors which may include both work-related and other causes [15, 16]. This has led to a growing interest in broad and comprehensive measures of worker wellbeing to complement the previous emphasis on work domain-specific wellbeing measures such as job satisfaction [16, 19].…”