Well-being at work – overview and perspective

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of and perspective on the concept of well-being at work. Well-being is a term that reflects not only on one's health but satisfaction with work and life. Well-being is a summative concept that characterizes the quality of working lives, including occupational safety and health (OSH) aspects, and it may be a major determinant of productivity at the individual, enterprise and societal levels. Based on a review of the literature and a recent conference, we suggest a model linking workforce well-being, productivity, and population well-being. To appraise the validity of the model, we consider five questions: (i) is there a robust and usable definition of workplace well-being? (ii) have the variables that influence well-being been aptly described and can they be measured and used in risk assessments? (iii) what is the nature of evidence that well-being is linked to productivity? (iv) what is the state of knowledge on the effectiveness of interventions to promote workplace well-being? and (v) should interventions aimed at improving well-being at work focus on more than work-related factors?Key terms health promotion; occupational safety and health; OSH; productivity; workplace.1 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. 2 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.Correspondence to: Dr P Schulte, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-14, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226, USA. [E-mail: pschulte@cdc.gov] Maintaining the functioning of the workforce is increasingly a critical issue as workforces throughout the world age and worker shortages are projected due to lower fertility rates (1, 2). With these realities, nations are struggling to determine how they will meet social welfare, pension, and healthcare obligations, when the engine that supplies the financing -the workforce -is aging and increasingly impacted by chronic disease and disability (3-5). The key to maintaining the effective functioning of the workforce is the concept of wellbeing, which encompasses more than just one's state of health; it is also a reflection of one's satisfaction with work and life. This was recognized in what may turn out to be a landmark event, where 190 scientists and practitioners from more than 30 countries met on 10-12 February 2010 in Helsinki for the Towards Better Work and Well-being Conference, which focused on research and information on the well-being of workers (http://www.ttl.fi/en/press/Pages/pressrelease_5.aspx).The conference highlighted the need to understand an array of factors that affect workers' well-being and the extent to which well-being influences productivity. Many of the presentations indicated that to address worker well-being and productivity effectively, the traditional focus of occupational safety and health (OSH) must be expanded to include an understanding and assessment of those factors that lea...

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“…He regards wellbeing as a subjective evaluation of life: the emotions we feel, the activities we engage in, the balance of pleasurable and painful experiences we have, and our general satisfaction with life. In workplace-based research, some authors opt for a narrow definition which equates wellbeing with job satisfaction (Sousa-Poza & Sousa-Poza, 2000), while others argue for a more holistic concept of the quality of working life (Schulte & Vainio, 2010). In a seminal review of the relationship between work, health and wellbeing, Waddell and Burton (2006) distinguished between health and wellbeing, noting that the former is still operationalised in terms of the absence of symptoms or illnesses, while the latter is a subjective state of satisfaction or happiness with one's life.…”

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