The Positive Effects Of Employee Well-Being In The Workplace

Balancing work life and family life has become a major issue for today's workforce. At a time when many companies are streamlining their workforce to become "lean and mean," expecting more work from fewer people, it is becoming increasingly difficult for employees to cope

Everyone has been told from one time or another – don’t bring your personal life to work, and vice-versa. Easier said than done. In our current economy, families are having to work harder, and longer thus leaving less time for family and creating stress and anxiety. One thing that has statistically shown why people are stressed at work and home – the instability of work-life balance. This paper exemplifies the barriers and measures one can take to secure the balance.

It is important for employers to ensure that their staff can maintain a work-life balance and this will provide its own benefits for them, such as:

The overall purpose of this project is to investigate if a work environment in which work life balance is anticipated and supported will provide positive impact on employees’ performance and attitude. In addition, this research will examine the current understanding of attitudes toward the concerns of work life balance across the gender roles. This review of qualitative data will provide answers to the following questions. First, would implementing a work life balance provide employees with a happier and

In today’s world many people are trying to balance their work and their personal life which can be a huge challenge. There have been studies showing that having a poor work life balance can cause an unhealthy level of stress; unhappiness and it can actually reduce productivity. Also many people suffering from poor work life balance can find it impacts their relationships and ability to actually enjoy and value their lives.

The importance and impact of work-life balance is very significant as it affects and benefits a person in many ways. Professor of Psychology at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, Shawn Burn, summarized it well when she said, “Work-life balance is important because it affects the well-being of individuals, families, and communities. After all, people need time and energy to participate in family life, democracy, and community activities. They also need time outside of work for rejuvenation, and to develop and nurture friendships and their ‘non-work selves.’” This is to say that work-life balance affects the wellbeing of individuals both at work, and allows for major developments for the non-working self as well. It is important that the two roles, an individual’s working and non-working self, enrich each other and do not take away from one another. Applying this concept in life will allow an individual

Many Americans in today’s society are subject to workaholism, an addiction that can alter a person’s personality and values. Hauk and Chodkiewicz, both part of the Institute of Physcology and University of Lódź, Łódź, Poland, conducted a study analyzing the the role of occupational stress in workaholism and family relationships. They concluded that occupational stress was mediator in this relationship leading to the conclusions that stress, a symptom of workaholism, was influencing relationships outside of work. As more work means more stress, workaholics are burdened with large accumulation of stress they cannot escape, since they are driven by the desire to constantly work. This desire, as Hauk and Chodkiewicz point out, isolates a worker and leads to a work-family conflict (WFC) because all of the laborer’s resources are consumed by work. A WFC, according to Greenhaus, Drexel University, and Beurell, Seton Hall University, is defined as a conflict in which “participation in the work (family) role is more difficult by virtue of participation in family (work) role” meaning that full participation in one role came at the expense of another (Greenhaus) . Li-Chaun Chu, School of Health Policy and Management, states that “WFC commonly appear as an antecedent for psychological distress and mental health problems”. Poor mental health does not increase productivity in work, and workers with poor mental health will actually tend to have more absences and eventual job burnout. In order for society to prosper, proper relationships need to be established between people to have a healthy, communal society. Under pressure to perform and to produce at a great volume, workers will begin to change and alter their relationships. In Summary , stress will push workaholics to work until they break, but the trade off is not

These types of workplaces have been directly linked to less work-family conflict (Kelly 267). By providing schedule control, employees have the ability to work closer to home and spend more hours a day with their families, decreasing the effects of negative work-family spillover. An example of this type of workplace would be the ROWE, results only work environment, initiative. At this workplace employees can do “whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done” (Kelly 269). By setting this mentality in workers, they are far these prone to the work stress that triggers negative work-family spillover. According to the American Psychological Association psychologically healthier workplaces produce higher rates of employee satisfaction and 50% less employees reporting chronic work stress (“APA Center”). This then allows the workers a less likely chance of seeing any work-family spillover in their lives. As with every solution, creating psychologically healthy workplaces has its withdrawals and

demonstrates the employers concern for the well-being of their employees as well as their personal value.

Companies also offer wellness programs to remain competitive in the marketplace and as a recruitment and retention benefit. Organizational Health and Wellness is linked to employee performance and is critical to business success.

Employers should care about the well-being of their employees, if no others reason than it promotes a happier workforce as a result will provide a more productive workforce.

Industrial-Organization psychologists apply the theories and principles of psychology to improving organization effectiveness and employee well-being. Their research tells us that work-life conflict is associated with many negative outcomes, including lower job and life satisfaction, lower career commitment and stronger turnover intentions, and greater physical symptoms and mental disorders as well. It is important to be aware of the benefits that can come from multiple roles, often termed as “work-life enrichment” (Henning,J.,&Dr.Nakai,Y.,2013).

Employers, under UK law have a ‘duty of care’- to protect the health, safety and welfare of their staff (Health and Safety Act, 1984). Therefore, introducing health and wellbeing programmes/interventions will have a positive outcome for employers and employees alike. Research has shown that such measures increase job satisfaction for employees (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2008), and in turn increases levels of job performance, overall satisfaction and mental health, and reduces sickness absence and staff turnover. For organisations that actively promote good mental health in the workplace, they experience increased efficiencies and profits. Consider the major electricity provider- EDF Energy. “A workplace audit showed that the company was losing around £1.4 million in productivity each year as a result of mental ill health among its employees. As part of an Employee Support Programme, the company offered psychological support (cognitive behavioural therapy) to employees and trained over 1000

An important aspect to the success of a business, that often goes unnoticed, is the happiness of its employees. If an employee is miserable doing the work they are given, then the willingness of this employee to go the extra mile for the sake of the company is extremely limited. The employees who are miserable with what they do for a living are the ones who care solely about the paycheck at the end of the week rather than the result of their work and its impact on the business. Employees should be happy in the workplace. It should be filled with positive energy because when an employee is positive and motivated, they tend to be more productive. Daniel Sgroi, in the Journal of Labor Economics, writes:

Shaun Achor is a Harvard professor who is at the forefront of research on the effects of happy, engaged, employees on organizations and strategies to develop happy workers. Achor (2016) admits that the reaction he receives from many organizations during his initial consultation when he inquires about their commitment to cultivating an engaged workforce is generally along the lines of, "we don 't need it, we pay our employees to be engaged". Anchor has spent his career proving these individuals and organizations wrong.