Employee as a Whole Person: Personal Life and Well-Being Support at Workplace

Authors

  • Veronika Stepanova University of Ljubljana

Abstract

Introduction
Satisfied, healthy, and happy employees are also better performing employees, research shows, which is why organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of employee well-being [1]. While personal well-being is affected by several types of factors outside the workplace environment, organisations should first focus on the workplace resources crucial for employee performance and satisfaction. However, the question remains on how much they should also invest in overall employee well-being and supporting their personal lives. Namely, employees are often still treated as one of the types of resources and are not considered holistically [2]. Thus, the main aim of this research is to contribute to a workplace consideration of employees as whole individuals with support of their overall well-being and personal lives. Consequently, it will shed light on the importance of employee well-being and a whole-person approach to employees, while also emphasising the importance of employee satisfaction and experience with implications for further practice.

Methods
Workplace environment and employee well-being/personal life support will be assessed in a business unit of 35 employees working in healthcare IT field. A questionnaire will be formed intended to measure the level of workplace personal life support, workplace contribution to different dimensions of employee well-being according to an established whole-person approach [3] (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual), and employee satisfaction. The questionnaire will be followed by qualitative interviews with employees to assess their overall satisfaction and well-being, as well as collect their personal suggestions. Furthermore, ongoing organisational practices related to employee well-being will be compared to the more quantitative results for a realistic assessment, providing the basis for further improvements. However, the relevance of the results lies in the assumed correlation between the whole-person approach and employee satisfaction. This research will hopefully illuminate the urgency of treating employees holistically and why implementation of such practices should be prioritised by organisations.

References
[1] K. Nielsen, M. B. Nielsen, C. Ogbonnaya, M. Kansala, E. Sari, and K. Isaksson, “Workplace resources to improve both employee
well-being and performance: A systematic review
and meta-analysis ,” Work & Stress vol. 31 no. 2 pp. 101-120, 2017.

[2] E. Kossek, T. Kalliath and P. Kalliath, “Achieving employee wellbeing in a changing work environment: An expert commentary on current scholarship,” International Journal of Manpower, vol. 33., 2012.

[3] J. Scarduzio J. and P. Geist-Martin, “Workplace Wellness Campaigns: The Four Dimensions of a Whole Person Approach,” in T. Harrison and E. Williams (ed.), Organizations, Communication, and Health, 172-186, Routledge, 2016.

Published

2022-06-23