Employee Well-being: Definition, Scope, Nature, and Limits

This report provides an in-depth understanding of employee well-being, including its definition, scope, nature, and limits. It also includes examples of companies, such as Google, that have implemented successful employee well-being initiatives.

Employee
Well being
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
1. Definition of Employee Well-being, its scope, nature and limits in general practice........3
2. First example of an organisation’s attempt at Employee Well-being initiatives................7
3. Second example of an organisation’s attempt at Employee Well-being initiatives...........9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................12
2

INTRODUCTION
Employees well-being is considered as factor which is more related to physiological or
mental ill health of employees. In this, companies analyse and develop strategies related to
health, happiness and job satisfaction of employees at the workplace. Now a day it is essential
for every firm to conduct employees well-being programme because through it staff feel motived
and get satisfied with their job which increase their work performance (Arnold and Walsh,
2015). For this an organisation can conduct numbers of activities such as provide flexible
working hours, provide healthy office snacks, design office healthy cookbook, offer remote
working day every week and so on. The main aim of conducting this assignment is to develop
deep understanding of employees well-being. Topics discussed in report are scope, limits and
nature of employees well being as well as it will also include two example of companies who
conduct employees well-being initiatives.
MAIN BODY
1. Definition of Employee Well-being, its scope, nature and limits in general practice.
Definition of Employees Well-Being
Employees well-being is considered as staffs' overall well being which they are perceived
to be ascertained primarily through work as well as it can be impacted by interventions at the
workplace. This will include advancement, physical workplace and managerial consideration as
well as it will also consist psychological and physical health of employees (WHAT IS WELL-
BEING?, 2014).
Moreover employees well-being or workplace well-being is related to all factors of
working life including safety as well as quality of physical or working environment of company
as well as it will also include climate of working which satisfy employees and retain them for
long time (Workplace well-being, 2020). Through conducting activities for employees well-being
an organisation able to sustain for long time effectively.
The main aim of conducting employees well being activities at an organisation are related
to minimise direct cost of healthcare, develop and sustain high moral of employees, enhance
productivities (What is employees health and wellbeing?, 2020). Along with this it will also lead
to positive impact on recruitment and retention as well as it will also minimise damage trend of
presentism at the workplace.
3

Scopes of Employees Well-Being
There are several scope of employees well being which an organisation determine while
conducting related activities. Some of the main scopes of employees well beings are given
below:-
 Enhance health behaviours of employees: The main aim of conducting effective
employees well-being programmes is to change behaviours of employees. For this
company try to provide right skills, education, tools, motivation and social support to
staff in order to change behaviour (Arnold, 2017). Through this staff able to adopt as well
as maintain healthy behaviour at workplace.
 Minimise elevated health risks: Effective employees well being programmes help
employees in adopting good behaviour that enhance their health. Moreover it will also aid
in elevating blood glucose, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol which are
generally cause due to unhealthy diet as well as lack of physical activities (Barling and
Frone, 2017). So many companies motivating employees so that they include health stuff
in their eating and conduct regular exercise.
 Reduce cost of health care: By conducting employees well being programmes an
organisation able to motivate their employees to adopt health and effective behaviour.
Through which they able to minimise cost of health care because their illness ratio get
decrease due to adopting habit of eating healthy and conducting regular exercise.
 Enhance productivity of employees: Poor staff productivity is determined as situation
when employees is physically present but not interested in working. This situation of
poor productivity is also known as presenteeism (7 Most Important Reasons to Offer
Employee Well-being at Work, 2020). In respect of avoiding respective condition, an
organisation need to conduct effective employees well being programmes because
through that they able to motivate employees which lead to enhance in their productivity.
 Decrease absenteeism of staff: By conducting effective employees well being an
organisation able to minimise absenteeism level of staffs because they feel motivated and
connected toward workplace (Bakker, 2015). This will be possible due to various reason
such as development of good healthy behaviour, control on stress, healthy lifestyle,
balance blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol and so on. Moreover through decrease in
4

employees absenteeism company able to experience cost saving in successful and
effective manner.
 Enhance employees recruitment and retention: By conducting employees well being
activities an organisation able to retain as well as recruit staffs for long time duration
without conducting any special programmes for it. This will be generally take place
because through employees well being activities an organisation able to motivate their
staffs as well as they also feel satisfied with their workplace which lead to increase in
retention period (Brun and Cooper, 2016). Moreover it will also increase goodwill of
organisation at the marketplace which help management in conducting recruitment
activities in effective as well as successful manner.
Nature of Employees Well-Being
There are several nature or factor of employees well-being which are essential to be
considered as company so that they can develop effective decision making for succeed in
marketplace. Some of the main nature or factors of employees well being are given below:- Autonomy in nature: In order to conduct employees well-being in effective manner an
organisation need to develop as well as adopt autonomy culture at their workplace
because through it they able to provide equal treatment to every staffs (Chughtai, Byrne
and Flood, 2015). It is also essential to have good social as well as interpersonal skills
because that will help management in designing activities in effective manner. Stress management frameworks: It is one of the main factor on which employee well
being activities are based. According to this it is essential that all related programmes
need to focus on stress management of employees so that their performance get enhance.
Through this performance and work quality of employees get enhanced which help in
attaining desire goal successfully. Remote access: According to this it is essential for companies to offer remote or flexible
options to their employees so that they feel motivated and satisfied. In respect of this, an
organisation can offer work from home option for a day in a week because this will make
employees happy as well as increase motivation level of staffs (Guest, 2017). Firm must
also help employees to maintain balance among the office as well as domestic life
because that lead to increase in productivity.
5

 Physical safety and comfort: For an organisation it is essential to develop effective
employees well-being programmes which must focus on their safety as well as comfort
level (Huang and et. al., 2016). This is so because through it staff able to increase their
productivity level because by it they feel motivated, encouraged and satisfied at the
workplace.
Limits of Employees Well-Being
Like every things have both positive and negative aspects, employees will being also
have some limits which impact on the decision making of management in respect of respective
factors. Some of the main limits of employees well beings are given below:- Company not able to keep everyone happy: It is one of the most common situation
which arise at workplace according to this company select strategies which are beneficial
for all staff. But there are some employees who will not be satisfied with company steps
or policies which impact on their performance. Along with this, sometime this situation
also lead to conflict situation while conduct activities for employees well being. Too expensive for companies: Conducting extra activities in the name of employees well
being increase the expenses of firm as well as it is also time taking process. This is so
because employer or management need to design new and attractive activities for
engaging employees for well being (Mäkikangas and et. al., 2016). Moreover, sometime
it will also impact on the other activities of firm because management are busy in
developing strategies related to employees well being. Legislation and authentication: Every nation government develop numbers of
legislation so that firm conduct their work in effective as well as efficient manner. But
sometime it is hard for companies to adopt all legislation as well as authentication while
developing decision related to employees well being. Budget management is difficult: While developing decision related to the employees
well being companies need to conduct several activities such as health insurance but the
cost of these insurance is increasing day by day that impact on he turnover rate of firm
(Milner and et. al., 2015). Along with this, it will also increase difficulties in developing
budget or conducting financial planning.
 Difficult to maintain: Generally an organisation need to establish a separate department
in order to manage work related to employees well being because there are numbers of
6

work need to conduct in this. Moreover., for a firm it is difficult to conduct and maintain
proper activities related to well being of employees because through a particular activity
all staff not able to get happy. So that management of every program or activities is very
difficult in employees well being aspect.
2. First example of an organisation’s attempt at Employee Well-being initiatives.
Employee Well-being initiatives refers to activities or strategies which are conducted by
an organisation in order to attract as well as satisfy their employees so that their performance get
increased. This is so because that will also help in increasing productivity as well as profitability
of staffs and company respectively (Nielsen and et. al., 2017). There are are several employees
well beings activities which are conducted by different companies in order to retain and satisfy
staffs for long time period. Google is one of the best firm which conduct attractive and
innovative employees well being initiatives.
Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 and its head office is located
in California, United State. They are operating in internet, advertising, cloud computing,
computer hardware and software and artificial intelligence sector. There are near by 114096
employees are working in respective company at the worldwide level and their parent firm is
Alphabet Inc. There are numbers of employees well-being initiatives are conducted by Google in
order to satisfy and motivate their employees, from which some of the activities are given
below:-
 Google provide on site nurses, physicians, health care coverage and medical services in
respect to keep their employees happy as well as healthy. Respective company also
provide service according to which its employees can travel around the world without
worries because they have travel insurance as well as emergency assistance. This service
is for both work related vacation as well as personal vacations.
 Respective company offers Global Education Leave Program according to which they
enable their staffs that they can pursue their further education by taking leave from
company. Moreover this educational services will be covered by Google.
 Google also conduct health survey for their employees as that will help them in focusing
on their benefits as well as mental health (EXCLUSIVE: Google uses data to inform
mental health approach for 52,000 global staff, 2020). Along with this this services also
help firm in developing effective decision.
7

 Respective company offer services in order to maintain employees mental well-being,
this will include facilities like digital sleep enhancement programmes, providing flexible
working hours and mindfulness session. Along with this they also offer second medical
options such as massage programme, psychiatrist, free food and many more.
 Moreover, employees well being program of Google also include several action in order
to motivate their staffs such as free lunch, haircut option, nap pods, massage room,
gaming area (Pawar, 2016). Along with this, respective company also provide
opportunity to employees to grow their own vegetables in order to make their life
healthy.
 In order to develop and maintain proper employees well being Google offer free bike
within the campus, lego station as well as they also provide ping pong tables so that
employees enjoy their workplace.
 They also have office dogs because animals are considered as best therapy for improving
mood of human. By engaging their time with dogs employees feel happy and energetic
which increase their work performance.
 Respective company also provide colour coded healthy cafeteria which offer healthy
snacks for free such as KIND bars, coconut water, dried fruits and so on. Along with this,
company also offer opportunity to conduct on-site cooing or dancing classes for
Googler's (How Google inspired the business world to priorities employees happiness,
2017).
 Respective company also provide free gym or gym classes on site as that will help them
in encouraging employees to leave healthy lifestyle. Along with this, it also enhance
productivity level of employees by boosting their moral.
 In the name of Employees well being Google also offer Death Benefits to their
employees. According to that if any Googler dies then their spouse will get 50 percent of
their salary in the form of cheque for next ten years (Rahimnia and Sharifirad, 2015).
Through this employees feel connected toward workplace as well as they also want to
stay connect with company for the long time duration.
 Google also provide maternity as well as paternity leave to their employees so that they
can maintain work life balance successfully. Respective company offer 7 weeks paid
paternity holiday to their employees as well as they also offer 18 to 22 weeks paid
8

maternity leave. This policy of employees well being is also for surrogate as well as
adoptive parents.
 Google adopt 20 percent time policy according to which 80 percent ratio is for work
whereas 20 percent is to play (18 of Google’s Employee Perks You’re Missing Out On,
2019). Through this respective company able to enhance creativity level of their
employees as well as it will also help in motivating them.
These are some of the main employees well being initiatives taken by Google so that
their employees feel motivated as well as connected to them for long time duration. This will
also help firm in increasing their productivity and profitability successfully.
3. Second example of an organisation’s attempt at Employee Well-being initiatives.
Other than Google there are several other multinational companies which conduct
employees well being on the wide level because through that they able to attract and retain their
employees for long time duration such as Microsoft (Zheng and et. al., 2015). Microsoft is
founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in year 1975 and their head office is located at
Washington, United State. Respective company is operating in software development, internet,
video games, consumer electronics, cloud computing, social networking services, computer
hardware and Corporate venture capital industry at the worldwide level. There are approx
148465 employees are connected to Microsoft at the global level as well as for these employees
respective company also conduct numbers of activities so that they feel motivated and retain for
long time. Some of the main employment well being initiatives which are conducted by
Microsoft are given below:-
 Microsoft offer services related to their employees well being and safety while they are
on work as well as they also offer services in their personal lives. According to respective
company's Occupational Health and Safety Program they able to ensure that their
employees are working in safe as well as healthy environment.
 At Microsoft professional conduct assessment of safety risk in order to minimise hazard
situation as well as they also provide regular improvement in respect of employees safety
and health at the workplace (Empowering our employees, 2020). This so because
according to situation strategies can be developed more effectively and properly.
9

 In respect of employees well being Microsoft conduct assessment on regular or periodical
basis because through that they able to develop sound design related to safety principle as
well as that will also help them in controlling implementation of strategies successfully.
 Moreover, respective company involve manager as well as employees at Health and
Safety Committees which mainly focuses on Datacenter, office locations and retail
operations.
 Respective company also offer flexible benefits plan in which employees get 9 different
insurance options in order to ensure that safety of their family. Along with this it will also
help in covering all emergencies which may take place in general.
 Microsoft also publish their newsletter which have interesting topics which help
employees to minimise or overcome their anxiety level as well as newsletter also include
trending topics which help employees in improving their overall health successfully.
 Microsoft develop Microsoft CARES which is a confidential counselling services for
employees (Microsoft Live Well, 2020). At this professionals provide advice and
suggestion to employees that how they can improve their life by maintaining emotional
balance. Along with this, it also provide opportunities to employees to understand their
effectiveness and opportunities for growth.
 Respective company also provide self development opportunity to their employees
according to which they offer them counselling connect, discussion forums, e workshops,
self heal library and many more. Through this employees able to enhance their skills,
abilities and knowledge by which they can conduct their work effectively and
successfully.
 Along with this, Microsoft also conduct meditation session at every morning and
afternoon as well as they also conduct fitness classes or challenges in order to improve
mental and physical condition of employees.
 Respective firm also conduct social music classes and flash mob so that employees enjoy
their workplace because this will help them in improving their productivity as well a they
also provide sleeping coach for relaxing (Microsoft hosts wellbeing week, 2020).
These are main employees well being initiatives taken by Microsoft in order to enhance
their employees effectiveness and efficiency in successful manner.
10

CONCLUSION
By analysing above discussed point it can be summarise that now a day each and every
company is conducting employees well-being programmes because through it they able to
motivate and retain staffs for long time. Through this activity a firm also able to enhance their
productivity which directly lead to increase in profit, market shares and goodwill at the potential
marketplace. While adopting or conducting employees well-being programmes a company need
to conduct analysis in which they need to understand scope, nature and limits of program
because that will help them in developing effective decision according to situation. There are
numbers of activities which an organisation can conduct in respect of employees well-being such
as offer flexible working hour, conduct yoga classes, remote working day, apprise staffs
according to performance and many more. This is so because that will help in increasing
employees performance, retention and satisfaction level as well as through this firm also able to
gain competitive advantage at marketplace.
11

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Arnold, K. A. and Walsh, M. M., 2015. Customer incivility and employee well-being: testing the
moderating effects of meaning, perspective taking and transformational
leadership. Work & Stress. 29(4). pp.362-378.
Arnold, K. A., 2017. Transformational leadership and employee psychological well-being: A
review and directions for future research. Journal of Occupational Health
Psychology. 22(3). p.381.
Bakker, A. B., 2015. Towards a multilevel approach of employee well-being. European Journal
of Work and Organizational Psychology. 24(6). pp.839-843.
Barling, J. and Frone, M. R., 2017. If only my leader would just do something! Passive
leadership undermines employee well‐being through role stressors and psychological
resource depletion. Stress and Health. 33(3). pp.211-222.
Brun, J. and Cooper, C., 2016. Missing pieces: 7 ways to improve employee well-being and
organizational effectiveness. Springer.
Chughtai, A., Byrne, M. and Flood, B., 2015. Linking ethical leadership to employee well-being:
The role of trust in supervisor. Journal of Business Ethics. 128(3). pp.653-663.
Guest, D. E., 2017. Human resource management and employee well‐being: Towards a new
analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal. 27(1). pp.22-38.
Huang, L. C. and et. al., 2016. High performance work systems, employee well-being, and job
involvement: An empirical study. Personnel Review.
Mäkikangas, A. and et. al., 2016. The longitudinal development of employee well-being: A
systematic review. Work & Stress. 30(1). pp.46-70.
Milner, K. and et. al., 2015. The relationship between leadership support, workplace health
promotion and employee wellbeing in South Africa. Health promotion
international. 30(3). pp.514-522.
Nielsen, K. and et. al., 2017. Workplace resources to improve both employee well-being and
performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Work & Stress. 31(2). pp.101-
120.
Pawar, B. S., 2016. Workplace spirituality and employee well-being: An empirical
examination. Employee Relations.
Rahimnia, F. and Sharifirad, M. S., 2015. Authentic leadership and employee well-being: The
mediating role of attachment insecurity. Journal of Business Ethics. 132(2). pp.363-377.
Zheng, X. and et. al., 2015. Employee well‐being in organizations: Theoretical model, scale
development, and cross‐cultural validation. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 36(5).
pp.621-644.
Online
18 of Google’s Employee Perks You’re Missing Out On. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.coburgbanks.co.uk/blog/friday-funnies/googles-employee-perks/>.
7 Most Important Reasons to Offer Employee Well-being at Work. 2020. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.wellsteps.com/blog/2020/01/02/employee-well-being-at-work/>.
Empowering our employees. 2020. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/corporate-responsibility/empowering-employees>.
12

EXCLUSIVE: Google uses data to inform mental health approach for 52,000 global staff. 2020.
[Online]. Available through: <https://employeebenefits.co.uk/exclusive-google-mental-
health-approach/>.
How Google inspired the business world to priorities employees happiness. 2017.
[Online]. Available through: <https://mymindbright.com/blog-2/2017/10/5/the-launch-
of-mindbright>.
Microsoft hosts wellbeing week. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/june-online-2014/microsoft-hosts-wellbeing-
week/>.
Microsoft Live Well. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoftlivewell365/>.
WHAT IS WELL-BEING?. 2014. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.workandwellbeing.com/what-is-well-being/>.
Workplace well-being. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/safety-and-health-at-work/areasofwork/workplace-
health-promotion-and-well-being/WCMS_118396/lang--en/index.htm>.
What is employees health and wellbeing?. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.breathehr.com/blog/what-is-employee-health-and-wellbeing>.
13