RSCH 600 - Literature Review: Healthy Workplace Environment Impact

This literature review explores the impact of a healthy workplace environment on organizational productivity, drawing upon various studies and reports. It defines a healthy workplace as one that supports the mental, physical, and social wellbeing of employees, emphasizing ethical considerations and the importance of work-life balance. The review examines the relationship between healthy workplace practices and organizational productivity, highlighting factors such as social connections, integrity, safety, security, and regulatory frameworks. It identifies a gap in the existing literature regarding a direct link between healthy workplace practices and increased organizational productivity, suggesting a need for further research in this area. A literature map is included to visually represent the relationships between different concepts. The review concludes by emphasizing the importance of creating a healthy workplace environment to enhance employee skills and proficiency.

Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW
LITERATURE REVIEW
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Definition of healthy workplace..................................................................................................2
Relationship between the healthy workplace practice and organisational productivity..............3
Work life balance.....................................................................................................................4
Social connections...................................................................................................................4
Integrity....................................................................................................................................5
Safety and security...................................................................................................................6
Regulatory frameworks...........................................................................................................7
Literature gap...................................................................................................................................7
Literature map..................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference.......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Healthy workplace environment has a great deal of impact on the organisational
performances. There are several arguments regarding the impact of the healthy workplace on the
organisational performance (Harmon et al., 2018). Therefore, this literature review aims to point
out the impact of healthy workplace environment on organisational performance. In this regard,
there are some key aspects that are resembled with the research objectives as well. For a better
understanding, the literature review is segregated into some key parts where the definition of
healthy workplace practice and the health oriented practices of the human capital are clearly
discussed. Later on, the research also carries out an in-depth analysis on the relationship between
productivity and the healthy workforce. A literature map is incorporated into the discussion to
portray the logical depiction of the entire argument. The literature review also delivers a
literature gap in order to understand the need for conducting the research further.
Discussion
Definition of healthy workplace
As per the WHO report, it can be stated that the concept of healthy workplace is
associated with the practice of complete mental, physical and social wellbeing of the employees.
However, the definition of healthy workplace has been developed rapidly and it incorporates a
series of new paradigm into the process of demonstrating the healthy workplace practice.
Adlakha et al. (2015) defined the process of healthy workplace with the ethical understanding.
As per the definition, it can be stated that healthy workplace is an ethical practice that enables the
physical and mental wellbeing of the employees. From the research of Reynolds et al. (2016) it

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can be derived that physical wellbeing connotes the biological elements in terms of the natural
daylight and temperature control that is an intricate part of the organisation. Moreover, the
practice of healthy eating and physical activities are also associated with the physical wellbeing
of the employees. On the other hand, Reynolds et al. (2016) acknowledges the mental wellbeing
of the employees in terms of stable mindedness, feeling less stressed and creative activities. It is
important for organisation in order to bring more efficacy into the performance of the employees.
Work-life balance is also considered to be an important part for the organisation to restore the
employee satisfaction extensively. Apart from that the article of Kushner and Ruffin (2015)
opined that the healthy workplace environment means developing a better situation for the
employees where they can feel more engaged with their profession. This definition identifies the
presence of an external element in terms of the employee satisfaction that can be ushered by
using effective workforce practice.
From this understanding it can be stated that there are both the interests of the
organisation and the employee benefits that reflects into the practice of healthy workplace
practice. Karanikola and Mpouzika (2018) advocated that the role of the healthy workplace
practice has a positive impact on not only the wellbeing of the employees but also the optimistic
consequences in the form of high employee satisfaction and motivation. Therefore, it is
important for the literature review to extend the discussion in order to get a clear perception of
relationship between the healthy workplace environment and the organisational performance.
Relationship between the healthy workplace practice and organisational
productivity
There are different factors of healthy workplace practice that can contributed to the
practice of organisational productivity effectively. For instance, the work life balance, social

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connections, safety and security in the professional career, communication and integrity are
contributed to the practice of establish a healthy workplace practice. It is further associated with
the regulatory framework of the government that are also contributed to develop healthy
workplace initiatives.
Work life balance
Shanafelt et al. (2015) asserted that the role of the work life balance is highly important
for the employees. It is associated with the notion of balance between the personal and
professional life. From the research of Deery and Jago (2015) it can be stated that the work life
balance is important for every person in order to make a social connection apart from doing
professional tasks. A moral argument is made by Poulose and Sudarsan (2018) that mentions that
employees are not machines so that they have different preferences and activities unlike the
machines. It is the responsibility of the organisation to respect the personal life of an employee
as well. One of the major result of enlisting the work life balance is to generate satisfaction
among the employees that enhances their performance robustly. The Work life balance creates a
relaxation for the employees so that they can get ample time to perform their responsibilities. It
also makes them social and facilitate a better opportunity to learn from the social lessons and use
it into professional life. For example, Melo et al. (2018) pointed out that people learn team
bonding and cooperation in their personal life that can help to develop the professional life and
bring more efficacy into the personal skills and abilities.
Social connections
Bonaccio et al. (2016) pointed out that communication is inarguably one of the mainstay
of establishing healthy workplace environment. It can be stated that the communication with the
organisation or in the society is highly crucial for an individual professional to provide mental

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satisfaction. The social connections in workplace helps the employees to communicated with the
management effectively and ventilate their issues properly. Moreover, the organisational policies
and expectations are also being highlighted through the implementation of effective
communication practice. Perrin (2015) advocated that the positive communication practice
within the organisation creates a good relationship between the management and the employees.
It brings more effectiveness into the professional activities of the organisation because they are
already acknowledged with the expectation of the companies and at the same time eligible to
voice their problems to the management. In the personal context, Müller et al. (2018) marked out
that the role of the communication builds up trust and mutual cooperation that makes the person
more sorted and relaxed to put focus in his professional performances. As a result of that it
becomes useful for the employees to shape their skills and ability attached with the practice of
making social communication in professional and personal aspect.
Integrity
Team bonding is considered to be one of the major aspect for the workplace in order to
bring more proficiency into the organisational practice. In fact, Martin and Nakayama (2015)
pointed out that integrity is identified as one of the major element to set effective workplace
environment. There are two core aspects of the organisational integrity in terms of team bonding
and the relationship with the management. The imposition of leadership is also a major aspect for
the organisation that can influence the process of workplace integrity. As per the research of
Jiménez, Winkler, and Dunkl (2017) it was confirmed that the integrity between the employees
can be set with the help of effective leadership quality. In this regard, the role of the leaders is to
engage the employees and create a better communication practice so that they can feel relaxed
and stress free to concentrate on their performance only. As a result of that it becomes an

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important part for the organisations to establish effective business practices with the use of
effective leadership quality. On the contrary, the account of Anderson et al. (2015) stated that the
intercommunication between the employees is also required in order to make integration and
cooperation among the employees. Gartmeier, Gebhardt and Dotger (2016) opined that
empowering the team with integration is also the responsible for the staffs to improve
performance. In result it will facilitate better organisational practice and increase the
organisational profitability effectively.
Safety and security
Based on the notion of providing employee satisfaction, Copeland and Henry (2017)
argued that the business organisation often opt for the safety and security of the employees. This
safety and security is not restricted into the concept of workplace health and safety but also
associated with the remuneration and award structure as well. Anderson et al. (2015) stated that
the money is the ultimate motivation for the employees and as a result of that is identified as one
of the major tool to engage and motivate the employees effectively. However, there are also
some pertinent aspect in terms of the prevalence of exploitation where the company intends to
pay low salary but put pressure on the employees to work more. Copeland and Henry (2017)
argued that the healthy workplace environment is also meant to set a balance between the
performance and the salary structure. From the empirical evidences it can be seen that the
companies also introduces the reward strategies where the employees can get bonus or incentives
based on their performances. It will foster a better workplace practice where the employees feel
encouraged and motivated to perform better.

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Regulatory frameworks
It is associated with the government responsibility to shape and push the business farms
to take adequate measure to formulate a better organisational practice. From the research of
Adeoti, Shamsudin and Wan (2017) it can be seen that the companies are entitled to abide the
legislative frameworks. Most of this acts are associated with facilitating a better workplace
practice where the employees’ interests are also met. It helps to formulate a healthy workplace
environment where better relationship between the organisation and the employees can be set by
the intervention of the legal frameworks. From that point of view, Ismail and Ahmed (2015)
asserted that it is important for the organisation to deliver an effective workplace culture where
both the interests of the company and the employees can be fulfil. As a result of that it brings a
balance between the power of the organisation and the employees.
Literature gap
Most of the previous researches are tried to develop their research on the basis of a single
factor of healthy workplace practice that is responsible to influence the skills of the employees.
As a matter of fact, there was no such direct argument that can deliver proper link between the
healthy workplace practice and the increase of organisational productivity. It can be stated that
most of the discussion is associated with the employee performance. it is true that the
improvement in the employee performance directly affect the organisational performance but
there is no such direct connection between the organisational performance or productivity that
can be influenced by healthy workplace practice. Therefore, it requires further research into this
topic.

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Healthy workplace
environment
Productivity
Work life
balance
Social
connections
Integrity
Safety and
security
Regulatory
frameworks
Employee skill
enhancement
High Employee
satisfaction
High employee
motivation
Increasing
organizational
productivity
Literature map
Figure 1: Literature Map
(Created by the author)
Conclusion
Based on the literature review, a number of factors are came into the surface that are
responsible to influence the prevalence of healthy workplace environment and at the same time
delivering a better perception regarding affecting the employee skills and proficiency positively.
Therefore, this literature review provides a new avenue for the research where the research can

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proceed towards a investigation based on illustrated factors that can bring efficacy into the
healthy workplace environment.

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Reference
Adeoti, M. O., Shamsudin, F. M., & Wan, C. Y. (2017). Effects of occupational stress and
workplace spirituality on workplace deviance in academia: a conceptual paper. Asian
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Adlakha, D., Hipp, A. J., Marx, C., Yang, L., Tabak, R., Dodson, E. A., & Brownson, R. C.
(2015). Home and workplace built environment supports for physical activity. American
journal of preventive medicine, 48(1), 104-107.
Anderson, J., Kuehl, R. A., Drury, S. A. M., Tschetter, L., Schwaegerl, M., Hildreth, M., ... &
Lamp, J. (2015). Policies aren’t enough: The importance of interpersonal communication
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Bonaccio, S., O’Reilly, J., O’Sullivan, S. L., & Chiocchio, F. (2016). Nonverbal behavior and
communication in the workplace: A review and an agenda for research. Journal of
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Copeland, D., & Henry, M. (2017). Workplace violence and perceptions of safety among
emergency department staff members: Experiences, expectations, tolerance, reporting,
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Deery, M., & Jago, L. (2015). Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention
strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), 453-
472.

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Gartmeier, M., Gebhardt, M., & Dotger, B. (2016). How do teachers evaluate their parent
communication competence? Latent profiles and relationships to workplace
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