STEPS TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY--HUMAN RESOURCE CAPITAL AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING BENCHMARKING EVIDENCE.

AuthorStan, Oana Mara
PositionReport
  1. Outline

Health constitutes a major area of interest for policy-makers, practitioners, scientists and, most importantly, society at large. It is considered as proxy for subjective wellbeing, self-concept profile (that incorporates metacognitive variables with a high self-regulatory function for performance: such as self-efficacy, self-image, self-confidence and locus of control) (Ajunwa et al., 2016; Edelheit & Stephano, 2013) and ultimately, happiness and quality of life (Grunseit et al., 2016). The development of wellbeing programs appears as a necessity in the context of the greying workforce, the overall aging phenomenon that backlashes the exponential growth in healthcare costs. The state, organizations and individuals themselves are considered as co-responsible for improving healthy lifestyles and subsequent quality of life and active longevity (Lang, 2017). Hence, through corporate wellbeing programs, employers form the mezzo-level entity that articulates the joint platform between macro-scale (state) and micro-scale (individual) in the field of sustainability of quality living achieved by wellbeing strategies put to action.

Wellbeing is conceptualized as quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal, for which the beneficiary exerts accountability, ownership and empowerment (O'Donnell, 2012; Middleton Plump & Ketchen, 2013). Kesteris (2008) classifies health risk assessments that serve as diagnosis for the workplace wellbeing intervention in the following categories of ailments, impairments or potential problems: depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol use (and other substances), smoking, sleep habits, nutrition, physical activity practices. All of these risk factors have a latent component (made up of psychological elements of cognitive, emotional, motivational, volitional expectations and attitudes) and a manifest one (consisting of somatic and behavioral reactions). Potential participants' positioning on the continuum of preparedness for a particular wellbeing initiative can be tracked using a five-stage continuum (Kesteris, 2008): from pre-contemplation and maintenance (continued action to pursue the effective change and avoid returning to the previous state). Follow-up and support for significant others are essential to prevent relapses and secure the positive health habits acquired throughout the change process. When assessing wellbeing activities, content and employed methods, resources and communication tools, creating sustainable healthy habits reveal a gap between the intended and the delivered program (Field & Louw, 2012; Silcox, 2016).

Wellbeing programs function as competitive advantage that reshapes agendas in employer branding, as employers become more resourceful and sharpen their weapons to gain leverage in the war for talent (Johnson, 2014), within a context of persistent skill shortage, with employers reporting globally the highest talent shortage since 2007 (Manpower Group, 2016). There are multiple threads of research in the area of corporate wellbeing, developed around the interpretation of stakeholders' dissension and debate over its utility and assessment (Middleton Plump & Ketchen, 2013; O'Donnell, 2012). Business literature points out to corporate wellbeing strategies that the proposed study aims to decipher in terms of sociological traceability of conceptual models that render explanatory power to organizational procedures. Employers use these motivational inducers to encourage program enrolment, word-of-mouth distribution of favourable assumptions (Silcox, 2016), to counter-act reluctance to change (Terrell, 2015) and nurture behavioral persistency (Fitzgerald et al., 2017).

Gathering know-how on the topic allows for a probabilistic anticipation of program feasibility, from a realistic perspective that avoids both overoptimistic and worst-case scenarios. Impact evaluation relies on rigorously documented program theory-driven evaluations as source of valid information collected by means of meta-analytical and benchmarking toolkits. Program theory-driven evaluation relies on primary data collected by interactive, iterative discussions with key informants, drawing on program stakeholders' insights, and secondary data gathered through program metrics and analytics, other documented records, reviews and reports (Field & Louw, 2012; Ammendolia et al., 2016). Empirical evidence in cross-checked for viability and plausibility in reference to existing conceptual models extracted from the literature. This type of prognosis, exante assessment of organizational-led programs best suits pilot project in the pre-roll-out phase of actual go-live intervention.

Social cognitive theory focuses on the centrality of health for self-concept construction, including self-esteem, self-trust, attributional style, locus of control and self-efficacy (Field & Louw, 2012; Edelheit & Stephano, 2013). Communities of practice play an important role in strengthening wellbeing ethos, conceived as vehicle of meaning, tool for situational peer-to-peer learning, knowledge transfer accelerator and driving force of learnt behavioral change (Lang, 2017; Grunseit et al., 2016). Given the diversity of corporate wellbeing intervention, ranging from nutrition workshops, live cooking shows and lessons, team dance energizers, storytelling and stand-up comedy, group therapy,

on-site gyms, boot camps and team-buildings, escape rooms or field trips to adventure parks (O'Donnell, 2012; Ionita, 2014), it is important to explore the tone of voice and rhetoric construction that employers use to get their message across to target audiences, promote trustworthiness, meaningfulness, association between work, fun and learning, as well as a sense of urgency in taking-up behavioral change.

Recurring obstacles against wellbeing program implementation that hinder attendance rates consist of: inadequate (or absent) internal communication and awareness raising promotion...

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