Wellbeing in the Workplace: Exploring the Individual Effects of Wellbeing as a HR Strategy

Wellbeing in the workplace is an emerging topic in strategic human resource management. A lack of research related to the practical application of wellbeing programmes formed the initial purpose of the study. The study explores the individual effects of wellbeing as a HR strategy. It is particularly interested in the psychological wellbeing, engagement, and motivation levels of individuals. The aim of the study is to analyse the effects a workplace wellbeing programme may have on an individual, examining the existence and comprehensiveness of the programme compared with responses from psychometric scales related to wellbeing, engagement, and motivation. The wellbeing concepts and theories explored in this dissertation form a framework for the study and certain hypotheses were created as a result. In particular, the researcher sought to explain the interrelated nature of wellbeing topics, such as hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing, flourishing, and self-actualisation, and their connections with pre-existing motivation and engagement theory. The theoretical research suggests positive relationships between wellbeing, motivation, and engagement and highlighted many positive effects of wellbeing as a HR strategy for the individual and the organisation. A survey was completed by 117 valid participants of working age between the ages of 20-66. The average age of participant was 37 years old. Participants were from a diverse range of work sectors, locations, and various organisation sizes. The survey included pre-existing measures of psychological wellbeing and job and organisation scales, as well as a survey developed by the researcher. Approximately 67% of participants worked in a company that provided a wellbeing programme. Results indicate there is slight correlation between psychological wellbeing and self-reported motivation levels, as well as psychological wellbeing and both job and organisation engagement, respectively. In addition, differences were discovered in relation to organisation engagement between categories of participants with and without workplace wellbeing programmes. Keywords: Wellbeing, Hedonism, Eudainism, Positive Functioning, Flourishing, SelfActualisation, Motivation, Engagemen