Sustaining employee well-being in the 21st Century

幸福是个人、组织和社会越来越感兴趣的话题。从概念上讲，它结合了“感觉良好”和“有效运作”。这引起了人们对各个方面的关注，从宏观层面（例如经合组织关注的经济指标，如GDP和当前英国政府创建的“国家福祉指数”）到对个人身体、心理、精神和情感福祉的关注。本系列研讨会将聚焦于幸福的一个关键方面，即工作场所的幸福，通常被称为员工幸福。大量研究证据表明，工作幸福感差会对个人的身心健康造成不利影响，并对组织产生负面影响，如病假增加和工人生产率降低。特别是，压力和心理健康问题现在被认为是长期缺勤的主要原因。因此，本系列研讨会将主要关注心理健康，旨在加深对员工心理健康和福祉管理和维持方式的见解和理解。对员工幸福感的兴趣增加是在工作生活和经历变化的背景下发生的。全球化、工作集约化和工作不安全感的增加都是21世纪工作的特征。此外，我们正在改变我们的工作方式（即增加移动技术的使用和减少面对面的互动），我们工作的地点（增加在家或移动工作和增加工人的地理流动性），我们工作的时间（例如灵活的工作规定和工作与生活的平衡问题）和谁工作。例如，现在英国有更多的女性员工、更多的国际员工和更多的老年员工。此外，经济衰退也加剧了工作幸福感管理方面的挑战，因为雇主、人力资源经理和职业健康专业人员被期望在更短的时间内用更少的资源提供更多的服务。鉴于这一主题的重要性，举办一系列强调维持员工福利重要性的研讨会是合理和及时的。这个系列的目的是让人们更好地理解幸福的本质，如何衡量幸福，以及如何培养幸福。在这样做的过程中，将提高人们对如何以全面和可持续的方式管理员工福利的认识。该系列将借鉴国际，行业和生活阶段的差异来考虑员工的需求可以与组织绩效平衡的方式。它还将汇集来自不同背景的非学术利益相关者，包括来自一系列学科的早期职业和成熟的学术利益相关者，从而提供弥合学术研究和组织实践之间差距的机会，并促进研究能力建设。在为期一天的研讨会中，有八个研讨会将分别侧重于员工福利可持续性的不同但相互关联的方面。主题将包括：重新考虑福祉的性质；回顾当前在维持员工福利方面的机遇和挑战；探索维持工作场所幸福感的机制；借鉴国际做法；重新审视衡量幸福感的方式以及监测和评估工作场所干预措施的方式；并思考在更长的工作生涯中与幸福感相关的挑战。最后一场研讨会将以为期一天的小型会议的形式举行，目的是更正式地利用前几次研讨会之间的相互关系，邀请代表们反思前几次研讨会的讨论，并共同努力建立新的伙伴关系，推动员工福利议程向前发展。

Well-being is a topic of increasing interest to individuals, organisations and societies. Conceptually at its broadest level it combines 'feeling good' with 'effective functioning'. This has prompted attention to a variety of facets, from macro level (e.g. OECD's focus on economic indicators of well-being such as GDP and the current UK Government's creation of a 'national well-being index') to concerns over individual physical, mental, spiritual and emotional well-being. This seminar series will focus on a key aspect of well-being, that of well-being in the workplace, often termed employee well-being. A plethora of research evidence indicates that poor well-being at work can lead to adverse physical and mental health consequences for individuals and negative organisational outcomes such as increased sickness absence and reduced productivity of workers. In particular, stress and mental health issues are now cited as the primary cause of long-term absence from work. As such, this seminar series will focus predominantly on psychological well-being, aiming to add insight and understanding into the ways employee mental health and well-being can be managed and sustained.The increase in interest in employee well-being sits within the context of changes to working lives and experiences. Globalisation, work intensification and increased job insecurity are all indicative of 21st century work. Furthermore, we are changing how we work (i.e. the increased use of mobile technologies and less face to face interaction), where we work (an increase in home or mobile working and an increase in the geographical mobility of workers), when we work (e.g. flexible working regulations and work life balance issues) and who works. For example, there are now more female workers, more international workers and more older workers in the UK. In addition, the economic downturn has also contributed to the challenges in managing well-being at work, as employers, HR managers and occupational health professionals are being expected to deliver more, in less time but with fewer resources. Given the significance of the topic, a seminar series which highlights the importance of sustaining employee well-being is justified and timely. The series aims to provide greater understanding of the nature of well-being, how well-being can be measured and how it can be fostered. In doing so, awareness will be raised of ways in which employee well-being can be managed in a holistic and sustainable way. The series will draw upon international, sector and life stage differences to consider ways in which the needs of employees can be balanced with organisational performance. It will also bring together non-academic stakeholders from diverse backgrounds with both early career and established academic stakeholders from a range of disciplines, thereby offering opportunities to bridge the gap between academic research and organisational practice, as well as facilitating research capacity building.Eight of the one-day seminars will each focus on distinct, but inter-related, aspects of sustainability of employee well-being. The themes will encompass: reconsidering the nature of well-being; reviewing current opportunities and challenges in sustaining employee well-being; exploring mechanisms for sustaining well-being in the workplace; learning from international approaches; revisiting ways in which well-being is measured and ways in which workplace interventions are monitored and evaluated; and thinking about challenges associated with well-being extending across a longer working life. The final seminar will take the form of a one day mini conference, the purpose of which will be to utilise more formally the inter-relations between the previous seminar sessions by inviting delegates to reflect on the discussions from the previous seminars and to work together to forge new partnerships to take the employee well-being agenda forward.