Steps towards sustainability
– human resource capital
and employee wellbeing –
benchmarking evidence
Mara Stan, PhD, University of Bucharest, Lecturer,
Sociology – HRM dept.
Key Words: human capital, employee wellbeing,
workplace sports facilities, employer brand, healthy
lifestyle, sustainable impact assessment,
benchmarking
1
Wellbeing, simply put

Organizations encourage employees to become
pro-active in the pursuit for health and
subjective wellbeing through an extensive offer
of benefits, incentive schemes and facilities

Topic JEL Classification: I31 (General welfare,
wellbeing), I12 (Health Behavior), J24 (Human
Capital)

Meeting point for OH (occupational health), HR,
CSR and internal communication decisionmakers
2
Evidence-driven theories on
occupational health

Ad hoc programs associated to particular
events (e.g. Health & Wellbeing Month @
E&Y, European “Sports for everyone”
week, national no-smoking day, national
stress awareness day – in UK)

Integrative approach to workplace
wellbeing – transition from isolated
initiatives to coherent, purposeful,
sustainable programs (from happening to
strategy)

Wellbeing ethos – impregnated across all
policies, embedded in organizational
culture and climate
3
Conceptual clarification: wellness,
wellbeing, welfare
Welfare – government program of social assistance
(providing basic goods and services) for the
disadvantaged (vulnerable groups)

Second meaning: state of being healthy, glad or
successful (source: Merriam-Webster, Oxford
dictionary)

Wellness: quality or state of being in good health
especially as an actively sought goal (not merely a
given fact)

Well-being: general state of being comfortable,
feeling well, in good health, prosperous, thriving,
happy
4
Research objectives

Comparative analysis of corporate initiatives
that aim to enhance the adoption of healthy
lifestyles among staff

Investigation of the perceived utility that
employers attach to employee wellbeing
programs (EWPs)

Inquiry into the assessment tools that
employers use to quantify objectively the
impact of EWPs across stakeholder groups
Overall aim:
Accountability capacity building for evidencebased practice to inform decision-making, boost
organizational learning, improve practice
5
Research questions




How do organizations define and evaluate the
competitive advantage implied by the strategic
human resource management practice related to
employee wellbeing programs (EWPs)?
How are EWPs designed in terms of selected
objectives, budget configuration, administrative
procedures and layout cornerstones?
What are the main means of promotion for EWPs
among internal audiences (current employees) and
external audiences (would-be clients and
prospective job candidates)?
Do such initiatives genuinely and consistently
enhance sustainable employer brand image and
elicit talent attraction and retention?
6
Research questions – summed-up

What does the employer do to make people feel
happy and proud brand ambassadors at work and
outside it?

How do such programs work?

Do they work?

How can employees’ readiness (and willingness) for
behavioral change be assessed?
Challenge HRM practitioners to think evaluatively
(take out the guesswork)
Evaluate both process and outcome
7
8
Theories

Socio-behavioral: Health Beliefs Model, Social
Cognitive Theory (attributional style, locus of
control, self-efficacy) (Field & Louw, 2012;
Ebunlomo et al, 2015)

Partnership with medical associations (e.g. diabetes,
nutrition disease, cardiology)

Incentives to boost employee participation: pre- and
post-screening of biometrics, free access to health
monitoring applications and online resources,
personal trainer at the onsite gym

Health risk assessments based on incentives have a
negative impact on the voluntary take-up of this
activity, and are contested because they can lead to
discrimination according to health criteria that they
9
gain access to.
Expected outcome of wellbeing
initiatives

In the context of sustainable development,
the impact of such initiatives is expected to
help “re-capitalize” human resources

Add value to organizational behavior

Put to work the untapped human potential
(KSA model: knowledge-skills – attitudes &
work ethic values)

Commensurate impact on diminished health
risks, medical costs and absenteeism
10
Impact of organizational wellbeing for
performance, learning and
involvement

Critical reflection on the persistence of health
improvements and behavioral change after such worksite
programs finish

Follow-up

KPI reporting and evaluation mechanisms

The role and mandate of the HR department in devising
persuasive organizational tactics (employee-focused
“buy-ins”) to drive the lasting change

How to achieve sustainable adoption of more weekly
hours dedicated to fitness or practicing a sport or healthy
diet choices?

How to internalize wellbeing initiatives into everyday
practice, by ownership, empowerment and assumed
11
personal responsibility
12
Methodology of online research

Benchmarking-based comparative analysis, performed
on:

12 private-owned operating in four sectors (FMCG,
banking, audit & consultancy and IT&C). featured in
top employer rankings, yearly issued by:


Dutch-based Top Employers Institute – author of
Premium Employer ranking and

German Trendence Institute – author of Graduate
Barometer
9 most profitable SOEs across four economic sectors:
energy (Romgaz, Transgaz, Electrocentrale Bucureşti,
Nuclearelectrica), industry (Uzina mecanică Cugir,
Carfil), transport (CNADNR, Aeroporturi Bucureşti)
and forestry (Romsilva)
13
Analytical categories

Addressability (target stakeholder groups /
audience)

Accessibility (communication means)

Covered topics & themes

Statistics on reporting

Source (local, regional or central headquarters,
in-bound vs. out-bound, national or
international)

Core principles and institutionalization
mechanisms

Assessment methods for determining the added
value of wellbeing programs
14
Data processing
Data collection - throughout August – October 2016
NVivo software for theme coding, concept mind maps, word
clouds, word trees and coding comparison queries
Tool of qualitative data mapping and data mining

Benchmarking of top-ranking employers that currently
implement various wellbeing programs regarding:

Smoking cessation

Stress management

Weight loss

Nutritional counselling

Facilities and incentives for taking up of sports activities

Healthier lifestyle choices

Life coaching, parenting, work-life balance
15
Further aspects to consider

Wishful thinking – road from: “nice to have” to
“must have”

Need of broad framework to secure lasting
employee engagement to healthy lifestyle goals
and organizational support thereof

Customized, targeted options to address
different wellbeing needs:

Healthy employees – encourage maintenance of
positive health habits

“At risk” group – prevent health impairment

Employees with declining health – deter / slow
down the escalation of illness
16
Green Workplaces

Lucrative activities that contribute to
environmental quality conservation or restoring.

In fields such as agriculture, manufacturing,
research-innovation-development,
administration and services

Positive impact: protecting ecosystems &
biodiversity, optimised resource consumption
(water supply, energy, materials), minimising
carbon imprint, waste management)
17
18
How will sustainability-based
economy affect employment?

Additional jobs across industries – e.g. pollution
control devices as production equipment

Dispensable / Replaced jobs: transition from fossil
fuels to renewable energy, or from traditional
garbage disposal systems to new recycling,
incineration, conversion to bio-fuel and waste
management innovation

Cancelled jobs (without direct replacement) – e.g.
banned packaging materials, production stops

Existing jobs, transformed and redefined – “greened”
as profiles, job description & job specification, work
protocols
19
Impact on supply chain

Upstream workplace “greening” process

Providers for solar or wind energy rely on
traditional industries – now reconfigured
(e.g. use of steel for wind turbine)

Green Jobs cover an extensive area of
qualifications, educational fields and
occupational profiles

Shades of green employment: some types are
more profound & more transformative than
others
20
Eco-friendly threshold

Where do we establish the threshold between
energy efficient and inefficient methods?

Incremental outlook – gradual optimisation

Ever more demanding standards, thresholds &
regulatory pressure

Accused of blocking economic growth

Lower threshold increases green employment
headcount, however progress remains illusory

Technological progress & urgent need to perform
changes
21
Talent Pool – skill deficit for
green workers



Eco labelling for consumers to ensure
they can make responsible purchasing
decisions
Aiming to encourage producers to
conceive & distribute eco-friendly
products
Impact on budgets assigned to research,
development & innovation:
 Reduced
support for nuclear and fossil
fuel
 Increased financing for renewable energy
& processing technologies
22
Costs of “going green”

Pressure on job market – esp. in developing
countries.

Risks to employment: outsourcing,
automatized processes, income instability

Green jobs prevent or solve issues related
to waste, noise, destroyed bio-diversity &
landscapes

Too poor to be green? Incurred costs of
green jobs
23
24
Findings

A useful assessment strategy relies on the
comparison between the intended program
and the delivered one (Louw, 2012)

Scrutinized variables: activities, content &
employed methods, resources,
communication

Issues about creating sustainable healthy
habits: transfer of learning from initial
formal setting to informal everyday
practices
25
Acknowledgement

Need to focus and streamline efforts not to
get over-involved & dispersed across too
many intervention lines

Personnel Today Awards for Health and
Wellbeing initiatives – „Happiness and
wellbeing award” – Centrul Fericirii

Recommended (and adequately promoted),
not compulsory service

Beneficial for overall performance outcome
(impact in business, KPIs), not merely
„fluffy, glossy add-on” (Silcox, 2016)
26
Gamification

On-site medical check-ups – complete with Body
Mass Index (BMI) & psychometrics of stress & anxiety

Gamification schemes – earn points for attending
classes or performing healthy behaviour (e.g. bank of
kilometers – rewarding each kilometer run) and turn
them into paycheck credits, vouchers, gift cards or
donation to the chosen NGO – effective for program
enrollment & behavioural persistency

Coordination team is multi-disciplinary, selected
from various departments: corporate
communication, branding, HR compensation &
benefits, occupational health and safety (O’Reilly,
2015)

Controversial use of „faming and shaiming”, rewards
and penalties schemes e.g. by Johnson & Johnson to
counter-act reluctance to change
27
Participatory wellbeing

Slogans: „balanced lifestyle”, „building
accountability”, „prevention pays off”, „Reduce your
risks” (O’Reilly, 2015)

Health ambassadors = employee champions / role
models assist OH advisers also during supporting
events (O’Reilly, 2015)

Future of wellness programs: better integration,
targeted programs according to staff segmentation,
improve participation for non-head office and
atypical staff (e.g. part-time, fixed-term,
outsourced personnel) (O’Reilly, 2015)

Inconclusive impact of wellness programs on cost
savings (O’Reilly), although circa half of US
employers offer initiatives thereof
28
Case study

Raiffeisen – “My first marathon”
29
Wellness programs typology

50 types of wellness programs roll-out in
Romania, upward trend more obvious in the
last 5 years

Organizational well-being means both
prevention and the creation of healthy life
habits

Creating a community with a common
interest –sports, cycling, football,
volleyball, painting, gastronomy

Organizing thematic events for
psychological and emotional balance.
30
Wellness programs typology
(2)

Consultancy firms provide wellbeing offers
(customized, modular packages) that include
teambuildings (theme parties, urban, outdoor,
indoor)

Wellbeing for development: Behavioural styles
inventory (DISC), stress management, conflict mngm,
life coaching, parenting by connection, time
management for work-life balance, assertiveness
training

Romanian beneficiaries (employees) most appreciate
personal development, work-life balance and
healthcare prevention programs (Sebesi, 2016)

Wellbeing for relaxation
31
Wellness programs typology
(2)

Consultancy firms provide wellbeing offers
(customized, modular packages) that include
teambuildings (theme parties, urban, outdoor,
indoor)

Wellbeing for development: Behavioural styles
inventory (DISC), stress management, conflict mngm,
life coaching, parenting by connection, time
management for work-life balance, assertiveness
training

Romanian beneficiaries (employees) most appreciate
personal development, work-life balance and
healthcare prevention programs (Sebesi, 2016)

Wellbeing for relaxation
32
Wellbeing offer

Office yoga workshop, on-site massage sessions, gym
subscription, private medical / dental insurance,
tickets to sports events, shows, corporate libraries

Healthy diets (meal planning, healthy eating out /
holiday meals – “lunch and learn” – O’Reilly, 2015),
nutritionists’ advice, live cooking shows and lessons,
team dance energizers, fashion & style – dressing up
to the occasion, attire design for impression
management, photography & art lessons, personal
branding, boot camps

Laugh therapy, storytelling (stand-up comedy,
theater – acting improvisation), development groups,
hot air balloon flying, rock climbing, horseback
riding, escape rooms, adventure parks (Ioniţă, 2014)
33
Outsourcing wellbeing

Outsourced wellbeing - Shopping for smart
experiences as corporate gift vouchers – employees
can choose preferred activity – HR dept. usually
handles administrative aspects, public speaking
(rhetoric skills & voice protection counselling for
intensive speakers), book clubs, choirs,

Agility of offer – low sign-up rates lead to program
adjustment / change

“Practice what you preach” – walk the talk: e.g.
healthy options available at onsite vending machines

Timing – convenient for all types of employment
(e.g. part-time, shifts)

Field days, not only theory

Not one-time-only, but monthly / yearly event
34
35
Assessment methods

Before-after measurements of productivity, sick
leave, absenteeism, presenteeism, employee
disengagement and escape-oriented coping, health
risk assessments

Report from direct manager

Stakeholders’ 360◦ feedback (clients- enrolled
employees, providers / trainers, managers, planners,
funders, supporters and opponents) about the
sessions content, delivery, format, usefulness,
applicability.

Self-assessment („warm” reactions immediately
after the program delivery, „cold” / postponed
reactions – few weeks after)
36
Assessment methods (2)

Conducted staff surveys with participants / nonparticipants / would-be

ROI determination – measurable outcome as
organizational bottom line

External audit & benchmarking through
Organizational Wellbeing Index –

World Health Organization’s (WHO) Workplace Health
and Productivity Questionnaire (WHPQ)
37
User segmentation

Digitalized wellbeing: Implemented through
gamification and intranet platforms, supported by
themed forums, chat rooms, health portals, online
resource center – successful introduction of playful &
social networking elements in the work system –
facilitate metrics (e.g. anonymized input to
participation rates)

Resonate to personal relevance: find joy & sense of
fulfillment and intrinsic meaning

Design of flexible, “a la carte” incentive packages –
suitable for versatile workplace dynamics in a liquid
modernity (Z. Bauman) - VUCA world (dominated by
volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity)
38
Shortcomings and pitfalls of
OH initiatives

Scarce (if any) evidence base (Romanian
records, reports, statistics) to document
wellbeing intervention

No explicit connection between
organizational needs and wellbeing
objectives across program descriptions

Perk fragmentation – rewards are dispersed,
erratic, un-integrated across a unitary,
stand-alone wellbeing strategy

Stakeholders’ unfamiliarity with and
subsequent resistance to assessment
39
Between “gold mine” and
“minefield”
Ambivalence: what do critics / skeptics /
contesters say?

MNEs often present misleading or inflated
wellbeing credentials

Recast synergies, reshaped agendas

Unintended consequence: stigmatization of
employees who do not comply with “golden
standard”

Risk of polarization or segregation between
the fit and unfit, the thin and the fat – with
reciprocal stereotypic abounding
40
Tyranny of organizational
virtue?

Programs as alleged corporate hypocrisy that
endorses the “tyranny of virtue”.

Golden standard that all corporate players need
to adhere to, even reluctantly, ignorantly or in
contradiction to their authentic beliefs

It relies on the savior’s complex: captatio
benevolentiae in disguise – ultimate purpose,
though unacknowledged, is to protect corporate
interest

In fact, economic capital is partially transferred
& converted to social capital
41
42
Evaluative thinking

The organizational culture of evaluative
thinking (i.e. in terms of SWOT analysis) for
any program –

Critical to gain a shared, objective-based
understanding of these actions and support
for its outcomes

Developmental perspective: what can be
done next or better, what must be upgraded
/ updated / upscaled?

According to the Start-Stop-Keep model by
on-going monitoring to ensure prospective
evaluation, not only post-hoc analysis.
43
Evaluative thinking Conclusions

Evaluation means pacing accelerated rhythm of
activity, hitting the pause button (Louw, 2012)
instead of the always available fast-forward one.

Vital need for accurate records, objective feedback
based on findings, longer-term outcomes

Not only proximal output e.g. number of attendees,
hours of training, assigned budget etc.

Measure impact by consequences, not merely
declarative results
44