The influence of work in sustaining individual social, economic and psychological wellbeing together with the fact that adults spend half of their waking life in employment, means that the nature of work and culture of workplaces can have a significant impact upon individual wellbeing.
Wellbeing also impacts organizations. Outcomes such as improved creativity, employee engagement and productivity and customer satisfaction and productivity are associated with higher levels of employee wellbeing. There is also evidence that organizations receive a positive return on investment when they develop employee wellbeing. As such, it is not surprising that more and more organizations are investing in the wellbeing of their staff.
But are organizations really getting the maximum return on this investment?
It is suggested that wellbeing literacy - a generalised capability to comprehend and compose wellbeing language across contexts - mediates the relationship between workplace wellbeing inputs such as positive psychology training programs, and employee wellbeing outputs, for example, using and developing strengths. I propose that by fostering wellbeing literacy in their members, organizations unlock latent capacity for both the individual and the organization to thrive, and will achieve a greater return on their employee wellbeing investment.