No Cover Image

Conference Paper/Proceeding/Abstract 173 views

Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives

Rachel Cook

BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2023, September 13th - 15th, Glasgow, UK

Swansea University Author: Rachel Cook

Abstract

Despite the CIPD’s (2022) findings that 51% of surveyed organisations now have a standalone wellbeing strategy, 33% increased their wellbeing budget and 61% believe employees are keen to engage with wellbeing initiatives, employee receptiveness to workplace wellbeing, and related initiatives, remain...

Full description

Published in: BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2023, September 13th - 15th, Glasgow, UK
Published: 2023
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64372
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
first_indexed 2023-09-20T11:47:18Z
last_indexed 2023-09-20T11:47:18Z
id cronfa64372
recordtype SURis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rfc1807 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>64372</id><entry>2023-09-04</entry><title>Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>e6fc94bac03cb3ad2469f20eb7f14f9a</sid><firstname>Rachel</firstname><surname>Cook</surname><name>Rachel Cook</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2023-09-04</date><deptcode>BBU</deptcode><abstract>Despite the CIPD’s (2022) findings that 51% of surveyed organisations now have a standalone wellbeing strategy, 33% increased their wellbeing budget and 61% believe employees are keen to engage with wellbeing initiatives, employee receptiveness to workplace wellbeing, and related initiatives, remains an area of debate. Spence (2015) advocates that, whilst the focus of wellbeing initiatives is invariably a positive discourse (insofar as they aim to improve physical, psychological, and social functioning), it cannot be assumed that employees will be positively disposed towards them. An important theme emerging in the critical management literature (Lipman 2014) is a disconnect between management and employees in this regard. Management too acceptingly presume employees will want, and be receptive to, any wellbeing initiative put in place, for the ‘obvious benefits’ this would bring (Manner 2020), i.e., mutual gains. Critical management studies critique the managerialist perspective of not sufficiently considering other contextual factors within the organisation that may prevent employees from wanting, or being able, to engage with these mechanisms, such as, organisational history and culture, apathy towards workplace wellbeing, a lack of engagement and/or resistance to organisational involvement in wellbeing. In this research, there were five research sites, covering five different industries and geographical regions of the UK. A total of 71 semi-structured interviews were conducted, 23 with management and 48 with employees. Management participants were those in the organisations primarily responsible for employee wellbeing. Employee participants were those who did not have any management responsibilities but were ‘front-line’ staff, and so, the primary users of wellbeing initiatives. The research found that wellbeing initiatives were driven almost entirely by management. Employees’ understanding of wellbeing was not sufficiently considered during the development of wellbeing initiatives. The three key themes which emerged in relation to employees’ understanding of wellbeing were work-life balance, mental and physical health, and resilience. Examining the extent to which the wellbeing initiatives in place in the research sites positively impacted these aspects of wellbeing, there were mixed opinions of their effectiveness. Management-driven wellbeing initiatives, led by management perceptions of what wellbeing initiatives should include, resulted, from the perspective of enabling employees to achieve their own understanding of wellbeing, in ineffective wellbeing initiatives. As such, employees did not fully engage with them, as they did not see any merit in doing so, speaking directly against the idea of mutual gains. The research advocates for the development of employee-led wellbeing initiatives as a means of overcoming resistance to engagement with workplace wellbeing.</abstract><type>Conference Paper/Proceeding/Abstract</type><journal>BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2023, September 13th - 15th, Glasgow, UK</journal><volume/><journalNumber/><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher/><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords/><publishedDay>14</publishedDay><publishedMonth>9</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2023</publishedYear><publishedDate>2023-09-14</publishedDate><doi/><url/><notes>BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2023, September 13th - 15th, Glasgow, UK</notes><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Business</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>BBU</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><funders/><projectreference/><lastEdited>2023-10-24T11:02:44.3162454</lastEdited><Created>2023-09-04T13:06:35.2297011</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Management - Human Resource Management</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Rachel</firstname><surname>Cook</surname><order>1</order></author></authors><documents/><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling v2 64372 2023-09-04 Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives e6fc94bac03cb3ad2469f20eb7f14f9a Rachel Cook Rachel Cook true false 2023-09-04 BBU Despite the CIPD’s (2022) findings that 51% of surveyed organisations now have a standalone wellbeing strategy, 33% increased their wellbeing budget and 61% believe employees are keen to engage with wellbeing initiatives, employee receptiveness to workplace wellbeing, and related initiatives, remains an area of debate. Spence (2015) advocates that, whilst the focus of wellbeing initiatives is invariably a positive discourse (insofar as they aim to improve physical, psychological, and social functioning), it cannot be assumed that employees will be positively disposed towards them. An important theme emerging in the critical management literature (Lipman 2014) is a disconnect between management and employees in this regard. Management too acceptingly presume employees will want, and be receptive to, any wellbeing initiative put in place, for the ‘obvious benefits’ this would bring (Manner 2020), i.e., mutual gains. Critical management studies critique the managerialist perspective of not sufficiently considering other contextual factors within the organisation that may prevent employees from wanting, or being able, to engage with these mechanisms, such as, organisational history and culture, apathy towards workplace wellbeing, a lack of engagement and/or resistance to organisational involvement in wellbeing. In this research, there were five research sites, covering five different industries and geographical regions of the UK. A total of 71 semi-structured interviews were conducted, 23 with management and 48 with employees. Management participants were those in the organisations primarily responsible for employee wellbeing. Employee participants were those who did not have any management responsibilities but were ‘front-line’ staff, and so, the primary users of wellbeing initiatives. The research found that wellbeing initiatives were driven almost entirely by management. Employees’ understanding of wellbeing was not sufficiently considered during the development of wellbeing initiatives. The three key themes which emerged in relation to employees’ understanding of wellbeing were work-life balance, mental and physical health, and resilience. Examining the extent to which the wellbeing initiatives in place in the research sites positively impacted these aspects of wellbeing, there were mixed opinions of their effectiveness. Management-driven wellbeing initiatives, led by management perceptions of what wellbeing initiatives should include, resulted, from the perspective of enabling employees to achieve their own understanding of wellbeing, in ineffective wellbeing initiatives. As such, employees did not fully engage with them, as they did not see any merit in doing so, speaking directly against the idea of mutual gains. The research advocates for the development of employee-led wellbeing initiatives as a means of overcoming resistance to engagement with workplace wellbeing. Conference Paper/Proceeding/Abstract BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2023, September 13th - 15th, Glasgow, UK 14 9 2023 2023-09-14 BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2023, September 13th - 15th, Glasgow, UK COLLEGE NANME Business COLLEGE CODE BBU Swansea University 2023-10-24T11:02:44.3162454 2023-09-04T13:06:35.2297011 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Management - Human Resource Management Rachel Cook 1
title Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives
spellingShingle Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives
Rachel Cook
title_short Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives
title_full Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives
title_fullStr Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives
title_full_unstemmed Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives
title_sort Employee resistance to management-driven wellbeing initiatives
author_id_str_mv e6fc94bac03cb3ad2469f20eb7f14f9a
author_id_fullname_str_mv e6fc94bac03cb3ad2469f20eb7f14f9a_***_Rachel Cook
author Rachel Cook
author2 Rachel Cook
format Conference Paper/Proceeding/Abstract
container_title BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2023, September 13th - 15th, Glasgow, UK
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Management - Human Resource Management{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Management - Human Resource Management
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Despite the CIPD’s (2022) findings that 51% of surveyed organisations now have a standalone wellbeing strategy, 33% increased their wellbeing budget and 61% believe employees are keen to engage with wellbeing initiatives, employee receptiveness to workplace wellbeing, and related initiatives, remains an area of debate. Spence (2015) advocates that, whilst the focus of wellbeing initiatives is invariably a positive discourse (insofar as they aim to improve physical, psychological, and social functioning), it cannot be assumed that employees will be positively disposed towards them. An important theme emerging in the critical management literature (Lipman 2014) is a disconnect between management and employees in this regard. Management too acceptingly presume employees will want, and be receptive to, any wellbeing initiative put in place, for the ‘obvious benefits’ this would bring (Manner 2020), i.e., mutual gains. Critical management studies critique the managerialist perspective of not sufficiently considering other contextual factors within the organisation that may prevent employees from wanting, or being able, to engage with these mechanisms, such as, organisational history and culture, apathy towards workplace wellbeing, a lack of engagement and/or resistance to organisational involvement in wellbeing. In this research, there were five research sites, covering five different industries and geographical regions of the UK. A total of 71 semi-structured interviews were conducted, 23 with management and 48 with employees. Management participants were those in the organisations primarily responsible for employee wellbeing. Employee participants were those who did not have any management responsibilities but were ‘front-line’ staff, and so, the primary users of wellbeing initiatives. The research found that wellbeing initiatives were driven almost entirely by management. Employees’ understanding of wellbeing was not sufficiently considered during the development of wellbeing initiatives. The three key themes which emerged in relation to employees’ understanding of wellbeing were work-life balance, mental and physical health, and resilience. Examining the extent to which the wellbeing initiatives in place in the research sites positively impacted these aspects of wellbeing, there were mixed opinions of their effectiveness. Management-driven wellbeing initiatives, led by management perceptions of what wellbeing initiatives should include, resulted, from the perspective of enabling employees to achieve their own understanding of wellbeing, in ineffective wellbeing initiatives. As such, employees did not fully engage with them, as they did not see any merit in doing so, speaking directly against the idea of mutual gains. The research advocates for the development of employee-led wellbeing initiatives as a means of overcoming resistance to engagement with workplace wellbeing.
published_date 2023-09-14T11:02:45Z
_version_ 1780630700030951424
score 11.013148

Similar Items