Definition of human wellbeing (flourishing) (HWBF)

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Human wellbeing is significant in organizations and there is a lot of scholarly research on employee wellbeing in the workplace [1].

“Human well-being or flourishing… consists in a much broader range of states and outcomes, certainly including mental and physical health, but also encompassing happiness and life satisfaction, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships” [2].

“Flourishing could be a (new) term to refer to the good life, or eudaimonia” in its “full meaning.” Therefore, human flourishing is “a combination of feeling good and functioning effectively, and the experience that life is going well”, and human flourishing goes further than “states and outcomes” and comprises “mental and physical health, happiness and life satisfaction, meaning and purpose-including religious values and moral principles character and virtue, and close social relationships” [3].

However, there is no general agreement on what constitutes appropriate indicators of employee wellbeing, despite the impact of employee wellbeing on the organization [4]. The concept of wellbeing is developing as research continues to unfold its multidimensional nature. There are various factors relative to employee wellbeing such as an “overall positive environment,” “autonomy,” “safety,” and “meaningfulness,” which holistically support employees towards wellbeing [5].

The primary elements of employee wellbeing are captured in the following main themes: the “work itself and its context” (i.e., work demands, purpose of job); “relationships at work and the work-home interface” (i.e., relationships with colleagues); “purpose and meaning at work” (i.e., sensation that work objectives are worthwhile); and “leadership, management and supervision” (i.e., the manager’s influence on the workgroup, leadership obligation to employee psychological well-being) [6].