This document discusses the relationship between well-being, engagement, and performance. It defines well-being as feeling good and functioning well. Higher well-being is associated with better relationships, health, work performance, and longevity. Engagement is also essential for business success, and engaged employees experience less stress and more enjoyment at work. Organizations that focus on employee well-being through building resilience and positive emotions outperform their competitors. The document advocates for a systems approach to create an upward spiral where feeling good leads to better functioning, which builds resources and undoing negative impacts to sustain engagement.

1. Why Wellbeing Matters for
Engagement…and
What Makes a Difference
Vanessa King
@actionhappiness
@changespace

2. Well-being = feeling good and functioning well
A dynamic state in which the individual:
! is able to realise their abilities and develop their potential,
! can cope with the normal stresses of life,
©
! can work productively and creatively,
! builds strong and positive relationships with others, and
! contributes to their community.
From definitions by:
World Health Organisation, 2004
UK Government Foresight Review of Mental Capital and Well-Being (2008)
.

3. ©
Resilience…
The ability, skills and personal actions that
enable us to function effectively, deal with the
ups and downs of life, adapt to change,
bounce back from adversity and even grow as
a result
We all have it and we can develop more of it
(Based on: Masten, 2001; Reivich and Shatte 2002; World Health Organisation, 2004; Barker Caza & Milton, 2011)

4. Benefits: Higher well-being and life
©
People who have higher
psychological well-being tend to…
• have better relationships
• enjoy life at work and home more
• do more to help others
• be healthier
• live longer!

5. Benefits: Higher well-being and work
©
People who are happier or have higher
psychological well-being tend to:
• be more productive
• be likely to have fewer days off work due
to sickness
• demonstrate greater flexibility and
creativity
• respond better to feedback
• make more positive judgements about
others
• have higher levels of engagement and
enjoyment of work

6. Engagement is essential to business success
©
High-Turnover Orgs.
Low-Turnover Orgs.
Shrinkage
Safety Incidents
Patient Safety Incidents
Quality (Defects)
Customer
Productivity
Profitability
Source: State of the Global Workplace Report,
Gallup (2013)
• Engagement
measured by
Gallup’s Q12
• 192 Organisations,
49 industries, 34
countries, 1.4
million employees
• A predictor of
organisational
success
Engagement’s effect on key performance indicators
Median difference between top- and bottom-quartile teams
-37
-25
-65
-28
-48
-41
-41
21
22
70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 10% 20% 30%
Absenteeism
10
Turnover

7. Engagement and well-being are connected
Engaged employees have more positive
experiences and lower stress at than dis-engaged
©
Engaged employees rate their lives in
general more highly:
Experienced
stress
the previous day
Key: Engaged Not Engaged Actively Disengaged
Struggling
Source: State of the Global Workplace Report, Gallup (2013)
employees:
49
33
15
46
60
63
5
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Suffering
7
22
Thriving
86
81
64
27
35
44
13
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Experienced
anger
the previous day
18
26
Experienced
enjoyment
the previous day
80% 90%

8. WELLBEING AND SUSTAINED ENGAGEMENT
25/11/2014 8

9. Organisations which focus on well-being
outperform their competitors
©
Source: Russell Investment Group for Fortune Magazine
(2011)
100 Best Workplaces (in US)
S&P 500
Average Annual Returns (Reset Annually)
Generated 2.3% to
3.8% higher stock
returns per year than
their peers from 1984
through 2010.
Edmans,A .(2012)
Academty of Management Review

10. Stress from work and home is a serious issue
Stress and psychological ill-heath is now one of the top
causes of long-term sickness absence across all employees
Top causes:
• Workload
• Non-work factors such as
relationship/family issues
• Management style
• Relationships at work
• Restructuring
©
(Source: CIPD 2014)

11. ©
Work contributes to wellbeing
Up to
6 months
6 to 12
months
Over 12
months
Source: UK Office for National Statistics (2012)
Life Satisfaction
Happiness and Unemployment
8
7.5
7
6.5
6
5.5
Employed
Time unemployed

12. Building resilience & wellbeing
©

13. A paradigm shift
-5 0 +5
©
Source: Martin Seligman
Psychological Resources Source: Huppert (2009)

14. …such as interest, joy, amusement, gratitude, pride,
©
…creating
‘upward spirals’
Positive emotions
• BROADEN our attention, thoughts and actions
! making us: more open to new ideas, more flexible in
our responses, more creative and adaptable, and
more open to diversity and more trusting of others…
which over time…
• BUILD psychological resources
! such as: resilience, coping, physical abilities, emotional
intelligence, social skills and mastery.
and…
• UNDO the effect of negative emotions and
buffer against stress
(Source: Fredrickson, 2001, 2010)
contentment…

15. Our behaviours and emotions are contagious
©
• Our behaviours and how
happy or unhappy we are
affect the people we know
and the people they know
and vice versa
• Three degrees of
separation
Source: Christakis and Fowler (2009)

16. ©
Core Ingredients (5 C’s )
Control
Connectedness
Contagion
Competence
& progress
Contribution
© Vanessa King

17. Feeling good and functioning well at work
Feeling
Good
Source: nef (2012), based on evidence from UK Foresight Project on Mental Capital (2009)
©
Personal
Resources
Functioning
Well
Organisational
System
… needs a systems approach

18. 25/11/2014 ©
Pr
es
en
tat
io
n
titl
e
in
18
Wellbeing and Engagement: The Virtuous
Circle

19. ©
Thank you!
vanessaking@thechangespace.com
vanessa.king@actionforhappiness.org