According to Matthew J. Grawitch, PhD, Gerald E. Ledford, Jr., PhD, David W. Ballard, PsyD, MBA and Larissa K. Barber, PhD, the hallmark of a healthy organization is one in which employees are active, engaged, creative participants, not merely passive recipients of company benefits. Effective employee involvement strategies allow management and employees to partner in a way that meets the organization’s needs, while also optimizing employee health and well-being.
A true healthy workplace emphasizes the need to optimize the interplay between organizational systems and employee health and well-being needs. Rather than emphasizing the need to focus solely on organizational effectiveness or showering employees with benefits, a truly healthy workplace perspective strategically selects its benefits to meet the needs of both employees and the organization. To do this, organizations should:
1. Provide opportunities for employees to become involved and engaged in creating a healthy workplace;
2. Tailor new programs and policies to meet the specific needs of the employees and the organization;
3. Be very clear about the purpose of new programs, policies and benefits, so that organizational leaders and employees know what is expected of such a program (e.g., what are the goals of the program, or what issues is it designed to address?);
4. Ensure that any new program (or existing program) is in alignment with the organizational context (e.g., culture, structure, strategy); and
5. Collect cost-benefit data, as a way to tie benefits back to organizational effectiveness outcomes (this will increase the likelihood that the benefit survives over time).