From Wasteland to Bloom: Exploring the Organizational Profiles of Occupational Health and Well-Being Strategies and Their Effects on Employees’ Health and Well-Being

Abstract

Based on the signaling and conservation of resources theories, this study aims to identify different strategic organizational profiles related to occupational health and well-being (OHWB). Additionally, this study explores how these various organizational profiles impact employees’ well-being, specifically in relation to absenteeism, emotional exhaustion, work overload, intention to quit, and job satisfaction. Data were collected from 59 organizations and 2828 employees. The first phase of this study presents the latent profile analysis carried out to identify OHWB organizational profiles. This analysis reveals four organizational profiles that are metaphorically named according to the growth stages of plants (i.e., wasteland, sprouting, budding, and blooming OHWB profiles). The second phase of this study investigates the associations between the latent profiles assigned to the organizations with absenteeism, intention to quit, emotional exhaustion, feelings of work overload, and job satisfaction among their employees using MANOVA. The results show that organizational profiles influence employees’ health and well-being. Employees working in organizations with a low OHWB profile, known as the “wasteland profile”, tend to report more days of absenteeism, higher levels of emotional exhaustion, greater work overload, and lower job satisfaction. Employees are also more likely to express a greater intention to quit their jobs than those working in organizations with a higher OHWB profile (a “blooming profile”). This study is useful for organizations and practitioners seeking to understand how investing in a health and well-being strategy can benefit their employees.