Work and social well-being: the impact of employment conditions on quality of life

Abstract

This paper aims to extend our understanding of the impact of management practises and employment conditions in the contemporary workplace on the broader social realm. The study provides an analytic account of how these employment conditions impact on the social well-being of a representative sample of individuals and households. We assess the propensity of working arrangements that are manifested in various high performance work systems either to enhance or to diminish quality of life. The paper indicates that certain management practises and employment conditions have impacts that extend beyond the workplace and influence the broader well-being of individuals and families.

Keywords::

• employment conditions
• high performance management practises
• job security
• quality of life
• social well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. Previous literature on well-being suggests that composite indices of well-being based on multiple items have some desired statistical properties, such as higher reliability and validity compared with single-item instruments, such as the global life satisfaction question (Diener, Lucas, & Oishi, 2005).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant [grant number LP0775040], ‘The development and application of a conceptual and statistical framework for the measurement of non-market factors affecting social inequality and social wellbeing’. The study was also supported by the Queensland Public Sector Union. Neither the Australian Research Council nor the Queensland Public Sector Union was involved in decision-making about the research and publication process.