‘A fuller picture’: Researchers develop framework for measuring worker well-being

Elk Grove Village, IL — A panel of 13 research experts is proposing a new framework that “incorporates work and non-work contexts for a fuller picture of factors affecting workers’ health and quality of life.”

As part of a NIOSH-sponsored effort, the well-being framework consists of five “major domains,” according to a July 20 press release from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. They are:

• Workplace physical environment and safety climate.
• Workplace policies and culture – organizational policies, programs and practices with the potential to influence worker well-being.
• Health status – factors concerning an individual’s physical and mental health and welfare.
• Work evaluation and experience – perceived factors relating to quality of work life.
• Home, community and society – external factors that affect well-being.

The proposed framework was crafted as part of NIOSH’s Total Worker Health initiative, which “seeks to develop a holistic approach to improving well-being in the American workforce for the benefit of workers, employers and the nation.” It was published in the July issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.