Assessing psychological well-being: A holistic investigation of NHS employees

A substantial body of research has investigated the effects of work on the psychological well-being of employees. However, there has been little assessment of the ways in which workplace factors (such as job demands, working conditions, interpersonal relations and workplace change) interact with personal factors (such as work-life balance, family circumstances, key personality traits or demographic characteristics) to affect psychological health. This article reports findings from a study which aimed to construct and test a comprehensive model of the influences on employee well-being within the UK National Health Service (NHS). The results show that psychological well-being is influenced by a complex array of personal, environmental and work factors. A key finding is that there are clear associations between workplace change and well-being and between work-life (im) balance and well-being. These effects appear to be independent of one another and therefore require separate attention from managers and employers.