“I Love My Job.” Factors of Corporate Well-Being in NGOs and Hypotheses on the Role of Evaluation
Alexey Kuzmin, Vladimir Balakirev
DOI 10.55140/2782-5817-2024-4-1-34-44
When representatives of non-profit organizations discuss well-being or quality of life, the focus usually centers on their beneficiaries.
It is quite natural, since non-profit organizations (NGOs) are founded to solve the problems of those in need and enhance their quality of life. The well-being of NGO employees often remains overlooked, though it significantly influences the effectiveness of NGOs and, ultimately, their ability to aid their beneficiaries.
Alexey Kuzmin
Vladimir Balakirev
In this article,[43]
we will address this oversight and explore the factors that influence the corporate well-being of NGOs. Additionally, we will aim to validate the hypothesis that the comprehensive integration of evaluation within NGO operations can enhance the well-being of their employees.At least three closely related terms are used in the literature: corporate well-being, employee well-being, and workplace well-being. This publication will treat these terms as synonymous.
Overall, the level of well-being reflects how individuals feel, function, and assess their lives. Researchers have identified three dimensions of well-being (Jeffrey, Mahony, Juliet & Abdallah, 2014):
• Hedonistic[44]
(related to the feelings or emotions of individuals).• Eudaemonic[45]
(related to the sensation of happiness).• Evaluative (related to how individuals rate their lives).
These three dimensions of well-being characterize the state in which an employee effectively fulfills their potential, works productively, and contributes to the development of both the company and society at large (Lisovskaya, Kosheleva, Sokolov & Denisov, 2021). This state is called employee well-being (ibid.).
Table 1. The well-being framework as seen by consulting firms
Various models of workplace well-being exist, differing in the number of components they include. Maira Leščevica and Zane Gusta categorize the following based on their literature review (Leščevica & Gusta, 2022):
• Five elements of workplace well-being: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, significance, and accomplishments.
• Eight elements of workplace well-being: physical, work-related, intellectual, social, spiritual, environmental, emotional, financial. Consulting firms specializing in corporate well-being utilize proprietary models (See Table 1).
In recent years, there has been a growing discourse on the digital component of employee well-being.[46]
Figure 1. A model of corporate well-being
Digital well-being is commonly characterized as an employee’s ability to maintain their health, safety, relationships, and a balance between work and personal life in the digital realm. This also includes leveraging digital tools to achieve personal goals, such as strengthening health and doing sports, participating in community events, and managing one’s digital workloads effectively (Shah, 2019).