Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters: The Science Behind Employee Happiness and Organizational Performance
Jean-Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward
Harvard Business Review Press (March 2025)

“How to establish and then sustain a shared sense of wellbeing in our workplace culture?” 

That’s a question that many executives are now asking at a time when the business world is much more volatile, more uncertain, more complex, and more ambiguous than at any prior time that I can recall.

Jean-Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward observe: “Workplace wellbeing is how we feel about our work. It has evaluative, affective, and eudaimonic [i.e. that which is capable of producing happiness] components…Evaluative workplace wellbeing refers to how we think about our jobs…Affective wellbeing, on the other hand, refers to how we actually feel on a day-to-day basis while we are at work…Finally, eudaimonic wellbeing comes from the Greek word eudiamonia and is often traced to the work of Aristotle. This component of workplace wellbeing is about how much of a sense of purpose we get out of our work…Wellbeing ends up being a composite measure of all sorts of things — including wages, flexibility, job satisfaction, work-life balance, stress, paid time off, worker engagement, employee loyalty, turnover intentions, and more. In doing so, these well-meaning indexes at once measure everything and nothing.”

FYI, De Neve and Ward “distinguish workplace well being from its drivers,” and, “separate workplace wellbeing from what are better seen as its effects, or downstream consequences.”

These are among the other passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to indicate the nature and scope of De Neve and Ward’s coverage:

o Introduction (Pages 1-11)
o Wellbeing at Work: An Overview (13-30
o Measuring Workplace Wellbeing (18-19
o Figure 1-4, A Model of Workplace Wellbeing (21)

o The Drivers of Workplace Wellbeing (25-27
o Pathways to Performance (27-28
o A Future of Work That Works for Wellbing (29-30
o The Importance of Work for Wellbeing (51-67
o The Current State of Wellbeing (69-93

o Figure 4-5, Job Satisfaction Around the World (80)
o How to Improve the Drivers of Workplace Wellbeing (127-139)
o Figure 7-4, Quality of Work Relationships Varies Significantly across the World (135)
o Independence and Flexibility: Impact of Work-Life Balab=nce on Workplace Wellbeing (139-150)
o Productivity (169-179)

o Recruitment and Retention Issues (181-191
o A Big-Data Approach (198-202)
o Technology and Workplace Wellbeing Issues (209-220)
o The Example of Working from Home (232-236)
o Shaping the Future of Work (236)

I have yet to encounter an organization in which all of its employees are healthy and happy, all of its employees’ efforts have high-impact and substantial value. That said, the organizations that are annually ranked among those most highly admired and best to work for are also annually ranked among those most profitable, with the greatest cap value in their industry segment. However different these organizations may be in most respects, all of them have a workplace culture within which wellbeing really does matter.

Moreover, the results of all major surveys of employee relations are worth noting. A majority of respondents in each survey ranked feeling appreciated among what is of greatest importance to them. Of course, some members of a workforce are happier than others are at any given time and moods and attitudes can change, sometimes unexpectedly. However, a commitment to workplace wellbeing must be continuous and sustained.

I commend  Jean-Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward on their brilliant, substantial contributions to thought leadership throughout the global marketplace and highly recommend this material to all C-level executives and those who aspire to become one as well as to middle managers also with direct reports as well as to those who are now preparing for a business career or have only recently embarked upon one.

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to each of the Figures inserted strategically throughout the lovely and eloquent narrative as well as the last paragraph in each of the twelve chapters

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.