1. Leeds University Business School
  2. Centres and institutes
  3. Workplace Behaviour Research Centre
  4. Research projects
  5. Measuring and improving employee engagement and wellbeing within a UK public-sector organisation

Research project

Measuring and improving employee engagement and wellbeing within a UK public-sector organisation

Description

Dr Rebecca Pieniazek, Professor Kerrie Unsworth, and MSc students are working with a UK public-sector organisation on improving their current understanding and measurement of employee engagement and wellbeing. The project gives employees a chance to have their say on the work they do, how they do it, and how it makes them feel.

Research aims

  • WBRC is collecting more nuanced data about employee engagement and wellbeing within the organisation, alongside capturing a more holistic view of other social and behavioural phenomena which inter-play with levels of engagement and wellbeing. WBRC are using both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
  • The project does not just consider ‘normal’ times at work, but also times of adversity – something which is becoming increasingly more common to the modern organisation.
  • The research also aims to capture the views of remote workers within the organsiation, who do not always participate as frequently in their engagement surveys.
  • The project has the potential to explore how we can aid the organisation in the future in assessing their employee engagement and wellbeing, alongside related phenomena, in a more reliable, valid, and holistic way. In addition, it has potential for us to, in the future, build on the research findings to make actionable changes to increase employee engagement and wellbeing within the organisation.

Research questions

  1. In what ways do levels of, and perceptions of, employee engagement differ across different types of employees within the council? (Project 1)
  2. What other factors (behavioural, emotional, organisational etc) facilitate or inhibit an employee’s level of engagement? (Project 1)
  3. To what extent, and in what ways, do trust, perceptions of diversity practices, and majority/minority grouping relate to engagement? (Project 2)
  4. Does an employee’s level of personal resilience relate to their level of engagement, and under what conditions is this relationship more important? (Project 3)