Degree

Master of Business Administration Executive

Faculty / School

School of Business Studies (SBS)

Year of Award

2023

Advisor/Supervisor

Dr. Yasir Mansoor Kundi, Assistant Professor, Department of Management

Project Type

MBA Executive Research Project

Access Type

Restricted Access

Executive Summary

Workplace well-being has been a source of great concern in the corporate sector in Pakistan. Various studies have revealed that employees in Pakistan are facing a range of physical and mental health challenges, including obesity, stress, anxiety, exhaustion, burnout, coronary diseases, sleep disorders, and high blood pressure. These problems often stem from excessive working hours, lack of or no support from the management, and a highly competitive environment.

Few multinational organizations have implemented workplace wellness programs such as providing office gyms, awareness programs, regular medical checkups, promoting healthy dietary habits, conducting sessions on mental health, and providing ergonomic workstations.

Currently, there are few workplace wellness programs in multinational companies in Pakistan. The impact of such programs has not been gauged and there is limited empirical evidence on the effects of workplace wellness programs on employee’s physical and mental well-being in Pakistan. Also, the moderating effects of gender on perceived wellness programs have not been part of any study.

Four main questions formulated for the research are as follows:

Q1. Does the perceived wellness program affect employee physical well-being?

Q2. Does the perceived wellness program affect employee mental well-being?

Q3. Does the impact of perceived wellness programs vary across genders?

Q4. Does physical well-being impact mental well-being and vice versa?

Our research methodology is a two-step process. At first three preliminary interviews were conducted with the corporate sector employees from the banking sector. Based on the interview results and integration of responses with the research gap in the literature, survey questions were formulated.

The data were collected through survey questionnaires from more than 181 corporate sector employees. One part of the survey questionnaire included queries regarding physical health and other mental health. We conducted a quantitative assessment of workplace wellness programs on employees’ well-being and the moderating effect of gender on perceived wellness programs.

The results obtained through interviews and survey questionnaires were analyzed and the efficacy of such programs based on the sample size has been gauged and the impact of perceived wellness programs across genders has also been measured up. The results show that as the wellness programs increase, the physical health of both males and females also improves. However, the male’s physical health improves to a greater extent when wellness programs are more effective or have increased in number compared to females.

Moreover, once the impact was gauged, recommendations were made to improve the efficacy of such programs, and gender-specific recommendations were made to improve the health of employees.

The following recommendations were made:

Recommendations to improve wellness programs:

  1. Assessment of employee needs and evaluate workplace wellness program if already exists.
  2. Develop a comprehensive wellness approach and conduct health screening checkups.
  3. Promote physical activity and mental health support.
  4. Provide flexible work arrangements and cultivate a positive work environment.
  5. Provide healthy food options.
  6. Implementation of wellness campaigns.

Gender-Specific Recommendations:

  1. Flexible parental leave policies and caregiving support
  2. Gender-specific health screenings and providing health support for both mental and physical health.
  3. Workforce diversity and inclusion
  4. Addressing workplace harassment and discrimination and the use of gender-sensitive language and communication
  5. Employee affinity groups
  6. Continuous education and awareness

It can be concluded that this study supports that wellness programs have a positive and substantial impact on the physical health of both genders. However, females’ perception of the programs is lower than males. This means gender dampens the positive relationship between perceived wellness programs and physical health. There is a significant relationship between physical and mental health and vice versa.

Pages

ix, 30

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