Well Being: Role of Psychological Capital among Employees

The study of subjective well being is a central concern of positive psychology. Positive psychology was founded by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) who identified that psychology is not just the study of pathology, weakness, and damage; but it is also the study of strength and virtue. Employee well-being is an increasingly relevant and necessary consideration in the modern workplace. Employees spend at least one third of their life, and half of our waking hours, at work. It is important, therefore, to recognise whether we are satisfied at work, and to identify what aspects we are happy with and whether other aspects need attention. The impact of workplace wellbeing has on mental health is being increasingly recognised. The work of Martin Seligman and other positive psychology pioneers clearly shows that what counts at work is generated by a workplace that:* Encourages personal growth* Gives a sense of autonomy and confidence* Promotes positive relationships with co-workers* Fosters a clear sense of purpose and self-acceptance.Well-being at its simplest level is perhaps ultimately about personal happiness - feeling good and living safely and healthily. This means not allowing work to undermine our basic purposes and needs in our lives and by extension those of our families and loved ones. In this respect well-being is a hugely significant aspect of our work and careers. Many facets of work do not necessarily impact on our core life needs. This cannot be said for well-being and stress, whose implications run very deeply indeed - mind, body and soul. Work can have a positive impact on the health of both the individual in particular and society in general.At an individual level, it gives a sense of purpose and self-worth, which leads to greater self-esteem. Work is essential to the wellbeing of the individual and his/her dependents as it enables him/her to meet their many needs, including financial and psychosocial. It provides the means by which the individual can contribute to society and participate in it in a meaningful way.At a societal level, the more people in employment the better the economic health of the country. This in turn creates an environment and culture that promotes better health physical, emotional and mental atan individual level and at a societal level.Employee well being is more than traditional occupational health and safety. It consists of three core components:* Subjective well being* Psychological wellbeing* Workplace well being.Subjective well being is defined as people's evaluation of their own lives. Such evaluations are considered to include both cognitive judgements and emotional responses to events. Thus a person is said to have high subjective well being if he or she experiences life satisfaction, joy and infrequently experiences unpleasant emotions as sadness and anger, depression and anxiety. Research suggests that subjective well being has three core components:* High levels of positive affect* Low level of negative affect* Cognitive evaluation of one's satisfaction with his life whole (Diener & Lucas, 1999).Psychological well being can be defined as self-acceptance, positive relations with others, personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery and autonomy (Ryff, 1989). It has at least three characteristics,* It is a subjective experience (Cropanzano & Wright, 1999; Diener, 1994).* People are high in psychological well being to the extent they believe themselves to (Wright, 2007; Argyle, 1987; Diener & Larsen, 1993).* Psychological well-being is a global judgement and refers to one's life as a whole (Cropanzano & Wright, 2001; Diener, Sandvik, Seidlitz, & Diener, 1993) unlike the job satisfaction, which is specific to one's job; psychological well-being is not tied to any particular situation (Wright, 2007).Workplace well-being is connected to physical health, mental health and wellness but primarily emphasises the social and psychological dimensions of three inter-related elements-workplace, workforce and the work that people do. …