Marijana is a Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour in Norwich Business School at UEA. Marijana’s research interests are in organisational sustainability and employee wellbeing. She is a part of the team at UEA exploring wellbeing at work.
About us
The Workplace Wellbeing team at the University of East Anglia and RAND Europe carry out research on wellbeing and productivity,
leading to insights with practical relevance for employers and managers in day to day and strategic work. In this toolkit, the team distils insights across many projects, with practical suggestions backed up by our extensive case studies.
The research
Our latest research had three key elements.
One
Using data from Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey administered by Vitality, the team looked at the links between practices and combinations of practices that support health and wellbeing and links to wellbeing and productivity.
Two
Using the same data, we also looked at whether those practices are cost-effective and created an interactive business case calculator to help businesses work on their wellbeing business case.
Three
Using extensive interview data collected in three waves over a 12-month period (over 240 interviews with over 80 workers from eight employers – four small, four large), we examined how organisations implement and sustain effective workplace wellbeing activities.
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Insights with practical relevance
for employers and managers.
Insights with practical relevance for employers and managers in day to day and strategic work. In this toolkit, the team distils insights across many projects, with practical suggestions backed up by our extensive case studies.
Team members
The Workplace Wellbeing Research Team involves researchers from the University of East Anglia and RAND Europe, as well as affiliated researchers from the University of Kent, Swansea University, University of Essex, University of Reading and University of Sheffield. The team’s research programme on workplace wellbeing and productivity has been funded since 2015 by the Economic and Social Research Council and has included contributions to the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.
Mark Bryan
Mark is a Reader in Economics at the University of Sheffield. His research centres on health, wellbeing and work, and is based on the statistical analysis of large-scale datasets. He was part of the Work and Learning evidence programme at the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.
Sara Connolly
Sara is a Professor of Personnel Economics in Norwich Business School at UEA. She was part of the What Works Wellbeing Evidence Programme for Work and Wellbeing and leads the UEA contribution to the PrOPEL Hub.
Kevin Daniels
Kevin is a Professor of Organizational Behaviour in Norwich Business School at UEA, where he leads the Workplace Wellbeing research team. He has over 30 years of experience in the fields of workplace wellbeing, health and safety.
Cigdem Gedikli
Cigdem is a Lecturer at the School of Management, Swansea University. She worked as a Senior Research Associate on the What Works Wellbeing Evidence Programme for Work and Wellbeing. Her research interests are in labour and household economics, economics of gender, and wellbeing.
Roberta Fida
Roberta is a Professor in Work Psychology at the Norwich Business School, UEA. Her main interest is in workplace ethics and why people misbehave at work. She has conducted several research projects on stress and wellbeing.
Helen Fitzhugh
Helen is a Senior Research Associate and Knowledge Exchange Fellow for Norwich Business School at UEA. Helen has carried out applied and academic research for the private, public and third sectors on varied ways organisations create social value.
Simonetta Longhi
Simonetta is Professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Reading. Her research focuses on inequality in labour market outcomes by gender, ethnicity, and disability; wellbeing, unemployment, on-the-job search and retirement.
Alita Nandi
Alita is a Senior Research Fellow at ISER, University of Essex and Associate Director of Understanding Society. Her research focuses on discrimination and ethnic and gender differences in wellbeing. She was part of the Work and Learning evidence programme at the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.
Emike Nasamu
Emike is a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Chester. Emike has worked closely with the workplace wellbeing research group at the Norwich Business School, UEA and was part of the What Works Wellbeing Evidence programme for Work and Wellbeing.
Rachel Nayani
Rachel is an Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management at the University of East Anglia. Her research involves understanding organisational process and practices for sustainable change and social value, including wellbeing, alongside enhanced productivity at work and climate goals.
Chidiebere Ogbonnaya
Chidi is a Professor of Human Resource Management at Kent Business School. He was a member of the What Works Wellbeing Evidence Programme and is currently studying the performance, wellbeing, and coping strategies of disadvantaged workers in low- and middle-income economies.
Jana Patey
Jana worked as a Senior Research Associate on the ESRC funded partnership project ‘Practices and Combinations of Practices for Health and Wellbeing at Work’. She is currently an Associate Lecturer at the University of West of England and is also involved in a research capacity with a variety of university partners, employers and research organisations, looking into workplace wellbeing and remote working.
Will Phillips
Will is an analyst at RAND Europe working in the area of health and wellbeing research. His work has spanned a range of topics including transport, education and health and wellbeing. His primary research interest is in mental health and workplace wellbeing research.
Olga Tregaskis
Olga is a Professor of International Human Resources Management in Norwich Business School at UEA and Head of the Business School. Her international research work focuses on managerial skills around global working.
Christian van Stolk
Chris is Executive Vice President at RAND Europe. He has worked extensively on health and wellbeing in the workplace, including improving the health and wellbeing of staff in the National Health Service, maintaining and gaining employment for those with common mental health conditions and looking at the relationship between productivity and health and wellbeing outcomes.
David Watson
David is a lecturer in Organizational Behaviour in Norwich Business School at UEA. He is an interdisciplinary researcher and was part of the What Works Wellbeing Evidence Programme for Work and Wellbeing and has worked on a range of other funded research projects focussed on wellbeing.
Michael Whitmore
Michael is a research leader at RAND Europe, developing initiatives and research into health, work and wellbeing.
Ritchie Woodard
Ritchie is a Senior Research Associate in the Norwich Business School at UEA. He worked alongside Professor Sara Connolly to develop the cost effectiveness calculator. He was also part of the team analysing the interview data.
Funding and partners
The team’s research programme on workplace wellbeing and productivity has been funded since 2015 by the Economic and Social Research Council and has included contributions to the What Works Centre for Wellbeing and gaining insights from Vitality’s ‘Britain’s Healthiest Workplace’ survey. Insights from the team’s work have also been shared via The PrOPEL Hub.
We are grateful for the support and input of our steering group members.
The research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council grants ES/N003586/1, ES/S012648/1 and ES/T001771/1.
UEA Employment Systems and Institutions group:
Find here full listings of the people, projects and academic publications from the workplace wellbeing research team.
Norwich Business School:
Find out more about the University of East Anglia’s business school – home to the workplace wellbeing research team.
RAND Europe:
Find out more about the team’s not-for-profit policy research partner organisation.
The PrOPEL Hub:
Find out more via a major initiative designed to help boost productivity – and wellbeing – through supporting the growth of better workplaces in the UK.
What Works Centre for Wellbeing:
Find out more about all aspects of wellbeing, including work, from the UK’s independent body for wellbeing evidence, policy and practice.
CIPD:
Find out more HR news and developments from the professional body for HR and people development.