The health and well-being impacts of a work integration social enterprise from a systems perspective

Workplace Structures and Culture That Support the Wellbeing of People with an Intellectual Disability

There is little research on health-promoting workplace settings focused on people with an intellectual disability. There are a range of supported and open employment workplaces where people with an intellectual disability work, and this is an important setting that can influence health and wellbeing outcomes. The health promotion research that has been conducted with people with an intellectual disability has been programmatic in focus and lacks a broader settings and ecological perspective. This paper reports on analysis conducted across four organisations that employ people with an intellectual disability and included 47 in-depth interviews conducted with staff and supported employees. The aim was to examine the organisational characteristics, structures, and cultural elements that contribute to positive wellbeing. The key elements were offering a diversity of roles and opportunities, customised training and task matching, a flexible approach to work rosters, offering a range of workplace environments (e.g., busy versus calm environments), and providing holistic and tailored support. The results illustrate that providing positive wellbeing outcomes in the workplace for this cohort cannot be considered from a program perspective but as a whole of organisation design and culture. With the current movement towards more opportunity in open employment, it will be important that these features are replicated in all workplaces where people with an intellectual disability are employed. Further research and policy work is required for this ambition to be realised.

Organisational structures and processes for health and well-being: insights from work integration social enterprise

Background

Previous research on employee well-being for those who have experienced social and economic disadvantage and those with previous or existing mental health conditions has focused mainly on programmatic interventions. The purpose of this research was to examine how organisational structures and processes (such as policies and culture) influence well-being of employees from these types of backgrounds.

Methods

A case study ethnographic approach which included in-depth qualitative analysis of 93 semi-structured interviews of employees, staff, and managers, together with participant observation of four social enterprises employing young people.

Results

The data revealed that young people were provided a combination of training, varied work tasks, psychosocial support, and encouragement to cultivate relationships among peers and management staff. This was enabled through the following elements: structure and space; funding, finance and industry orientation; organisational culture; policy and process; and fostering local service networks.. The findings further illustrate how organisational structures at these workplaces promoted an inclusive workplace environment in which participants self-reported a decrease in anxiety and depression, increased self-esteem, increased self-confidence and increased physical activity.

Conclusions

Replicating these types of organisational structures, processes, and culture requires consideration of complex systems perspectives on implementation fidelity which has implications for policy, practice and future research.