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Promoting employee wellbeing and quality service outcomes: The role of HRM practices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Marilyn Alexandra Clarke  and
Sally Rao Hill
Marilyn Alexandra Clarke
Affiliation:
Discipline of Management, Business School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
Sally Rao Hill
Affiliation:
Marketing, Business School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
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Abstract

As a transformative service, aged care has the capacity to create uplifting changes and improvements to the quality of life for individuals and communities. Recent studies have, however, highlighted the pressures faced by aged care workers and the impact that these pressures have on employee wellbeing and quality of care. This paper explores the relationship between employee wellbeing and service quality. We present a model for the aged care sector which suggests that by identifying and implementing appropriate HRM strategies both employee wellbeing and service quality will be enhanced thus ensuring that this transformative service meets the needs of its many stakeholders. Essentially, we argue that employee wellbeing is directly linked to service delivery outcomes and overall business performance and that HR practices that address issues such as learning and development, employee voice and involvement and workplace health and safety play a significant role in enhancing and maintaining employee wellbeing.

Keywords

aged careemployee wellbeingservice deliveryquality of life
Type
Conceptual article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 18 , Issue 5: Healthcare management: Progress, problems and solutions , September 2012 , pp. 702 - 713
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2012

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