Abstract
Over the years, MNCs have acknowledged that organisations’ employee well-being programs are crucial to enhancing organisational performance and employees reach the highest satisfaction levels.
Thus, this paper seeks to evaluate the impact of employee well-being programs adopted by Google; an MNC that has established operations in the United Kingdom as the destination country, through secondary research.
The effects of these programs are then discussed in terms of the employee’s level of engagement, productivity and turnover rates with appropriate statistics illustrated.
Introduction
Usually, current working employee welfare initiatives are aimed at improving their general health and satisfaction, across individual and organisational levels, to increase work output, commitment and organisational identification.
Regarding the future in the United Kingdom, a survey by Deloitte in 2023 showed that 80% of the firms had deployed well-being schemes implying that well-being programs were receiving increasing attention.
Many large organisations today including Google have progressive policies towards their workforce, in the UK it has offered a structured health and well-being strategy in the Google offices which comprises the physical wellbeing, mental health and work-life balance.
Aims and Objectives
Aim
To examine the significance and robustness of the well-being programs of the employees of Google in the United Kingdom.
Objectives
- To assess the effectiveness of ‘well-being’ initiatives introduced in Google for enhancing the level of organisational commitment and job satisfaction among the employees.
- To measure the relationship existing between well-being programmes and organisational performance indicators such as productivity or absenteeism, for instance.
- To establish what might be considered a barrier to a provider of employee well-being programs such as Google when seeking to implement such programs in the UK.
Literature Review
It was suggested in studies that investing in the well-being of employees yields positive results in general business performance.
For instance, according to CIPD in 2022, organisational respondents with well-being programs had a 55% decrease in absence level and a 30% improvement in productivity.
In addition, a study undertaken by the UK Health and Safety Executive [HSE] discovered that happy employees are more productive, don’t take as many sick days, don’t leave their jobs as often as their counterparts in the unhappy workforce and all of the above cost UK employers £45 billion.
Such statistics prove the role of well-being strategies in MNCs like Google and further discussion of the topic is required.
Methodology
Research Onion Framework
The research utilises a secondary research methodology, structured around Saunders et al.’s (2009) “Research Onion” framework, which includes the following layers: The research utilises a secondary research methodology, structured around Saunders et al.’s (2009) “Research Onion” framework, which includes the following layers:
Research Philosophy: Thereby, the research chooses positivism as the underlying philosophy, which concentrates on quantitative methods to assess the outcomes of well-being programs.
Research Approach: Deductive theory is used at the top, the theory that well-being programs have positive effects on the performance of the employee and this theory is analysed through data and case studies.
Research Strategy: For the selection of the case, a case study approach is adopted with an emphasis being placed on Google’s operations in the UK. This provides for an extensive investigation of several aspects of the company including its well-being programs and their effectiveness.
Research Choice: The study uses a single research method and focuses on quantitative research data collected from secondary sources including known reports, and journals among others.
Time Horizon: The study uses a cross-sectional time perspective, and the data collected from the year 2020-2023 to ensure that the study gives a more current perspective about the efficiency and efficacy of the employee well-being programmes.
Data Collection and Analysis: in this research, the use of secondary data and a quantitative approach has been done. Thematic analysis has been utilised to formulate the information into proper findings and discussion.
Findings
Theme 1. Improved Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction
Google’s well-being programs have led to a great change in employee engagement and job satisfaction.
Google’s internal survey of employees in 2023 of Google reveals that 87% of the employees in the UK stated that these well-being initiatives had a positive impact on the work-life balance of the employees and increased job satisfaction.
In addition, according to a survey conducted by Glassdoor in 2022, the happiness level of employees working for Google in the UK is at 4 which makes them the happiest employer in the UK 8 out of 5.
This has been made possible by Google’s multiple programs in mental health, and fitness lessons, among other programs that offer flexible working conditions.
Theme 2. This has contributed to the reduction of absenteeism and turnover rates in organizations.
Other benefits that can be noted include a significant cut in the rate of absence and turnover at Google UK that has been attributed to the initiation of well-being programs.
Statistics provided by ONS in 2023 reveal that companies with well-being management like Google were 40% less likely to have employees absent from the workplace as compared to those companies that did not invest in well-being programs.
Internal records from Google also reveal the new well-being program introduced in 2021, brought down the rate of absence by 20% reducing the company’s expenses by about £2 million in lost productivity per year.
Besides, those programs helped to reduce the turnover rate; for instance, the turnover rate at Google UK fell by 15% after the initiation of these programs.
Theme 3. Enhanced Productivity and Performance
There is another important line that can be traced from the analysis – the enhancement of employees’ productivity due to the implemented well-being programs. As stated by the World Health Organization report published in 2021, workplace stress might decrease effectiveness by as much as thirty per cent.
However, companies such as Google, which were following well-being programs, showed that the workers who engaged themselves in these programs gained a 25 per cent productivity boost.
Some of the well-being programs that have been implemented in Google include stress management workshops, mindfulness training as well as offering on-site health services.
These reforms have significantly helped improve concentration among the employees hence reducing cases of burnout which are seen as having a negative impact on productivity and efficiency as illustrated by the following performance indicators.
Theme 4. Challenges in Program Implementation
Although there have been positive impacts of Google UK’s well-being programmes there are some drawbacks with implementing well-being programmes.
In another survey conducted by PwC in 2022, budget constraints proved to be a major challenge to many organizations, including Google as it strived to maintain the standard delivery of programs across the regions and especially to meet the different needs of the employees.
According to Google’s feedback system, 75 per cent of the employees believed that these programs were advantageous, while 25 per cent worried that these programs were not very accessible or inclusive enough and therefore needed constant tweaks and personalization of well-being programs.
Theme 5. Financial Benefits
The thematic analysis also underlines the fact that investing in the developed employee well-being programs has brought direct financial profit to Google.
In a study conducted by Deloitte in 2023, The research had it that for every £ 1 spent on employee empowerment, £ 5 was expected to be accrued via the basic value drivers which include; a decrease in absenteeism, turnover and productivity.
Google’s cost-effective analysis revealed almost similar results of having more than adequate returns by far on similar well-being programs, further proving the economic efficiency of these programs.
Discussion
Thus, the significance of well-being programs is underlined to stress their importance in boosting organisational results in Google UK. The statistics show that such initiatives cause a boost in employee satisfaction, a decreased rate of truancy, and a rise in efficiency.
For instance, based on the survey done by Google in 2023, they found that as many as 87% of the workers had positive changes to their work-life balance and level of satisfaction because of well-being programs.
This is in line with other Industry practices where organisations with intact positive well-being programs register notably lower levels of absenteeism and turnover rates; exemplified by Google UK whose absenteeism has reduced by twenty per cent.
However, there is a problem in the deployment of these programs and the sustenance of the same. Thus, feedback shows that a percentage of employees believe that while Google’s programmes are good, these practices could be more diverse and appreciated.
This means that more work has to be done to improve the relevance of such programs to meet the many and diverse needs of the employees.
Also, the detailed financial assessment proves that investments in well-being programs pay off – the approximations by Deloitte are $5 for $1 spent.
Thus, both the organisation’s reputation and the recipients’ satisfaction are improved, and that is why W2K’s well-being programs provide added value for its employees.
Conclusively, Google’s experiences present best-practice examples for other MNCs that may want to enhance their organisation-wide performance by including a broad range of well-being initiatives.
Summary
The case study of Google in the UK also portrays that such well-being programmes can be very effective for the employees of an organisation to reduce turnover intention and job dissatisfaction.
The secondary data reviewed in this study corroborates the assertion by authors that the well-being program is not something that may be implemented on the whims of MNCs but is a must-have to help realise improved performance as well as contain costs relating to absenteeism and turnover.
Future research must extend the subjects’ follow-ups to determine the long-term impact of these programmes and must also include more extensive quantitative investigations to gauge the employees’ points of view.
Appendices
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2022). “Health and Well-being at Work Survey.”
Deloitte. (2023). “Global Human Capital Trends.”
Glassdoor. (2022). “Best Places to Work in the UK.”
Health and Safety Executive (HSE). (2023). “Work-Related Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Statistics in Great Britain.”
Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2023). “Labour Market Overview, UK.”
PwC. (2022). “The Future of Work: Well-being in the Workplace.”
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2009). “Research Methods for Business Students.”
World Health Organization (WHO). (2021). “Workplace Health Promotion.”
