Building Employee Wellbeing: The Inside Story

At BiGGAR Economics we are committed to wellbeing and having meaningful impact. The number of projects we have been involved in related to wellbeing has been growing. Whether it be using national wellbeing frameworks or Wellbeing-Adjusted Life Years (WELLBYs), there is a growing appetite among our clients to think about their impacts more broadly.

Thinking in terms of wellbeing applies to a huge range of organisations, including universities, charities, and renewable energy developers, whose key impacts often extend beyond what can be picked up using traditional economic metrics. We believe it is important to demonstrate these wider impacts. Not just to help these organisations highlight the remarkable work they do, but also as a way of helping them to further enhance their impacts.

Yet, it is important that our own actions reflect our values, and that wellbeing is core to what we do. We aim to create meaningful impact, and we recognise that as well as helping organisations understand their wellbeing impacts it is also important to ensure we feel fulfilled day-to-day in our jobs. As we well know from our work with clients, good quality jobs go a long way – not just for helping staff feel good about their lives but also through raising productivity.

Measuring Our Progress: The BIGGAR Economic Wellbeing Survey

To gain a deeper understanding of our team’s wellbeing, we conduct an anonymous staff survey several times a year. This survey goes beyond simple job satisfaction, exploring key aspects of our work environment such as:

• Team support and collaboration
• Meaningfulness of work
• Opportunities for professional development

The survey results provide valuable insights into our team’s overall wellbeing and highlight areas for improvement. We’re proud to report that our average job satisfaction score has consistently increased from 5.5 out of 7 two years ago to 6 out of 7 today. This is significantly higher than the UK average of 5.1. On the whole we have a connected team that helps and supports one another.

The Value of Good Quality Jobs to Society

From a wellbeing perspective, creating jobs is vital, with the wellbeing benefits between being unemployed and employed being substantial. However, not all jobs are the same and good quality jobs are especially valuable to society, creating much larger wellbeing benefits. As a purpose driven business, we think it is important to be transparent about the contribution we are making to the world.

In wellbeing terms, as estimated using the WELLBY Approach, which we’ve increasingly used with clients to help illustrate their impacts (see here for an example), our high wellbeing jobs would be worth about £200,000 each year to society. It is calculations such as these that can help us illustrate the important wellbeing impacts that an organisation can make in the world.

Find Out More

Does this way of thinking about impact resonate with you? To find out more, get in touch with us at info@biggareconomics.co.uk