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Corporate Boards and Employee Well-Being

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Handbook on Management and Employment Practices

Part of the book series: Handbook Series in Occupational Health Sciences ((HDBSOHS,volume 3))

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Abstract

Management and employment practices affect the health and well-being of millions of people around the world. Much of the working population is employed in the private sector, and the way companies manage employee health and well-being impacts a significant portion of the workforce and, thus, society at large. Private companies are governed by boards of directors. They represent shareholders, are legally responsible for companies, and set strategic agendas to ensure profitability. Through chief executive officers and top management, boards’ actions have cascading impacts on operative organizational levels, throughout their organizations. They set the tone and influence whether employee health and well-being are priorities. A board may reinforce a focus on employee health and well-being by making occupational health and safety a strategy, establishing a healthy culture, setting and measuring priorities and rewarding people for meeting them, and overseeing what is going on in the organization so action can be taken when necessary. Yet, some boards regard employee health as an operative question and only engage in issues reactively. Others view health as a business opportunity or even a moral obligation. Specific occupational health and safety competence among board members is uncommon, but developing it is one way of ensuring boards understand their role in employee health and well-being.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden

    Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz

  2. Procome, Medical Management Centre, LIME, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz & Caroline Lornudd

Authors
  1. Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz
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  2. Caroline Lornudd
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Paula Brough

  2. School of Management QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Elliroma Gardiner

  3. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Kevin Daniels

Section Editor information

  1. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom

    Kevin Daniels

  2. School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Paula Brough PhD

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von Thiele Schwarz, U., Lornudd, C. (2022). Corporate Boards and Employee Well-Being. In: Brough, P., Gardiner, E., Daniels, K. (eds) Handbook on Management and Employment Practices. Handbook Series in Occupational Health Sciences, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29010-8_10

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