Work-related factors that impact social work practitioners’ subjective well-being: Well-being in the workplace

Abstract

• Summary: This research is among the first to analyze social work practitioners’ workplace subjective well-being (SWB), the social scientific concept of happiness. From an initial survey of 646 social workers, 13 respondents with the highest SWB scores were interviewed: a cohort that can teach us much about creating and sustaining SWB.

• Findings: The following reports on one aspect of those qualitative findings: the work related factors that impact overall SWB. Researchers found that the respondents’ overall SWB was impacted by characteristics of their work environment (i.e. physical, cultural, and systemic), interrelationships at work (i.e. with clients, colleagues, and supervisors), and specific aspects of the job (i.e. factors associated with both workload and type of work).

• Applications: The findings are discussed in relation to social work administration, and future research. There are implications for direct social work practitioners, managers, and educators, and in particular with regard to workplace environments that support social worker SWB.

Keywords

environment job satisfaction social work social workers subjective well-being workload workplace

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