Innovation in Workplace Wellbeing

Innovation in Workplace Wellbeing (IWW)

The Problem

In the Public-Private Partnership IWW1 we teamed up with Deloitte, Zilveren Kruis, DSM, Gemeente Amsterdam, Achmea, and others to build a data-driven platform focused on employee well-being. The goal was to create a tool that could provide insights into well-being at various levels. These levels include individual employees, teams, and HR management1.

The Challenge

The main challenge was applying System Dynamics to map out the complex factors affecting well-being and how they all connect. We had to constantly figure out new ways to explain our progress to partners in a simple, clear way. We also needed to develop a system flexible enough to handle personalized well-being profiles on a large scale2. It also involved a lot of collaboration, with many discussions on how to standardize the data for the model.

The Approach

We built a well-being learning community with our partners, and developed a prototype interactive dashboard (TRL 5-6). This dashboard (under N.D.A.) used dynamic differential equations to model all the key factors of well-being and their interactions2. We ran scenario simulations to show the possible effects of various interventions on employees. The simulations provided insights down to a persona level. This gave detailed insights into what might work best for different types of people.

Results

The dashboard gave employees, team leads, and HR management a clear view of how different well-being strategies could play out. We simulated different scenarios. This showed the impact of specific interventions on employee well-being. It helped guide decisions in a more data-driven way.

Thoughts

Using System Dynamics at such a large scale was both challenging and really exciting. It involved a lot of back-and-forth with partners. We had to think up new ways to present our progress in ways that everyone could understand. Building a system / visual user interface that could apply for almost every person was a significant challenge. Tackling something as fuzzy and personalized as well-being really pushed the limits of what System Dynamics can do and how powerful it can be.

Role(s)

  • Together with a close and awesome colleague / SD expert from Unit Defence, Safety and Security, responsible for the quantification and interface of the model in the software package Stella Architect via SD;
  • Keeping our partners up to date with the latest progress and hosting workshops to extract information for the model from them;
  • Capacity building on how to use SD;
  • Designing the first version of the visual user interface.

Client:

TNO, Zilveren Kruis, DSM, Achmea, Deloitte

Project duration:

3 years – ongoing

Links / publications:

1 Description Health Holland

2 Niks, I., Veldhuis, G., van Zwieten, M.H.J., Sluijs, T., Wiezer, N.M., & Wortelboer, H.M. Individual Workplace Wellbeing captured into a literature- and stakeholders-based causal loop diagram

“Causal loop diagram of individual workplace well-being. The model consists of several measurable variables classified as aspects of behavior, personal life, experience, resources, job demands, and mental models. Variables are connected with arrows indicating the direction of the causal relationship. Black and blue arrows indicate a positive (reinforcing) and negative (counteracting) causal relationship between variables, respectively. Every causal relationship is numbered to clarify them in the text as links. Feedback mechanisms are indicated as circle-arrows in black and are identified with their corresponding names.” 2

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