Employee Meaning and Wellbeing (Routledge COBS Focus on Responsible Business)

The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a latent desire for a more balanced, more meaningful and freer approach to work for millions of employees throughout the world. Growing interest in responsible business, in addition to the influence of the UN SDGs and inclusive growth, have also in many ways shifted the balance of power – or at least choice – to the employee. Sensitive to work-life balance, aware of the effects of overwork and short-term profit seeking, seeking meaning in their companies and jobs, employee demands have placed a huge strain on corporations caught between keeping to traditional ways of control and performance objectives though aware of the need to retain talent and create flexible solutions in order to reach their financial and production goals.

In this book, leading academics, researchers, and practitioners in the field of CSR, management, leadership, and human resources from the 12 schools and corporate partners of the Council on Business & Society offer their latest cutting-edge research to explore how both employees and their organisations can reach win–win agreement in the working relationship. Meaning and mission are covered, as well as spirituality and purpose. Negative workplace practices leading to employee mental and physical illness are explored and ways to avoid these, with several positive approaches to employee commitment and wellbeing offered. Each insight is accompanied by key takeaways and food for thought sections, with each chapter featuring a micro-case study.

Drawing on high-level research and transformed into engaging and accessible content, this book is written for students and scholars wishing to deepen their knowledge of the employee–leadership–workplace environment dimension, instructors seeking insight and learning content, and for professionals aiming to deepen their understanding of managing in the post-pandemic era.

Adrián Zicari is Associate Professor in the Accounting and Management Control Department at ESSEC Business School, Director of the Management & Society track, and Academic Director of the Council on Business & Society. He is also the Honorary representative for Buenos Aires in Paris. He holds a PhD in Management Administration from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, an MBA (University Adolfo Ibáñez) and a BSc in Accounting. Adrián’s career has spanned the corporate sector as Financial Manager and Controller and his academic research has been widely published in leading journals, among others, Journal of Business Ethics, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Journal of Cleaner Production, and Social and Environmental Accountability Journal.

Tom Gamble is Executive Director of the Council on Business & Society. He holds an MA in Human Resource Management & Industrial Relations from Keele University as well as several coaching certifications. Tom’s career has spanned secondary and higher education teaching and lecturing, thought leadership, consulting, and instructional design, working with over 200 companies and educational institutions worldwide. He is Scientific Manager for paleolithic and neolithic prospections at the Archeological Research Centre of the French Vexin. He is a published author of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.