Developing a transdisciplinary and adaptive framework to measure health and well-being for the workplace: the 12 competencies

Purpose Measuring and tracking health and well-being is challenging for organizations due to a lack of education linking outcomes to interventions and a disciplinary siloing of approaches and tools. To address this, this paper aims to explore adaptive and transdisciplinary design-research methods to develop an evidence-based holistic framework to measure health and well-being. Design/methodology/approach An interdisciplinary working group of researchers from academia and industry used a combination of adaptive and transdisciplinary approaches to develop a holistic framework for measuring health and well-being. The six-stage, iterative process drew on multiple theoretical models, frameworks, leading survey tools, thematic literature review and known gaps and barriers to healthy workplaces to create broad “competence areas” supported by domains, dimensions and conceptual models. Findings Five interconnected levels known to impact health and well-being were identified, within which 12 competencies are nested. Each competency is broad enough to enable benchmarking. Detailed domains and dimensions help organizations understand what to measure and track for health and well-being and can adapt as research evolves. The framework addresses industry gaps by connecting leading and lagging indicators to allow for a more systemic approach to measuring health and well-being. Originality/value Transdisciplinary and adaptive frameworks can support academic research while enabling immediate industry application. By focusing on core indicators for well-being across different disciplines, this framework increases feasibility and understanding, enables multiple tools/methods to be used in implementation and can adapt as methods and knowledge change. This can support organizational goals such as social governance responsibilities to measure and report on health and well-being.