Measuring and managing wellness : A qualitative research in Finnish companies

Sammanfattning: Abstract: This research explores management of strategic wellness in Finnish companies by adding a qualitative perspective to the previous research and by filling gaps related how wellness is measured and which categories of wellness management have the most effect on the financial performance, customer interaction, business processes, and learning & growth of a company. The wellness categories are connected to balanced scorecard categories based on criteria: wellness categories need to have quantitative measurements and they need to be connected to BSC improvements. The study is done via interviewing company representatives through semi-structured interviews. The results were analysed with the help of previous research related to wellness management and the balanced scorecard. The main theories used in this research are based on strategic wellness management and the Balanced Scorecard. The sample studied for this research consists of Finnish companies of different sizes and industries, limited to office work. The findings show that companies are interested and motivated in measuring and managing wellness of their employees. The biggest issues are related to the setting of realistic and achievable wellness goals, and the measurements in many areas of wellness management make it difficult measure the exact effects in different performance aspects, and what exactly causes these effects. The only wellness management category which has proper quantifiable measurements which makes its outcomes measurable with the BSC are the wellness processes. From the perspective of BSC categories, the most impact from wellness processes was seen under the learning and growth category. This research fills some gaps in knowledge of what wellness management can cause in a company.