An Exploratory Qualitative Analysis of Health and Behavioral Health Leaders’ Perspectives on Workforce Wellness

This exploratory study aims to understand how health and behavioral health leaders define workforce wellness, articulate their role in relationship to promoting organizational wellness, and how they currently and in the future hope to address wellness within their organization. Twenty-five leaders from one southeastern state completed five open-ended survey questions regarding workforce wellness. Results indicate that these leaders defined workforce wellness in terms of creating a healthy workplace, encouraging employees to prioritize well-being, promoting work-life balance, implementing initiatives aimed at promoting wellness, and providing wellness trainings. Leaders were less clear about their role related to wellness. Almost half of participants reported implementing workforce wellness initiatives, with most reporting barriers to doing so and wanting to do more in the future. The findings of this study have implications for the preparation of healthcare leaders and the development of organizational interventions that build from the workforce wellness conceptualizations that leaders hold.