ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Organ. Psychol.
Sec. Employee Well-being and Health
Volume 3 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/forgp.2025.1624518
This article is part of the Research TopicImplementing Mental Health Prevention and Promotion Programs: A Sustainable Approach - Volume IIView all 19 articles
From Theory to Practice: A Participatory HR-Led Training Programme for Employee Well-Being
Provisionally accepted
- University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
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This study aimed to design a structured, HR-led training programme to enhance employee well-being in the workplace, addressing the global decline in engagement and mental health. Conducted within a South African organisation, the intervention followed a three-phase qualitative design: a pilot training session introducing 25 evidence-based well-being constructs, a focus group discussion (FGD) to prioritise constructs based on participant relevance, and thematic analysis to co-develop the final content.Participants identified six priority constructs—relationships, physical health (sleep, nutrition, exercise), mental health (mindfulness, gratitude, optimism), Job health (character strengths, job crafting) and meaning in life—which formed the foundation of the ENGAGE training programme. Delivered in a two-day classroom format, the programme resulted in significant improvements in mental well-being, as measured by the WEMWBS, detailed in a separate publication.This research demonstrates that HR professionals, even without clinical expertise, can co-create and deliver impactful well-being interventions. The participatory design ensured cultural relevance, high engagement, and strong practical applicability.Unlike fixed, top-down models, the ENGAGE framework reflects employee voice and workplace realities, contributing a locally grounded, evidence-informed approach to the field of workplace well-being. It offers both conceptual and practical value for HR practitioners and researchers aiming to enhance well-being through structured, scalable interventions.
Keywords: Employee well-being, HR-led intervention, South Africa, Participatory Design, Workplace mental health, Training programme, qualitative research
Received: 08 May 2025; Accepted: 18 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shekhar, Saurombe and Joseph. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
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