Abstract
The benefit of organizations that invest in the people who work for them has been shown in numerous academic publications. Some of these human capacity investments are amongst other the Employee Assistance Program. These programmes are designed to assist employees who in the course of their work encounter personal or interpersonal problems that may or may not influence the work environment.
Departments can also make use of Employee Assistance Program (EAP’s) in their bid to offer help to employees. EAP is a program aimed at addressing quality of life and quality of work life of employees. When the mental, physical and emotional capacities are disturbed, the enthusiasm to work seems to decrease and hence economical implications are unavoidable.
Good interpersonal relations, quality of supervision, improved working conditions in the workplace are important tasks that can contribute significantly to social factors influencing employee well-being. To make headway on these tasks, a study was conducted with the employees at the Department of Social Development, Germiston Office in Gauteng Province.
The aim of this research study was to measure social factors influencing employee well-being at the Department of Social Development, Germiston. The objectives of the study were:
• To draw up a profile of employee well-being at the Department of Social Development.
• To review literature on social factors influencing employee well-being.
• To select and prepare suitable instrumentation for the collection of quantitative data.
• To analyze data and determine most suitable indicators of employee well-being.
• Data will be interpreted for the purpose of drawing conclusions that reflect the interests, ideas and theories that initiated the inquiry.
• To establish relationships between social factors and employees.
• To draw conclusions and make recommendations.
The findings of this study showed that the problems of the respondents that needed attention of the management are as follows:
• Home language is an important determinant that can be associated with equality. English/Afrikaans respondents are less likely to be given equal opportunities to advance in their careers than African-language-speaking respondents.
• Home language is an important determinant that can be associated with job satisfaction. African respondents are more likely to experience job satisfaction than English/Afrikaans respondents.
• Home language is an important determinant that can be associated with expectation. African respondents are more optimistic about the future than the English/Afrikaans respondents.
• Home language is an important determinant that can be associated with energy. English/Afrikaans-speaking respondents are less likely to enjoy the things that they are doing than African respondents.
• Home language is an important determinant of that can be associated with responsibility. African respondents are more likely to get what they want if they work hard than English/Afrikaans respondents.
There is statistically significant difference between family income of the respondents and energy. Family income is an important determinant that can be associated with energy. The respondents earning more than R6 000 or more per month are less likely to enjoy life than the respondents who are earning less than R5 999 per month.
Home language is an important determinant of medical aid. English/Afrikaans respondents have a greater need for medical aid than African respondents.
The study has shown that African employees at the organization are generally more contempt in their work than Afrikaans and English speaking employees. One can only speculate as to what may contribute to this marked difference in opinion. Environmental factors may be included in these findings. The study does show however that expectations and perceptions amongst various cultural groups of employees are different and that English and Afrikaans employees are less optimistic about the future than the African group. It is significant to note however that expectations regarding aspects such as access to a medical aid may contribute to a sense of well - being as well.
It is important for management to conduct surveys which research how employees are feeling and what the morale is in an organization. The findings will help management in structuring a performance appraisal system, team building as well as developing career development programs and improving factors that have an impact on the well-being of the employees.
Dr. W. Roestenburg