Employee experience of organisational leisure support as a resource to improve subjective well-being

Abstract

The current workforce is experiencing rising work demands and deteriorating well-being. Young employees, in particular, are under-resourced to cope with their demands. This ultimately translates into poor organisational outcomes. Despite the positive impact of leisure on subjective well-being and its importance to young employees, organisational support resources have ineffectively incorporated leisure as a well-being-oriented resource. Support systems are critiqued to prioritise organisational outcomes while treating employee well-being as an afterthought. This study explored employees’ experiences of organisational leisure support as a resource to improve subjective well-being with two objectives. First, to understand the prominent constituents of organisational leisure support and second, to explore the key determinants of employee utilisation. A qualitative, descriptive phenomenology study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 12 skilled South African financial services sector employees between the ages of 25 and 45 years. Five prominent constituents of organisational leisure support and four key determinants of utilisation were found. Leisure support constituents include time-based, event-based, interest group, leisure facilities and working-from-anywhere support. New findings included calendar management and specialised leave time-based support, cause-based interest groups, facilities supporting quiet time and engagement with the natural environment, and working from other countries. The four key determinants of utilisation include the nature of support (fit to needs/interests, conditionality, voluntary nature, timing of support, and similarity to work), supportive stakeholders, communication and coordination. New findings included the timing of support and coordination of support (i.e., facilitators to drive support engagement). Finally, a unique contribution has been made to the JD-R theory regarding leisure-related organisational resources and specifically separating the resources into constituents of support and determinants of utilisation.