Physical well-being of Kuldiga District Council Employees: A Case Study of implications for workplace health promotion assessed with tools of service design

Author:
Laura Volkonovska
Supervisor:
Krista Korpikoski
University:
University of Lapland

The graduation work focuses on analysing the physical well-being of Kuldiga District Council employees, with the goal of providing recommendations to improve their workplace environment. In order to achieve the goal, the worldwide known approaches are reviewed and analysis of existing situation in Kuldiga District Council is conducted. The study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques, including questionnaires, interviews, and a service design workshop. Questionnaire is giving quantitative data on the research topic highlighting existing problems in the workplace. Interviews with employees create deeper understanding of the existing situation. Expert interview creates a bridge from theoretical part of the work to the empirical part, providing with information about what are the elements that create the well-being in the workplace possible. Service design workshop allows the employees to share their personal beliefs how to improve the physical well-being in the workplace. Research questions are as follows: RQ1: What are the most important aspects impacting physical well-being in a workplace? RQ2: How supportive are the existing workplace circumstances of the physical wellbeing of Kuldiga District Council employees? RQ3: What could be done to improve physical well-being of Kuldiga District Council employees? The research main conclusions indicate that: 1. By using service design methods to research employee physical well-being, service designers can gain a more comprehensive and human-cantered understanding of the factors that contribute to employee well-being, develop tailored interventions that better meet the needs and preferences of employees, and test and refine solutions in real-world settings to create more effective and sustainable interventions. 2. Investing in employee physical well-being can lead to significant cost savings for organizations by reducing absenteeism, turnover, and healthcare expenses while also improving productivity and employee engagement. This master’s thesis consists of three main sections: theoretical, practical, and conclusions, total 123 pages, 3 appendices, 19 charts and 11 pictures. Appendices 5 consist of interview empathy maps, as well as raw questionnaire data making them an integral part of the practical section of this thesis. The research is conducted in an ethical manner, ensuring that all participants are provided with clear information, their responses are kept confidential, and participation is voluntary. The limitations of the study include potential biases in participant selection and social desirability in responses.

Key words: Physical well-being; case study; Kuldiga District Council; workplace