The Myth and Reality of Employee Wellbeing in China

Abstract

Employee wellbeing has emerged as a critical factor influencing individual and organisational success worldwide. In the context of China, a rapidly evolving economic powerhouse, understanding the state of employee wellbeing is essential for promoting sustainable development and fostering a healthy and productive workforce. This book chapter presents a comprehensive review of existing literature on employee wellbeing, including commonly adopted theories, antecedents, and outcomes, underlying mechanisms, and boundary conditions. Based on this, we discuss and analyse the distinctive features of employee wellbeing within China from several directions, including public/private sector and employee wellbeing, leadership and employee wellbeing, Human Resource Management and employee wellbeing, and Chinese cultural factors and employee wellbeing. Furthermore, by identifying the above unique features within the Chinese context, we emphasise the importance of addressing employee wellbeing as a strategic imperative for long-term economic growth and social harmony and thus propose strategies to transition towards an improved era in employee wellbeing in China.