Numerous scales have been developed to measure workplace well-being. Different scales focus on different aspects of well-being, ranging from individual aspects of worker well-being (e.g., satisfaction) to factors related to well-being (e.g., burnout). Other scales assess potential sources of well-being in the workplace (i.e., factors that are likely to promote employee’s well-being). Some measures are even more comprehensive and assess not only individual levels of well-being, but also organizational climate, organizational practices, and other aspects of an individual’s mental and physical health.
The following list represents examples of scales to measure well-being at work.
Scales for Measuring Well-Being at Work
Affective Well-Being at Work
Citation: Daniels, K. (2000). Measures of five aspects of affective well-being at work. Human Relations, 53(2), 275-294.
Short-form: Russell, E., Daniels, K. (2018). Measuring affective well-being at work using short-form scales: Implications for affective structures and participant instructions. Human Relations, 71(11), 1478-1507.
PMID or DOI: PMID: 30270934
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: Affective well-being
Sub-constructs measured: N/A
Available subscales: bi-polar scales: anxiety-comfort, depression-pleasure, bored-enthusiastic, tiredness-vigour, angry-placid
Description: The five-factor model of affective well-being was originally developed as a 30-item scale to measure five dimensions of affective well-being in the work context: anxiety-comfort (AC), depression-pleasure (DP), bored-enthusiastic (BE), tiredness-vigour (TV), and angry-placid (AP). The 10-item short-form contains one positively and negatively valenced term for each of the original five factors.
Number of items: Original: 30 items; Short-form: 10 items
Example of statement/item:
- Original: “Thinking of the past week, how much of the time has your job made you feel each of the following? (e.g., anxious, cheerful, sluggish, active, aggressive, patient)
- Short-form: “In the section below, please indicate how you feel right now, that is, at the present moment” (e.g., happy, at ease, annoyed, motivated, tired, gloomy, active)
Response options:
- Original: 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 “never” to 6 “all of the time”
- Short-form: 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 “not at all” to 6 “very much”
Total score:
A mean score for each scale is found by reverse scoring each of the negative adjectives, adding each response, and dividing by the number of responses. Higher scores on each scale indicates higher affective well-being.
Examples of studies:
- Rego, Arménio, Sousa, Filipa, Marques, Carla, & Cunha, Miguel Pina e. (2012). Optimism predicting employees’ creativity: The mediating role of positive affect and the positivity ratio. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 21(2), 244-270.
- Page, K. M., & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2013). The working for wellness program: RCT of an employee well-being intervention. Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Well-Being, 14(3), 1007–1031.
Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS)
Citation: Van Katwyk, P. T., Fox, S., Spector, P. E., & Kelloway, E. K. (2000). Using the Job-related Affective Well-being Scale (JAWS) to investigate affective responses to work stressors. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, 219-230.
PMID or DOI: DOI: 10.1037//1076-8998.5.2.219
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: job-related affective well-being
Sub-constructs measured: N/A
Available subscales:
- Four categories: high arousal, low arousal, pleasurable, displeasurable
- The five most extreme items were placed into each subscale: high pleasure high arousal, (ecstatic, enthusiastic, excited, energetic, inspired); high pleasure low arousal, (satisfied, content, at ease, relaxed, calm); low pleasure high arousal, (furious, angry, frightened, anxious, disgusted); and low pleasure low arousal, (depressed, discouraged, gloomy, fatigued, bored).
Description: The Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS) aims to measure pure, context specific affect and covers a wide range of affective responses in order to distinguish patterns of affective experience (i.e., negatively/positively valanced responses at high or low arousal levels). The 30 items refer to either pleasurable or displeasurable affect (15 items each).
Number of items: 30
Example of statement/item: “My job made me feel at ease”, “My job made me feel elated”, My job made me feel angry”, My job made me feel depressed”
Response options: Participants are asked to indicate the amount to which any part of their job has made them feel the specified emotion in the past 30 days. Participants indicate their response using a 5-point scale ranging from 1”never” to 5 “extremely often or always”
Total score: Five scores were derived from the JAWS. For the overall job-related affective well-being score, the displeasurable items were reverse coded and added to the scores on all the pleasurable items. A high score on the resulting summation represents a high level of overall job-related affective well-being.
Examples of Studies:
- Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Bialowolski, P., VanderWeele, T. J., & McNeely, E. (2021). Character Strengths Involving an Orientation to Promote Good Can Help Your Health and Well-Being. Evidence From two Longitudinal Studies. American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 35(3), 388–398.
- Thogersen-Ntoumani, C., Black, J., Lindwall, M., Whittaker, A., & Balanos, G. M. (2017). Presenteeism, stress resilience, and physical activity in older manual workers: A person-centered analysis. European Journal of Ageing, 14(4), 385–396.
- Armon, G., Melamed, S., Berliner, S., & Shapira, I. (2014). High arousal and low arousal work-related positive affects and basal cardiovascular activity. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(2), 146–154.
- Shirom, A., Melamed, S., Berliner, S., & Shapira, I. (2009). Aroused versus calm positive affects as predictors of lipids. Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 28(6), 649–659.
WARR Scale of Job-related Affective Well-being (Warr’s Measure)
Citation: Peter Warr. (1990) The measurement of wellbeing and other aspects of mental health. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 193-210.
PMID or DOI: DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8325.1990.tb00521.x
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: Affective well-being
Sub-constructs measured: Anxiety, comfort (labelled earlier contentment), depression, enthusiasm, competence, aspiration, negative job carry-over
Available subscales:
job-related affective well-being
job-related anxiety-contentment (6 items)
job-related depression-enthusiasm (6 items)
non-job-related affective well-being
non-job-related anxiety-contentment (6 items)
non-job-related depression-enthusiasm (6 items)
competence
reported job competence *read resilience* (6 items)
non-job-related competence *read resilience* (6 items)
aspiration
reported job aspiration (6 items)
non-job-related aspiration (6 items)
negative job carry-over (4 items)
Description: This measure assesses two axes of affective well-being: job-related and non-job related mental health, based upon dimensions of pleasure and arousal, competence, aspiration and negative job carry‐over.
Number of items: 52
Example of statement/item: “Thinking of the past few weeks, how much of the time has your job made you feel each of the following? (e.g., tense, uneasy, worried, calm, contented, relaxed)
“In the past few weeks, how much of the time in your life outside your job have you felt each of the following? (e.g., depressed, gloomy, miserable, cheerful, enthusiastic, optimistic)
“Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements”: I can do my job well; I enjoy doing things in my job; I find it difficult to unwind at the end of a work day
Response options:
For the job and non-job related affective well-being sections, the answer options were “never, occasionally, some of the time, much of the time, most of the time, all of the time”, scored 1-6 respectively.
For the job and non-job related competence, aspiration, and negative job carry-over sections, the answer options are “strongly disagree, disagree, neither disagree nor agree, agree, strongly agree”, scored 1-5 respectively.
Total score: A mean score for each scale is found by reverse scoring each of the negative adjectives, adding each response, and dividing by the number of responses. Higher scores on each scale indicates higher affective well-being in that category.
Examples of studies:
- Daniels, K., & Guppy, A. (1994). Occupational stress, social support, job control, and psychological well-being. Human Relations, 47(12), 1523–1544.
- Kompier, M. A., Taris, T. W., & van Veldhoven, M. (2012). Tossing and turning–insomnia in relation to occupational stress, rumination, fatigue, and well-being. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 38(3), 238–246.
- Jones, M.K., Latreille, P.L. and Sloane, P.J. (2016), Job Anxiety, Work-Related Psychological Illness and Workplace Performance. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 54: 742-767.
Index of Psychological Well-Being at Work
Citation: Dagenais-Desmarais, V., Savoie, A. What is Psychological Well-Being, Really? A Grassroots Approach from the Organizational Sciences. J Happiness Stud 13, 659–684 (2012).
PMID or DOI: DOI: 10.1007/s10902-011-9285-3
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: psychological well-being at work
Sub-constructs measured: N/A
Available subscales: Interpersonal Fit at Work, Thriving at Work, Feeling of Competency at Work, Desire for Involvement at Work, and Perceived Recognition at Work
Description: The Index of Psychological Well-Being at Work is an 80-item scale consisting of five factors: (1) Interpersonal Fit at Work, (2) Thriving at Work, (3) Feeling of Competency at Work, (4) Perceived Recognition at Work, (5) Desire for Involvement at Work.
Number of items: 80
Example of statement/item: Interpersonal fit at work: “I enjoy working with the people at my job.”; thriving at work: “I find meaning in my work.”; feeling of competency at work: “I feel that I know what to do in my job.”; perceived recognition at work: “I know that people believe in the projects I work on.”; desire for involvement at work: “I want to contribute to achieving the goals of my organization.”
Response options: Participants indicate their response using a 6-point scale ranging from 0 “disagree” to 5 “completely agree”. The instructions ask the participant to consider their work during the last 4 weeks and indicate to what extent they agree with each item.
Total score: Average scores may be derived by each dimension or as a total combined score.
Examples of studies:
- Dagenais-Desmarais, V., Leclerc, J.-S., & Londei-Shortall, J. (2018). The relationship between employee motivation and psychological health at work: A chicken-and-egg situation? Work & Stress, 32(2), 147–167.
- Gilbert, M., Dagenais-Desmarais, V., & St-Hilaire, F. (2017). Transformational leadership and autonomy support management behaviors: The role of specificity in predicting employees’ psychological health. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 38(2), 320-332.
- Royer, N., & Moreau, C. (2016). A survey of Canadian early childhood educators’ psychological wellbeing at work. Early Childhood Education Journal, 44(2), 135–146.
Thriving at Work
Citation: Porath, C., Spreitzer, G., Gibson, C. and Garnett, F.G. (2012), Thriving at work: Toward its measurement, construct validation, and theoretical refinement. J. Organiz. Behav., 33: 250-275.
PMID or DOI: DOI: 10.1002/job.756
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: Individual thriving at work
Sub-constructs measured: N/A
Available subscales: (1) Learning (i.e., an individual’s subjective experience of learning, rather than learning performance, behavior, or difference): 5 items; (2) Vitality (i.e., the state of having energy available ready for use): 5 items
Description: This 10-item scale measures thriving at work, which is defined as the psychological state in which individuals experience both a sense of vitality and learning.
Number of items: 10
Example of statement/item: Vitality: “I feel alive and vital”; Learning: “I see myself continually improving”, “I do not feel very energetic”
Response options: Participants indicate their response using a 7-point scale randing from 1 “strongly disagree to 7 “strongly agree”
Total score: Add up total points for each section (Vitality and Learning) and divide by 10 for the 10 total items
Examples of studies:
- Walumbwa, Fred O, Muchiri, Michael K, Misati, Everlyne, Wu, Cindy, & Meiliani, Meiliani. (2018). Inspired to perform: A multilevel investigation of antecedents and consequences of thriving at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(3), 249-261.
- Kaltenbrunner, M., Bengtsson, L., Mathiassen, S. E., Högberg, H., & Engström, M. (2019). Staff perception of Lean, care-giving, thriving and exhaustion: a longitudinal study in primary care. BMC health services research, 19(1), 652.
- Yi-Feng Chen, N., Crant, J. M., Wang, N., Kou, Y., Qin, Y., Yu, J., & Sun, R. (2021). When there is a will there is a way: The role of proactive personality in combating COVID-19. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(2), 199–213.
Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire (WWQ)
Citation: Parker GB, Hyett MP. Measurement of well-being in the workplace: the development of the work well-being questionnaire. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2011;199(6):394-397.
PMID or DOI: DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e31821cd3b9
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: Workplace Wellbeing
Sub-constructs measured: ‘Work Satisfaction,’’ ‘‘Organizational Respect for the Employee,’’ ‘‘Employer Care,’’ and a negative construct ‘‘Intrusion of Work into Private Life.’’
Available subscales: N/A
Description: This workplace and satisfaction measure was the first of its kind to be developed to measure workplace wellbeing with the Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire (WWQ).
Number of items: Original: 31-item measure
Example of statement/item: Is your work fulfilling? Do you feel that your organization respects the staff? Does your work eat into your private life?
Response options: The participants were asked to rate the items that best represented their current and most relevant work situation on a 5-point scale: 0, not at all; 1, slightly; 2, moderately; 3,very; and 4, extremely true.
Total score: The scoring for each factor involved summing the scores from each item (Note: reverse score one item for the ‘‘Intrusion of Work into Private Life’’ factor).
Examples of studies:
- Patel, Ashwini Kumar, Banga, Chavinoor, & Chandrasekaran, Baskaran. (n.d.). Effect of an education-based workplace intervention (move in office with education) on sedentary behaviour and well-being in desk-based workers: A cluster randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, Ahead-of-print(Ahead-of-print), 1-9.
- Janicke, S. H., Rieger, D., Reinecke, L., & Connor, W., III. (2018). Watching online videos at work: The role of positive and meaningful affect for recovery experiences and well-being at the workplace. Mass Communication & Society, 21(3), 345–367.
Employee Well-Being Scale
Citation: Zheng, X., Zhu, W., Zhao, H., Zhang, C. (2015). Employee well-being in organizations: Theoretical model, scale development, and cross-cultural validation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36, 621-644.
PMID or DOI: DOI: 10.1002/job.1990
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: Employee well-being
Sub-constructs measured: life well-being, workplace well-being, psychological well-being
Available subscales: Life Well-Being (LWB), Work Well-Being (WWB), Psychological Well-Being (PWB)
Description: The Employee Well-Being Scale is an 18-item scale comprised of three facets of well-being: life well-being (LWB), work well-being (WWB), and psychological well-being (PWB) and contains 6 items for each domain.
Number of items: 18
Example of statement/item: LWB – “I am close to my dream in most aspects of my life” and “My life is fun”; WWB – “I find real enjoyment in my work” and “In general, I feel fairly satisfied with my present job”; PWB – “I generally feel good about myself and I’m confident” and “I handle daily affairs well”
Response options: Original: 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 “never” to 6 “all of the time”
Short-form: 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 “strongly disagree” to 7 “strongly agree”
Total score: A mean score for each scale is found by adding each response, and dividing by the number of responses.
Example of Studies:
- Bayhan Karapinar, P., Metin Camgoz, S. & Tayfur Ekmekci, O. Employee Wellbeing, Workaholism, Work–Family Conflict and Instrumental Spousal Support: A Moderated Mediation Model. J Happiness Stud 21, 2451–2471 (2020).
- Wolff, M. B., O’Connor, P. J., Wilson, M. G., & Gay, J. L. (2021). Associations Between Occupational and Leisure-Time Physical Activity With Employee Stress, Burnout and Well-Being Among Healthcare Industry Workers. American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 8901171211011372. Advance online publication.
Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (NIOSH)
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently published the Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (WellBQ), administered to workers, designed to provide an integrated, holistic assessment of a worker’s social environment, workplace conditions, and well-being. It is comprised of five domains: (1) work evaluation and experience; (2) workplace policies and culture; (3) workplace physical environment and safety climate; (4) health status; and (5) home, community, and society. See the links below for detailed information about the measure.
Last updated: August 2023