Employee performance and wellbeing

Getting the most out of human resource management: How can HR practices lead to better employee performance and wellbeing?

In 2015, the University of Brighton provided two years of funding under the Rising Stars Initiative to Luke Fletcher to examine how human resource management practices can lead to better employee performance and wellbeing.

Since the economic recession many UK businesses are experiencing lower productivity, stronger global competition, and reduced employee morale. To overcome these problems, the key priorities for human resource (HR) professionals are improving employee performance and wellbeing through practices such as training and performance management. However, employees within the same organisation react to HR practices differently, some positively others negatively, depending on their past experiences with HR and the attributions they make about why management enact such practices.

These individual perceptions alter the degree to which performance and wellbeing can be enhanced, yet little is known about how these perceptions influence such outcomes. Without this understanding, the potential for HR practices to improve business productivity and competitiveness is limited. This study addresses this issue by utilising a framework to better understand the processes at play in the relationship between perceptions of HR practices and employee performance and wellbeing.