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Well-being is a topic of increasing interest to individuals, organisations and societies. Conceptually at its broadest level it combines feeling good with effective functioning. This has prompted attention to a variety of facets, from macro level (e.g. OECD's focus on economic indicators of well-being such as GDP and the current UK Government's creation of a 'national well-being index') to concerns over individual physical, mental, spiritual and emotional well-being. This seminar series will focus on a key aspect of well-being, that of well-being in the workplace, often termed employee well-being.

A plethora of research evidence indicates that poor well-being at work can lead to adverse physical and mental health consequences for individuals and negative organisational outcomes such as increased sickness absence and reduced productivity of workers. In particular, stress and mental health issues are now cited as the primary cause of long-term absence from work. As such, this seminar series will focus predominantly on psychological well-being, aiming to add insight and understanding into the ways employee mental health and well-being can be managed and sustained.

Three key themes will be explored in this seminar series:

• What is well-being and why does it matter?
• How can we develop and sustain employee well-being?
• What are the challenges for sustaining employee well-being?

The first seminar will be held on 6th December in the Business School. Speakers are: Rob Briner; Professor of Organizational Psychology University of Bath; Andrew Clark; Research Professor Paris School of Economics; Dr Neil Thin; Senior Lecturer, Social Anthropology University of Edinburgh; Ed Cochrane; Senior Management Consultant YSC-Business Psychologists. The presentations from our four expert speakers will explore:

• How well-being is defined across different disciplines
• The changing discourses around well-being
• Why well-being matters.