What is Wellbeing and What Does it Have to Do with Workforce Development?
I first encountered the concept of wellbeing while working as the director of a juvenile detention center. The family court system had contracted Full Frame Initiative to review and revamp all the court's systems with the wellbeing of the people most impacted. In the detention center, this involved reviewing and revising forms and procedures. The work required understanding that as humans, we have domains of wellbeing that deserve balance and attention. The Five Domains of Wellbeing are: Social Connectedness, Safety, Stability, Mastery, and Meaningful Access to Relevant Resources.
In the detention center, we aimed to be trauma-informed and attentive to the residents' needs, and performing wellbeing work deepened our commitment to truly serving our residents in a meaningful and sustainable way. As the director, I wanted kids to learn transferable pro-social skills to protect the community, reduce recidivism, and support them in living safer and healthier lives.
Here is an example: one immediate glaring practice we had was interviewing newly admitted juveniles in a less-than-private setting, while asking highly personal questions. The kids often became irritable and hostile during intake. Without a wellbeing lens, that looks like defiant behavior, which we systematically observed based on our frame of reference (such as anticipated juvenile delinquent behavior). Systemically, we did not recognize that the entire experience of being incarcerated is daunting and the questions asked could trigger trauma, hence the behavior. Learning that was significant for me as the chief administrator. I understood that much of juvenile delinquency is born in trauma, but I did not see it specifically as it related to our intake process. The slightest shift of reframing the questions to not be so sterile and conducting the interview in a room with a closed door changed everything. There were many similar revelations as we did this work, but that is the best illustration of wellbeing in action.
Although this article is about workforce development, I believe that example can be relevant to how jobseekers might be perceived at intake, something to consider.
Let us think about those domains. When a person is unemployed or underemployed, they do not have wellbeing. Their safety could be affected if they are unhoused, their stability is certainly affected, and they have minimal mastery over their lives without sufficient income. They come to you seeking meaningful access to relevant resources to hopefully increase their wellbeing. How do you plug into the scenario at this juncture? Think about your offices: are they centered in the community you serve? Is access to the office an immediate barrier? Are your offices on a bus line? When they enter, is your entry area pleasant and welcoming? How are they greeted? When asking personal questions, is it a private area so they may feel safe to answer? Do your intake questions or your staff provide a frame of reference for why the personal questions are asked? For example:
"Are you justice-involved?" vs. "Because we receive funding to provide supportive services to jobseekers impacted by the justice system, we would like to see if you qualify for those services. Have you been impacted by the justice system?" Which would you be more likely to answer truthfully? Are you intrigued by this thinking and how it might impact your work?
Coming soon, MUS will be launching the Workforce Wellbeing Design Challenge. MUS participated in the Wellbeing Design Challenge with Full Frame Initiative, and we are empowered to offer the work with our own unique spin. The most obvious takeaway we had during this challenge is doing our work “with, not for,” the simple act of including people who use or have used these services in design makes the work richer and much more relevant to the job seekers. This challenge is one where we will learn design principles rooted in wellbeing and community and explore new ways of thinking about how we design programs and deliver services. Join us in our next challenge! Stay tuned for that announcement early in 2025!
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