Assessment of subjective workplace well-being of construction workers: A bottom-up approach

• Published in: Journal of Building Engineering 2021-04, Vol.36, p.102154, Article 102154
• Main Authors: Carvajal-Arango, David, Vásquez-Hernández, Alejandro, Botero-Botero, Luis Fernando
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Construction worker; Subjective well-being; Sustainable construction; Workplace well-being
• ISSN: 2352-7102; 2352-7102
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2021.102154

Construction industry has an especially important impact on employment generation. However, during the construction process, the workplace well-being of construction workers has proven to be precarious. Most of the approaches to the workplace well-being of construction workers have been top-down, objective rather than subjective in nature, excluding the perceptions and opinions of workers about their work. A bottom-up approach would allow the emergence of factors that may have an impact on workplace well-being that are not considered in the action strategies currently proposed to mitigate the problem enunciated. The present study aims to identify and analyze factors from the construction workers’ perspective that emerge with a significant incidence in their workplace well-being. A mixed research method was implemented, combining qualitative and quantitative procedures, from a bottom-up approach. To gather the information, 12 interviews and 402 surveys were carried out with construction workers in the city of Medellin in Colombia. The research method allowed the emergence of factors and dimensions of workplace well-being, their levels of importance and their average qualifications, from the perspective of construction workers. The most influential dimensions in the workplace well-being of construction workers are: Rewards and Recognition, Growth and Projection, Sense of Work and Interpersonal Relationships, Activity Performed, Physical Work Environment and Physical and Mental Health. Moreover, the average rating of the workplace well-being of the respondents was determined to be 3.63, which qualitatively corresponds to a regular rating. For future research, it is recommended to deepen in those factors that have a high degree of importance within the labor welfare, but whose average qualification is low. •An approach to the workplace well-being is presented from the perspective of workers.•The dimension with the highest level of importance is Rewards and Recognition.•The dimension with the lowest average rating is Rewards and Recognition.•The average score of the workplace well-being was 3.63, corresponding to regular.•59% of the factors had an average score of less than 4.0 and 21% less than 3.0.