The experience of wellbeing practices in project-based organisations

Project-based organisations (PBOs) experience high labour turnover due to wellbeing issues arising from inefficient policies. An in-depth review of previous attributes this to the fact that the experiences and perspectives of project managers are considered neither in organisational policy/practice nor in wellbeing research. This study addresses this gap with two questions: (1) How do project managers experience wellbeing practices in PBOs? (2) What factors enable or restrict the implementation of these practices from their perspective?

This exploratory qualitative study collected interview data from 19 PBO employees in Western Europe across three sectors. Participants assessed the implementation and influencing factors of wellbeing practices in their organisations. Narratives were analysed thematically, followed by sentiment analysis to cross-reference the emotional tone of each theme.

The findings provided a framework showing the necessary shift in the project managers’ role in PBO wellbeing policy and devolution of voice practices. The results also provided two new conceptual themes specific to wellbeing in PBOs: (1) voice structure and policy and (2) demarcation of the project leader role.

The study introduces a new framework with two new theoretical concepts to improve wellbeing in PBOs. These concepts promote inclusivity of wellbeing concerns via new feedback structures and clarify the project manager’s role in advocating employee voice. The proposed solutions aim to improve knowledge in the research field of wellbeing providing the perspective of the project manager, which currently is lacking from theory.