What is a Good Job? Current Perspectives on Work and Improved Health and Well-Being

There is an extensive literature on the scale of, and risk factors for, stress at work, and outcomes associated with negative job characteristics and perceived stress. More recently, however, there has been a growing awareness that unemployment is harmful to health, and that work is beneficial and may be an effective way to improve health and wellbeing. However, there has been little attempt to draw together findings from this newer area. This paper gives an overview of current perspectives on work and its associations with improved health and well-being. It provides a framework for discussing the main themes which have emerged in this area. This framework allows consideration of the issues of conceptualisation, definition, approach and measurement which are important for future research. It is concluded that this area is still in its infancy, but clearly has the potential to make as influential a contribution as its negative counter-part. Currently, however, our understanding of what makes a good job and how we should conceptualise, study, and help workplaces provide that, is incomplete.