CULTURAL WELLBEING INDEX (CWI) Research Initiative
Culture is at the core of human capacities for innovation, including vision, strategy, ingenuity, collaboration, and perseverance. How do we get the culture formula right? Inclusive corporate and organizational cultures are the future of innovation and growth for companies and employers.
In 2019, as part of the Center for Health Organization Transformation (CHOT) — an industry-university cooperative research center (I/UCRC) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) — our interdisciplinary research team scientifically validated the Cultural Wellbeing Index (CWI), a new way for measuring how organizational culture impacts workforce inclusion. The Cultural Wellbeing Index measures hope, trust, belonging, health, and wellbeing as proxy inclusion measures. This indexed score of culture has proven predictive of employee performance, retention, engagement, and, ultimately, an organization's innovation capacity to perform in the marketplace.
The Future of CWI
Long-term, the CWI has the potential to:
Create workplace communities where people feel safe, supported, and able to rise to their highest potential;
Provide a method and measurement for companies seeking better to serve the health and wellbeing of their employees while simultaneously bolstering cultures of inclusivity and innovation;
Scientifically guide economic development for emerging models of stakeholder capitalism;
Improve reputation profiles for companies engaged in culturally responsive practices;
Improve attraction and retention rates with GenZ and Millennial workforce;
Increase meaningful employee engagement opportunities through evidence-based Environmental Social Governance (ESG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs; and
Leverage creativity and culture to improve employee wellbeing as a competitive business advantage.