Sustainable human resources management in crisis contexts: Interaction of socially responsible labour practices for the wellbeing of employees

Periods of recession and economic crisis pose great challenges to companies committed to quality of work and by extension to their human resources (HR) departments. The need for adjustments can be a great opportunity for the implementation of socially responsible labour practices for the wellbeing of employees and in line with sustainable development and sustainable development goals. This study analyses the effects of the interaction between different socially responsible human resource management labour practices on three variables of employee wellbeing: job satisfaction, job stress and trust in management. Prior to the application of various statistical models, a correlation analysis of labour practices is carried out. Two types of statistical models are used depending on the type of variable to be explained. The ordinal logit has been applied to variables ‘trust in management’ and ‘level of job stress,’ which are not continuous. And the linear regression model for the variable ‘job satisfaction,’ which is continuous. Based on the analysis of data from 1346 workers from the 2010 Quality of Life at Work Survey in Catalonia, the results show the effectiveness of the combination of applied practices related to personal quality of life aspects, such as work‐life balance, non‐discrimination or environmental workplace conditions, as a determining factor for generally increasing the wellbeing of employees in times of crisis. However, practices aimed at achieving greater employee involvement, are more effective when applied individually. The importance of job stability to increase employee wellbeing in times of crisis is to be highlighted.