The Well-Being of Workers in Lean Manufacturing Work Environments

Lean philosophy has been widely introduced in many manufacturing and service industries, allowing for increased operational gains and creating a relationship between the work environment and the workers’ well-being. This study aims to understand the relationship between Lean and workers' well-being on a shop floor. A questionnaire based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model was conducted in an industrial company in Brazil, and a total of 165 responses were collected. Through an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), eight factors were identified (soft Lean practices, Lean training, the pace of work, small group problem solving, interdependencies, problem-solving work demands, engagement and exhaustion). Posteriorly, a cluster analysis allowed us to identify 3 distinct groups in the sample, cluster 1 – includes those employees with a high level of engagement and exhaustion: cluster 2 – employees with a moderate level of engagement and exhaustion; and cluster 3 – employees with a low level of engagement and exhaustion. Additionally, using multiple linear regression analysis, it can be concluded that soft Lean practices (0.46) and the pace of work (−0.23) are the variables that most influence the engagement, and the same can be observed regarding exhaustion, where soft Lean practices (−0.36) and pace of work (0.40) also present statistically significant results.