There is more to organisational change than strain, hazard, and harm

Organisational change doesn’t always have to bring distress and ill health to employees. Anniken Grønstad writes that many types of changes can lead to positive experiences, including improved job quality, skill development, and the provision of and access to challenges and opportunities for job promotion

Exploring work-related attributions of sickness absence during organizational change: a scoping review

Purpose: The present article reviews the literature on the relationship between organizational change and sickness absence and seeks to map and describe the prevailing “trends” in the field. In particular, the paper focuses on the indirect links between change and sickness absence and identifies knowledge gaps and novel research opportunities. Design/Methodology/Approach: A scoping review was conducted seeking to generate a wide-ranging overview of relevant studies. To this end, research articles were collected through different sources of landmark articles, bibliographies and databases. Findings: The association between organizational change and sickness absence is often explained by adverse changes in work characteristics. Such potential mediation or moderation effects, however, are rarely statistically tested. Including such variables in the analyses may represent an important avenue for future research. Additionally, earlier studies have mainly emphasized organization-wide episodic changes. Recently however, researchers have focused on smaller and frequently implemented changes. Accordingly, the field of organizational change and occupational health may advance by incorporating greater diversity of change type. Originality/Value: The article demonstrates that attention to the potential health effects of organizational change will remain important as the field of workplace health management proceeds. Research needs to develop beyond attributions of the relationship between change and sickness absence and focus more on statistical testing of linking variables. The unique contribution of this review is therefore that it identifies knowledge gaps and novel avenues for prospective research

How the Nordic response to COVID helped reduce financial inequality

The generosity of the Nordic states during the pandemic has acted as a powerful financial stimulus, writes Anniken Grønstad. Although it is not clear whether these changes will be permanent, they indicate that the Nordics intend to pursue redistributive rather than austerity policies

Work-related moderators of the relationship between organizational change and sickness absence: a longitudinal multilevel study

A sizeable body of research has demonstrated a relationship between organizational change and increased sickness absence. However, fewer studies have investigated what factors might mitigate this relationship. The aim of this study was to examine if and how the relationship between unit-level downsizing and sickness absence is moderated by three salient work factors: temporary contracts at the individual-level, and control and organizational commitment at the work-unit level. We investigated the association between unit-level downsizing, each moderator and both short- and long-term sickness absence in a large Norwegian hospital (n = 21,085) from 2011 to 2016. Data pertaining to unit-level downsizing and employee sickness absence were retrieved from objective hospital registers, and moderator variables were drawn from hospital registers (temporary contracts) and the annual work environment survey (control and organizational commitment). We conducted a longitudinal multilevel random effects regression analysis to estimate the odds of entering short- ( = 9 days) sickness absence for each individual employee. The results showed a decreased risk of short-term sickness absence in the quarter before and an increased risk of short-term sickness absence in the quarter after unit-level downsizing. Temporary contracts and organizational commitment significantly moderated the relationship between unit-level downsizing in the next quarter and short-term sickness absence, demonstrating a steeper decline in short-term sickness absence for employees on temporary contracts and employees in high-commitment units. Additionally, control and organizational commitment moderated the relationship between unit-level downsizing and long-term sickness absence. Whereas employees in high-control work-units had a greater increase in long-term sickness absence in the change quarter, employees in low-commitment work-units had a higher risk of long-term sickness absence in the quarter after unit-level downsizing. The results from this study suggest that the relationship between unit-level downsizing and sickness absence varies according to the stage of change, and that work-related factors moderate this relationship, albeit in different directions. The identification of specific work-factors that moderate the adverse effects of change represents a hands-on foundation for managers and policy-makers to pursue healthy organizational change

Work-related moderators of the relationship between organizational change and sickness absence: a longitudinal multilevel study

Background A sizeable body of research has demonstrated a relationship between organizational change and increased sickness absence. However, fewer studies have investigated what factors might mitigate this relationship. The aim of this study was to examine if and how the relationship between unit-level downsizing and sickness absence is moderated by three salient work factors: temporary contracts at the individual-level, and control and organizational commitment at the work-unit level. Methods We investigated the association between unit-level downsizing, each moderator and both short- and long-term sickness absence in a large Norwegian hospital (n = 21,085) from 2011 to 2016. Data pertaining to unit-level downsizing and employee sickness absence were retrieved from objective hospital registers, and moderator variables were drawn from hospital registers (temporary contracts) and the annual work environment survey (control and organizational commitment). We conducted a longitudinal multilevel random effects regression analysis to estimate the odds of entering short- ( = 9 days) sickness absence for each individual employee. Results The results showed a decreased risk of short-term sickness absence in the quarter before and an increased risk of short-term sickness absence in the quarter after unit-level downsizing. Temporary contracts and organizational commitment significantly moderated the relationship between unit-level downsizing in the next quarter and short-term sickness absence, demonstrating a steeper decline in short-term sickness absence for employees on temporary contracts and employees in high-commitment units. Additionally, control and organizational commitment moderated the relationship between unit-level downsizing and long-term sickness absence. Whereas employees in high-control work-units had a greater increase in long-term sickness absence in the change quarter, employees in low-commitment work-units had a higher risk of long-term sickness absence in the quarter after unit-level downsizing. Conclusions The results from this study suggest that the relationship between unit-level downsizing and sickness absence varies according to the stage of change, and that work-related factors moderate this relationship, albeit in different directions. The identification of specific work-factors that moderate the adverse effects of change represents a hands-on foundation for managers and policy-makers to pursue healthy organizational change

Organizational change and the risk of sickness absence: a longitudinal multilevel analysis of organizational unit-level change in hospitals

Background Organizational change is often associated with reduced employee health and increased sickness absence. However, most studies in the field accentuate major organizational change and often do not distinguish between and compare types of change. The aim of this study was to examine the different relationships between six unit-level changes (upsizing, downsizing, merger, spin-off, outsourcing and insourcing) and sickness absence among hospital employees. Methods The study population included employees working in a large Norwegian hospital (n = 26,252). Data on unit-level changes and employee sickness absence were retrieved from objective hospital registers for the period January 2011 to December 2016. The odds of entering short- ( = 9 days) sickness absence for each individual employee were estimated in a longitudinal multilevel random effects logistic regression model. Results Unit-level organizational change was associated with both increasing and decreasing odds of short-term sickness absence compared to stability, but the direction depended on the type and stages of change. The odds of long-term sickness absence significantly decreased in relation to unit-level upsizing and unit-level outsourcing. Conclusions The results from this study suggested that certain types of change, such as unit-level downsizing, may produce greater strain and concerns among employees, possibly contributing to an increased risk of sickness absence at certain stages of the change. By contrast, changes such as unit-level insourcing and unit-level upsizing were related to decreased odds of sickness absence, possibly due to positive change characteristics