Engaged or Obsessed? Examining the Relationship between Work Engagement, Workaholism and Work-Related Health via Work-Home Interaction

The purpose of the present study is to examine the mediating role of work-home interaction (conflict and facilitation) in the relationship between work engagement, workaholism (working compulsively and excessively), and the respondents perception on how this influence their work-related health positively or negatively. Data were collected among Norwegian academics using the KIWEST measure and analyzed by Structural Equation Modelling in Stata (N = 6014). Work engagement, but not workaholism, is directly related to work-related health. Instead, work-home conflict indirectly mediated the relationship between working compulsively and work-related health. In addition, work-home interaction (conflict and facilitation) fully mediated between engagement and work-related health. The findings suggest that work engagement and workaholism represents two different sets of heavy investment at work, positively and negatively related to work-related health, respectively. The mediating role of work-home interaction indicates that this relationship partly can be explained by how this heavy investment and passion at work interfere with the home life. These findings have implications for how organization practitioners and HR representatives should target an eager workforce properly for the future. The present study is timely, given a boundary less work life. Knowledge of the different processes associated with hard working employees is important for organizations to better understand when and how such prolific behavior is beneficial or risky and hence should be supported or not

Change and stability : Within-person life satisfaction over a 20-year period using data from the HUNT survey

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Age groups changes in self-rated health: A prospective longitudinal study over a 20-year periodising Health Suirvey of North Trøndelag data.

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate changes in self-rated health (SRH) between different age groups and sexes over a 20-year period. Methods: Data were retrieved from the large longitudinal Health Survey of North Trøndelag, Norway, which includes data collected from more than 190,000 participants aged 20–70+ years between the years 1984 and 2008. Data were analysed using logistic regression and adjusted for sex. Results: From 1984 to 2008, the odds of scoring higher on SRH decreased by 46% in the youngest age group (20–29 years) and increased by approximately 35% in the middle-aged and older age groups (40–70+ years). When considering sex differences, women in most age groups scored lower than the men on their SRH. Conclusions: Our finding suggest a trending shift in SRH, with a reduction in the youngest age group (20–29 years) and an increase in the middle-aged and older age groups (40–70+ years). Despite the sex differences being small, our data indicate that in most age groups, women tend to score lower than men on their SRH. Future studies should focus on these trends to understand better the mechanisms underlying these changes in SRH and to follow future trends to see if the trend is reinforced or diminished.publishedVersio

Safety representatives’ job crafting in organizational interventions: driver, counselor, watchdog, or abstainer

The Nordic model and organizational research highlight the benefits of employee participation and collaboration between management and employees. Using job crafting theory, this paper studied the roles safety representatives craft for themselves in organizational interventions, the mental models that impact the roles they craft, and the possible consequences these roles have for intervention implementation. The research used a case study design to interview 15 safety representatives of 15 different departments at a university in Norway regarding their role in an organizational intervention. The thematic analysis identified five roles the safety representatives crafted for themselves: 1) Watchdogs safeguarding the work environment, 2) Watchdogs safeguarding the line managers’ implementation, 3) Counsellors to the line manager on how to implement the intervention activities, 4) Drivers who themselves implement the intervention activities, and 5) Abstainers who let the intervention occur without their involvement. The safety representatives’ mental models of their line manager, the work environment, their colleagues, and the intervention itself appeared to affect the roles they crafted. Finally, the different roles safety representatives crafted for themselves seemed to influence the intervention implementation

The line manager’s role in implementing successful organizational interventions

The aim of the paper is to discuss the role of the line manager in implementing to plan, implement and evaluate successful organizational interventions using our experiences from the ARK-program. Earlier literature has shown that line managers have a major influence on an intervention’s outcomes (Nielsen, 2017; Saksvik, Nytrø, Dahl-Jørgensen, & Mikkelsen, 2002), however, there is a lack of knowledge about the managements’ role throughout the entire intervention process and how line managers are influenced by the context at different levels. We therefore discuss the line managers’ role within the five phase cycle of an organizational intervention, including preparation, screening, action planning, implementation and evaluation. We also introduce a more in-depth understanding of the context by using of the IGLO-model (Individual, Group, Leadership and Organizational level). Based on our knowledge and experience from the ARK-program we make some recommendations for (a) what the line managers need throughout the five phases in order to contribute to a successful intervention, and (b) on what the line manager has to provide in order to develop and implement a successful intervention process

Line managers' middle-levelness and driving proactive behaviors in organizational interventions

Purpose: This paper explores line managers' proactive work behaviors in organizational interventions and ascertains how their management of their middle-levelness by aligning with the intervention, or not, influences their proactive work behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: The authors’ findings are based on thematic analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews of university heads of departments responsible for managing organizational interventions. Findings: The authors found that line managers engaged in a range of proactive work behaviors to implement the organizational intervention (i.e. “driving proactive behaviors”). Furthermore, line managers tended to engage in driving proactive behaviors when they aligned with the organizational intervention, but not to when unconvinced of the intervention's validity. Practical implications: These findings highlight the importance of senior management and HR investing sufficient time and quality in the preparation phase to ensure all actors have a shared understanding of the organizational interventions' validity. Originality/value: This is the first study to explore line managers' proactive work behaviors to implement an organizational intervention, and how the line managers' management of their middle-levelness influence these proactive work behaviors

H-WORK project: Multilevel interventions to promote mental health in SMEs and public workplaces

The paper describes the study design, research questions and methods of a large, international intervention project aimed at improving employee mental health and well-being in SMEs and public organisations. The study is innovative in multiple ways. First, it goes beyond the current debate on whether individual- or organisational-level interventions are most effective in improving employee health and well-being and tests the cumulative effects of multilevel interventions, that is, interventions addressing individual, group, leader and organisational levels. Second, it tailors its interventions to address the aftermaths of the Covid-19 pandemic and develop suitable multilevel interventions for dealing with new ways of working. Third, it uses realist evaluation to explore and identify the working ingredients of and the conditions required for each level of intervention, and their outcomes. Finally, an economic evaluation will assess both the cost-effectiveness analysis and the affordability of the interventions from the employer perspective. The study integrates the training transfer and the organisational process evaluation literature to develop toolkits helping end-users to promote mental health and well-being in the workplace

Workplace stress, burnout and coping: A qualitative study of the experiences of Australian disability support workers

Disability support workers (DSWs) are the backbone of contemporary disability support services and the interface through which disability philosophies and policies are translated into practical action. DSWs often experience workplace stress and burnout, resulting in a high turnover rate of employees within the non-professional disability service workforce. The full implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia is set to intensify the current challenges of attracting and retaining DSWs, as the role becomes characterised by greater demands, ambiguity and conflict. The aim of this study was to explore DSWs' perceptions of enjoyable and challenging aspects of disability support work, sources of stress and burnout and the strategies they use to cope when these issues arise. Twelve DSWs workers providing support for adults living with intellectual and physical disabilities were interviewed. Thematic analysis revealed a superordinate theme of 'Balance' comprising three sub-themes: 'Balancing Negatives and Positives', 'Periods of Imbalance', and 'Strategies to Reclaim Balance'. Participants spoke of the rewarding and uplifting times in their job such as watching a client learn new skills and being shown appreciation. These moments were contrasted by emotionally and physically draining aspects of their work, including challenging client behaviour, earning a low income, and having limited power to make decisions. Participants described periods of imbalance, wherein the negatives of their job outweighed the positives, resulting in stress and sometimes burnout. Participants often had to actively seek support and tended to rely on their own strategies to manage stress. Findings suggest that organisational support together with workplace interventions that support DSWs to perceive the positive aspects of their work, such as acceptance and mindfulness-based approaches, may help to limit experiences of stress and burnout. The further development and evaluation of emotion-focused workplace therapies, and interventions that consider organisational (macro) factors is suggested

Development of burnout over time and the causal order of the three dimensions of burnout among male and female GPs. A three-wave panel study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A good understanding of the aetiology and development of burnout facilitates its early recognition, prevention and treatment. Since the prevalence and onset of this health problem is thought to differ between men and women, sex must be taken into account. This study aims to assess the prevalence and development of burnout among General Practitioners (GPs). In this population the prevalence of burnout is high.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a three-wave longitudinal study (2002, 2004, 2006) in a random sample of Dutch GPs. Data were collected by means of self-report questionnaires including the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Our final sample consisted of 212 GPs of which 128 were male. Data were analyzed by means of SPSS and LISREL.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results indicate that about 20% of the GPs is clinically burned out (but still working). For both sexes, burnout decreased after the first wave, but increased again after the second wave. The prevalence of depersonalization is higher among men. With regard to the process of burnout we found that for men burnout is triggered by depersonalization and by emotional exhaustion for women.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>As regards the developmental process of burnout, we found evidence for the fact that the aetiological process of burnout, that is the causal order of the three burnout dimensions, differs between men and women. These sex differences should be taken into account in vocational training and policy development, especially since general practice is feminizing rapidly.</p

Opportunities and challenges in designing and evaluating complex multilevel, multi-stakeholder occupational health interventions in practice

Extant research suggests the effectiveness of Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) interventions depends on their design in the broader organizational context. While the field recognizes that pre- and posttest evaluation do not sufficiently capture the complex dynamics around OHP interventions, complex multi-level OHP interventions are still scarce in the literature. As established intervention implementation frameworks suggest, it remains difficult to address this complexity in practice. The present position paper re-evaluates lessons learned from two complex European OHP intervention projects, by applying the Integrated Process Evaluation Framework (IPEF) and related theories to bridge the gap between the theoretically recognized complexity and practical challenges. The re-evaluations emphasize that program-multilevel theories rooted in OHP-perspectives contribute to adequately hypothesizing around systemic factors and mechanisms relevant to OHP interventions. Concretely, middle range theories that outline how an intervention’s mechanisms work within a specific context to produce certain outcomes are crucial. Additionally, strategically and actively involving key stakeholders at all levels of the system and across the different intervention phases improves the embedding of OHP interventions in organizations. We elaborate on these insights with seven concrete recommendations for complex OHP intervention research