Expected Labor Market Affiliation:A New Method Illustrated by Estimating the Impact of Perceived Stress on Time in Work, Sickness Absence and Unemployment of 37,605 Danish Employees

As detailed data on labor market affiliation become more accessible, new approaches are needed to address the complex patterns of labor market affiliation. We introduce the expected labor market affiliation (ELMA) method by estimating the time-restricted impact of perceived stress on labor market affiliation in a large sample of Danish employees. Data from two national surveys were linked with a national register. A multi-state proportional hazards model was used to calculate ELMA estimates, i.e., the number of days in work, sickness absence, and unemployment during a 4-year follow-up period, stratified by gender and age. Among employees reporting frequent work-related stress, the expected number of working days decreased with age, ranging from 103 days lost among older women to 37 days lost among younger and middle-aged men. Young and middle-aged women reporting frequent work- and personal life-related stress lost 62 and 81 working days, respectively, and had more days of sickness absence (34 days and 42 days). In conclusion, we showed that perceived stress affects the labor market affiliation. The ELMA estimates provide a detailed understanding of the impact of perceived stress on labor market affiliation over time, and may inform policy and practice towards a more healthy and sustainable working life

Occupational Identities and Physical Exertion in (re)configurations of New Technologies in Eldercare

New technologies are perceived as a solution to the rising proportion of people requiring elderly care across the Nordic countries. Implementing technologies has unforeseen consequences for the content of work and the working environment. This interview-based study within Danish elderly care investigates the consequences of physical exertion for the work and occupational identities of care workers. Through analytical framework integrating positioning theory and agential realism, the study shows that new technologies in certain constellations may further synergies between the reduction of physical exertion and occupational identities, and in others may harm this relation. The study contributes to empirical knowledge about implementing technologies and to discussions of moral literacy and workarounds within care work by suggesting that the ability to openly judge and question physical and ethical consequences of employing technologies is a valuable competence for care workers and, in addition, that furthering these competences is a challenge for managers and legislators

Impact of depressive symptoms on worklife expectancy:a longitudinal study on Danish employees

Objective Depressive symptoms are associated with sickness absence, work disability and unemployment, but little is known about worklife expectancy (WLE). This study investigates the impact of depressive symptoms on the WLE of a large sample of Danish employees. Methods We used occupational health survey data of 11 967 Danish employees from 2010 and linked them with register data on salary and transfer payments from 2010 to 2015. Depressive symptoms were self-reported using the Major Depression Inventory. We used multistate data and a life table approach with Cox proportional hazard modelling to estimate the WLE of employees, expressed by time in work, unemployment and sickness absence. Separate analyses were conducted for sex and employees with a voluntary early retirement pension scheme. Using age as time axis, we used inverse probability weights to account for differences in educational level, sector, body mass index, smoking habits and loss of employment during sickness absence. Results The WLE of employees reporting depressive symptoms was shorter compared with those not reporting depressive symptoms; that is, the expected time in unemployment and sickness absence was longer, while the expected time in work was shorter. The shorter WLE was most pronounced in women; for example, a 40-year-old woman with depressive symptoms can expect 3.3 years less in work, 0.8 years more in unemployment and 0.7 years more in sickness absence. Employees with a voluntary early retirement pension scheme showed an even lower WLE. Conclusions Our study showed a meaningful impact of depressive symptoms on the WLE of Danish employees using a multistate framework

Influence at Work tied to Materiality in Danish Care Work

Influence at work is known to be an important factor for workers health. Researchers have called for studies on influence at work as a contextualized phenomenon. Based on individual interviews with managers and focus group interviews with employees in three care workplaces, the article shows how the materiality of the work setting ties employees’ influence to perform tasks in both hindering and enabling ways. We show that a work environment where employees’ influence is hindered produces negative experiences in the work environment, while an environment where employees’ influence is enabled produces positive experiences. Additionally, we study how employees influence the material aspects of their workplace.We present a view of influence at work as constituted by materiality and social organization in sociomaterial assemblages. This study reintroduces materiality as a concern in psychosocial work environment research and contributes a sociomaterial view on influence at work and materiality

Bruskin, S. (2021). Mikroforandringer – Et medarbejderblik på organisationsforandringer

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What the covid 19 crisis reveals about distance management of well being

As a consequence of the corona crisis many employees and managers particularly in office and knowledge work became remote workers over night. Previous research has shown that leaders can make a positive impact on the wellbeing of employees. In this article we therefore investigate remote leaders’ experience of their own role and actions aimed at supporting and taking care of the employees’ wellbeing during remote work under pressure from the Covid 19 pandemic. The analytical optics of the article is inspired by literature on emotional labour plus the understanding of the covid19 pandemic as a developer that clarifies and potentially accelerates existing tendencies – also tendencies in work life. On the basis of analyses of 47 interviews with remote leaders conducted during the first months of the pandemic we identify six different management practices through which remote leaders try to support the wellbeing of employees at a distance. In the discussion we debate if employee wellbeing management reflects intensification or blurring of the exploitation aspect of the employer-employee relations or refl ects humanity and compassion.Som konsekvens af coronakrisen blev især medarbejdere og ledere inden for videns- og kontorarbejde distancearbejdere fra den ene dag til den anden. Tidligere forskning har vist, at ledere kan gøre en positiv forskel for medarbejdernes trivsel. Derfor undersøger vi i denne artikel distancelederes oplevelse af egen rolle og konkrete praksisser rettet mod at understøtte og tage hånd om medarbejderes trivsel og mistrivsel på distancen under pres fra pandemien. Artiklens analytiske optik er inspireret af litteraturen om følelsesarbejde samt forståelsen af coronapandemien som en fremkaldervæske, der tydeliggør og potentielt accelererer eksisterende tendenser - herunder tendenser i arbejdslivet. Med afsæt i analyser af 47 interviews med distanceledere gennemført under coronakrisens første måneder identifi cerer vi seks forskellige ledelsespraksisser, hvorigennem distanceledere søger at understøtte medarbejdernes trivsel på distancen. I artiklen reflekterer vi over, hvorvidt de seks ledelsespraksisser er et udtryk for intensivering og samtidig sløring af udbytteforholdet mellem arbejdstager- og arbejdsgiver eller udtryk for etisk medmenneskelighed