Employees’ Financial Insecurity and Health: The Underlying Role of Stress and Work–Family Conflict Appraisals

Data from two longitudinal samples were utilized to elucidate underlying mechanisms of the well‐established relationship between financial insecurity and health outcomes, stemming from the theoretical rationale of conservation of resources and cognitive appraisal theories. Study 1 (n = 80) consisted of low‐wage food manufacturing employees working full time, while Study 2 (n = 331) was consisted of a larger, heterogeneous sample of full‐time workers representing multiple occupations. Respondents were surveyed on financial insecurity, work‐to‐family conflict (WFC), stress, and health outcomes at two time periods, 3 months apart. Results across our studies provided support for the direct effects of financial insecurity on WFC and stress. In addition, appraisals of WFC and stress serve as significant mediators of the relationship between financial insecurity and health outcomes, including a significant overall lagged effect across time, and perceived stress accounting for the largest proportion of variance in the lagged relationship among Time 1 financial insecurity and Time 2 health outcomes. Besides support for conservation of resources and cognitive appraisal theories, practically, our studies suggest that workplace initiatives to reduce financial insecurity could positively influence employees’ work–family, stress, and health experiences

From Compliance to Impact: Tracing the Transformation of an Organizational Security Awareness Program

There is a growing recognition of the need for a transformation from organizational security awareness programs focused on compliance -- measured by training completion rates -- to those resulting in behavior change. However, few prior studies have begun to unpack the organizational practices of the security awareness teams tasked with executing program transformation. We conducted a year-long case study of a security awareness program in a United States (U.S.) government agency, collecting data via field observations, interviews, and documents. Our findings reveal the challenges and practices involved in the progression of a security awareness program from being compliance-focused to emphasizing impact on workforce attitudes and behaviors. We uniquely capture transformational organizational security awareness practices in action via a longitudinal study involving multiple workforce perspectives. Our study insights can serve as a resource for other security awareness programs and workforce development initiatives aimed at better defining the security awareness work role

Effects of Multiple Job Holding on the Work-Life Balance

Multiple job holding is a significant feature of the contemporary New Zealand labour market, with at least one in ten people actively involved in the workforce holding more than one job at a time. Research into the effects of multiple job holding on the lives of workers in three sectors shows there can be considerable impact on their work-life balance. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with male and female health professional, farmers, and cafe or restaurant workers. The research shows that multiple job holding is comparatively well established in the agriculture and health sectors, with multiple job holders expecting to remain as such for the longer term. While multiple job holding may be equally established in the cafe and restaurant sector, the multiple jobs holders do not generally expect to remain so for long so the multiple job holding appears more transitional. Multiple job holders, who typically work long hours, are motivated by a range of factors, with economic reasons dominating. However, personal factors and pulling together a portfolio of work are also important. Overall, workers interviewed in the three sectors tend to hold their jobs because they want to rather than because they have to. Nevertheless, multiple job holding affects lives outside work, particularly family activities, participation in leisure and exercise, and community involvement. These effects on work-life balance vary by sector

Chapter 2 SHAPING ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATES TO DEVELOP AND LEVERAGE WORKFORCE NEURODIVERSITY

Chapter 2 explores how organizations can bolster their workplace inclusion in ways that consider the natural variation in human neurocognitive functioning to provide altered workplace environments that leverage the strengths of all employees. Entitled Shaping Organizational Climates to Develop and Leverage Workforce Neurodiversity, by Sabrina Volpone, Derek Avery, and Julie Wayne, the authors ask why “instead of placing the unnecessary burden on neurodivergent individuals, what if workplaces altered their environments so that all employees - including those who are neurodivergent- could easily apply their strengths at work?” Throughout the chapter, the authors discuss how neurotypical norms have dominated human resource management practices for so long that there is a crucial need to critically analyze these norms and establish new norms if we are going to be able to support neurodivergent applicants and employees. The response offered by these authors is to closely examine all facets of the employment process in light of the role of climate in considering neurodiversity in the workplace. This is accomplished by an initial discussion of the role of psychological climates and their role in supporting neurodiversity in organizations

The Most Southerly Record of a Stranded Bowhead Whale, Balaena mysticetus, from the Western North Atlantic Ocean

An immature female bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) was discovered stranded dead at Witless Bay Point, just south of Mobile Point (47°14' 68.00"N, 52°47' 90.00"W) on the southern shore of the Avalon Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) on 15 April 2005. This is the second bowhead found stranded dead in Newfoundland in seven years. The first, also an immature female, was discovered in a fjord in northeastern Newfoundland near Rattling Brook (49°40' N, 56°10' W) in October 1998. These animals represent the only bowhead whales known to have been sighted, alive or stranded dead, in waters around the island of Newfoundland. Some possible causes of the death of this most recent animal are discussed, including chronic inflammation of the vertebrae and the associated locomotive difficulties.Le 15 avril 2005, on a trouvé un baleineau boréal femelle (Balaena mysticetus) en détresse morte à Witless Bay Point, juste au sud de Mobile Point (47°14' 68.00"N, 52°47' 90.00"O), sur la côte sud de la presqu’île Avalon de l’île de Terre-Neuve (Terre-Neuve et Labrador, Canada). Il s’agissait de la deuxième baleine boréale retrouvée en détresse à Terre-Neuve en sept ans. La première, également une jeune femelle, avait été trouvée dans un fjord du nord-est de Terre-Neuve, près de Rattling Brook (49°40' N, 56°10' O) en octobre 1998. Il s’agit des seules baleines boréales à n’avoir jamais été repérées, vivantes ou mortes, dans les eaux entourant l’île de Terre-Neuve. Certaines des causes possibles de la mort récente de ce baleineau sont abordées ici, dont une inflammation chronique des vertèbres et les troubles locomoteurs qui en découlent

Chapter 2 SHAPING ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATES TO DEVELOP AND LEVERAGE WORKFORCE NEURODIVERSITY

Chapter 2 explores how organizations can bolster their workplace inclusion in ways that consider the natural variation in human neurocognitive functioning to provide altered workplace environments that leverage the strengths of all employees. Entitled Shaping Organizational Climates to Develop and Leverage Workforce Neurodiversity, by Sabrina Volpone, Derek Avery, and Julie Wayne, the authors ask why “instead of placing the unnecessary burden on neurodivergent individuals, what if workplaces altered their environments so that all employees - including those who are neurodivergent- could easily apply their strengths at work?” Throughout the chapter, the authors discuss how neurotypical norms have dominated human resource management practices for so long that there is a crucial need to critically analyze these norms and establish new norms if we are going to be able to support neurodivergent applicants and employees. The response offered by these authors is to closely examine all facets of the employment process in light of the role of climate in considering neurodiversity in the workplace. This is accomplished by an initial discussion of the role of psychological climates and their role in supporting neurodiversity in organizations