Exploring well-being at work - An interview study on how IT professionals perceive their workplace

The workplace is particularly important for promoting well-being at work and general life satisfaction, as performing a professional activity can be perceived as satisfying and motivating. In addition, employment opens up opportunities for individual development that employees may be perceived as fulfilling. By conducting an interview study with IT professionals of a German medium-sized company, we investigate which factors of the individual work environment are perceived as conducive to the performance of everyday job duties and thus increase well-being at work. Furthermore, we analyze the extent to which participants are satisfied with the implementation of the factors that are important to them, whether socio-demographic differences are relevant, and whether the perception of the work environment has an effect on employees' commitment. Results show that interpersonal factors in particular are considered to be important in everyday working life. About individual factors, a mixed picture emerged, whereby sociodemographic differences play only a minor role. Furthermore, there are indications of a positive relationship between the perception of the work environment and the IT professionals' commitment. In-depth analysis of the employee statements helps to determine which aspects of the work environment should be implemented, developed, or promoted. In the long term, this can support individual learning and development paths and generates a work environment that sustainably promotes employees' well-being at work and fosters long-term employment relationships

Employee perspective on well-being at work – An interview study

Strong growth rates and shortage of skilled professionals have led to an excess demand for trained and experienced specialists in the IT sector. In order to prevent the emergence of a competence gap, and thereby, to ensure the organisations long-term competitiveness, two strategies seem to be promising: Fostering employees’ well-being at work can reduce turnover intention and simultaneously improves job satisfaction (Wright & Bonett, 2016). In addition, communicating the organisation’s benefits through an attractive employer brand could help to promote recruiting success and retention of employees (Wilden, Gudergan, & Lings, 2010). Over the long term, both strategies could increase employees’ job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Against this background, our research project aims to identify employees’ feel-good factors at work (RQ 1). Furthermore, it will be investigated whether personal constructs influ-ence employees’ individual relevance for personal well-being in the workplace (RQ 2). The research project is currently being carried out in cooperation with a SME operating in the IT sector. We are going to carry out expert interviews (N = 60), and the use of an interview guideline ensures standardi-sation of the process. In order to cover crucial factors relevant for job satisfaction and organizational com-mitment (RQ 1), comprehensive research led to three categories: organizational characteristics, job charac-teristics, and social relationships (Hackman & Oldham, 1974; Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959; Koopmans et al., 2012). By asking open questions, participants should be encouraged to name various as-pects of each of the three categories. Afterwards, an individual ranking of the before-mentioned aspects serves to gain insights about their personal relevance. To investigate RQ 2, we asked for different facets of agency, psychological capital and psychological safety, since they correlate positively with well-being, job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Frazier, Fainshmidt, Klinger, Pezeshkan, & Vracheva, 2017; Goller, 2017; Gruman & Saks, 2013). Finally, the inter-view ends with a global assessment of organizational commitment (Klein, Cooper, Molloy, & Swanson, 2014). The instrument’s comprehensibility and practicability was tested in a pre-test. Data analysis is based on a standardized coding system, which covers the three categories from the inter-view guideline. Furthermore, it includes codes to encode the above-mentioned relevant personal con-structs. Since the interviews are going to be conducted from the end of February until the end of March 2018, findings are not available at submission date but are expected by the end of May 2018. This provides the opportunity to discuss data analysis on individual-level on the one hand as well as further analyses on group-level. This could be followed by discussing the correlation of leadership and industry-specific aspects on employees’ well-being, since empirical evidence of these issues is lacking (Frazier et al., 2017). Apart from that, the findings can serve to develop individual onboarding strategies and work designs as well as to create a meaningful employer brand, in order to recruit and retain organisations’ employees as a decisive competitive factor

Employee perspective on well-being at work – An interview study

Strong growth rates and shortage of skilled professionals have led to an excess demand for trained and experienced specialists in the IT sector. In order to prevent the emergence of a competence gap, and thereby, to ensure the organisations long-term competitiveness, two strategies seem to be promising: Fostering employees’ well-being at work can reduce turnover intention and simultaneously improves job satisfaction (Wright & Bonett, 2016). In addition, communicating the organisation’s benefits through an attractive employer brand could help to promote recruiting success and retention of employees (Wilden, Gudergan, & Lings, 2010). Over the long term, both strategies could increase employees’ job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Against this background, our research project aims to identify employees’ feel-good factors at work (RQ 1). Furthermore, it will be investigated whether personal constructs influ-ence employees’ individual relevance for personal well-being in the workplace (RQ 2). The research project is currently being carried out in cooperation with a SME operating in the IT sector. We are going to carry out expert interviews (N = 60), and the use of an interview guideline ensures standardi-sation of the process. In order to cover crucial factors relevant for job satisfaction and organizational com-mitment (RQ 1), comprehensive research led to three categories: organizational characteristics, job charac-teristics, and social relationships (Hackman & Oldham, 1974; Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959; Koopmans et al., 2012). By asking open questions, participants should be encouraged to name various as-pects of each of the three categories. Afterwards, an individual ranking of the before-mentioned aspects serves to gain insights about their personal relevance. To investigate RQ 2, we asked for different facets of agency, psychological capital and psychological safety, since they correlate positively with well-being, job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Frazier, Fainshmidt, Klinger, Pezeshkan, & Vracheva, 2017; Goller, 2017; Gruman & Saks, 2013). Finally, the inter-view ends with a global assessment of organizational commitment (Klein, Cooper, Molloy, & Swanson, 2014). The instrument’s comprehensibility and practicability was tested in a pre-test. Data analysis is based on a standardized coding system, which covers the three categories from the inter-view guideline. Furthermore, it includes codes to encode the above-mentioned relevant personal con-structs. Since the interviews are going to be conducted from the end of February until the end of March 2018, findings are not available at submission date but are expected by the end of May 2018. This provides the opportunity to discuss data analysis on individual-level on the one hand as well as further analyses on group-level. This could be followed by discussing the correlation of leadership and industry-specific aspects on employees’ well-being, since empirical evidence of these issues is lacking (Frazier et al., 2017). Apart from that, the findings can serve to develop individual onboarding strategies and work designs as well as to create a meaningful employer brand, in order to recruit and retain organisations’ employees as a decisive competitive factor

A spell dwells in every beginning: Onboarding as knabler for professional development

In order to enable employees’ successful integration into a new work environment, it is necessary to impart company-specific knowledge, new skills as well as cultural and social aspects. By well designing learning processes of the onboarding phase, individual socialization and professional development can be promoted. Guideline-based interviews will be used to examine how employees perceive onboarding practices, what entry barriers they fear, and to what extent onboarding can contribute to employees’ career development. Initial results show that employees—according to self-reports—only perceive a small number of practices that are planned by the company. In addition, the practices are not consistently assessed as beneficial. Rather, barriers are mentioned which none of the practices are tailored to overcome

A spell dwells in every beginning: Onboarding as enabler for professional development

In order to enable employees’ successful integration into a new work environment, it is necessary to impart company-specific knowledge, new skills as well as cultural and social aspects. By well designing learning processes of the onboarding phase, individual socialization and professional development can be promoted. Guideline-based interviews will be used to examine how employees perceive onboarding practices, what entry barriers they fear, and to what extent onboarding can contribute to employees’ career development. Initial results show that employees—according to self-reports—only perceive a small number of practices that are planned by the company. In addition, the practices are not consistently assessed as beneficial. Rather, barriers are mentioned which none of the practices are tailored to overcome

Vocational education and training in Germany: Benefits and drawbacks of the dual approach as preparation for professional employment

Employees increasingly need to keep pace with the dynamics of the labor market to be professionally successful in the long term. This requires flexibility in shaping one’s employment biography by continuously adapting one’s skills portfolio to the current labor market conditions. 21st century skills are becoming increasingly important in this context. In addition, risk management, as well as planning and organizational skills, are also required of employees. Since not everyone has these skills per se, the vocational training system can be seen as jointly responsible for preparing future employees for these work-related requirements. In Germany, training companies and the state pursue a cooperative approach that has become established for the majority of training occupations. In the German dual system, apprentices complete both practical phases at a training company and theoretical phases at a vocational school. By linking these two elements, apprentices can gain practical experience and at the same time acquire in-depth theoretical knowledge to make the best possible use of the opportunities to learn offered by both learning sites. The development of the dual system to date, however, raises doubts as to whether a fundamental shift is underway here away from a holistic vocational qualification that also includes the trainees’ personal development and toward a system geared one-sidedly to the usability of competencies on the labor market. Against this background, it will be discussed whether the German system of dual vocational training can prepare trainees for the requirements of their future workplace. To this end, the extent to which the dual system fosters successful transitions from training to working life will be examined. Furthermore, it will be discussed whether the dual approach is suitable for the acquisition of vocational competencies and how uniform quality standards can be ensured

Finding your feet in the new job: How onboarding can support the integration of newcomers

In the course of changing employers, new hires strive for professional and social integration and try to fit into the new cultural environment. To support this process of organizational socialization and to promote the professional development of newcomers, employers offer onboarding practices. Guideline-based interviews are used to examine the extent to which new employees experience these onboarding practices as conducive to their start with the new employer. Initial results show that, in addition to formalized onboarding practices, participants identify a number of other factors that have helped them to get started. Moreover, the participants are well aware that they are a decisive factor for the success of organizational socialization