This article examines experiments with shorter working hours in Finnish municipalities between 1996 and 1998. The article focuses on the effects of different working time…
Abstract
This article examines experiments with shorter working hours in Finnish municipalities between 1996 and 1998. The article focuses on the effects of different working time experiments on employees (work ability), on working units (quality of services) and substitutes recruited during the experiments. The results indicate that shorter working hours reduce job exhaustion, with respect to both 6‐hour shifts and other forms of reduced hours. The participants reported positive changes the quality and availability of services, especially in the case of 6‐hour shifts. In addition, during the experiment, new employees (substitutes) reported improved chances to obtain work in the future; after the experiment, however, only small a proportion of these employees were able to procure a new job. The analysis was based on three kinds of questionnaire data. First, in the three municipalities (Jyväskylä, Naantali and Espoo) — supported by the European Social Fund (ESF) — three‐phased panel data included 75 experimental and 42 control group participants. The second set of data was gathered in the other 14 municipalities implementing different working time experiments with a two‐phased questionnaire (panel data without control groups, n = 567). The third set of data included new employees (substitutes) recruited during the experiment in the three ESF municipalities and in Saarijärvi (n = 66).
Satu Ojala, Jouko Nätti and Timo Anttila
– The authors aim to compare how formal flexibility, such as telework, differs from informal overtime work at home regarding the work-family interface.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors aim to compare how formal flexibility, such as telework, differs from informal overtime work at home regarding the work-family interface.
Design/methodology/approach
By using data from the Finnish Quality of Work Life Surveys from 2003 and 2008, the positive and negative measures concerning the work-family interface are examined through logistic regression analysis.
Findings
Employees doing informal overtime at home are more likely to be affected by negative emotions concerning work disrupting family lives. Additionally, negotiations between couples over the allocation of time become areas of conflict. Only weak evidence is provided for both telework and informal work at home supporting family life.
Research limitations/implications
In studying homeworking, it is important to separate between formal and informal flexibility at work. The data exceptionally enable that. The limitations of the data are cross-sectionality and only a few measures for assessing the positive work-family interface.
Originality/value
The contribution of the study is to show how informal overtime at home is related with stronger negative implications for work-family interface, when separated from telework. The article discusses how well-intentioned working schedule flexibility results in family life being infringed upon. Informal work may help attain a better work-family interface, but, with dual-earner employment being predominant in Finland, informal overtime work can increase pressures on families. The authors encourage the policy- and organisation-level recognition of informal overtime risks.
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Keywords
Ulla Kinnunen, Anne Mäkikangas, Saija Mauno, Katri Siponen and Jouko Nätti
The purpose of the present study is to examine how perceived employability relates to job exhaustion, psychological symptoms and self‐rated job performance in involuntary and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the present study is to examine how perceived employability relates to job exhaustion, psychological symptoms and self‐rated job performance in involuntary and voluntary temporary employees compared to permanent employees.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a cross‐sectional design using a sample of university teachers and researchers (n=1,014) from two Finnish universities. Of the sample, 40 percent (n=408) are permanent employees, 49 percent (n=495) involuntary and 11 percent (n=111) voluntary temporary employees. Most respondents (54 percent) have education above a Master's degree, the average age is 43 years, and 58 percent are women.
Findings
The results of general linear model analyses show that perceived employability promotes favorable outcomes among all respondents. However, the negative relationship between perceived employability and job exhaustion and psychological symptoms is stronger among voluntary than among involuntary temporary employees.
Originality/value
The study indicates that although perceived employability seems to be important to all employees, involuntary temporary employees benefit least from high perceived employability in terms of individual well‐being.
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Sakari Taipale, Kirsikka Selander, Timo Anttila and Jouko Nätti
The purpose of this paper is to examine the level and predictors of work engagement among service sector employees in eight European countries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the level and predictors of work engagement among service sector employees in eight European countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The work seeks to discover if job demands and resources, i.e. job autonomy and social support, affect work engagement in differing ways in different countries when socio‐demographical variables and work‐related factors are controlled. The study is based on a statistical analysis of survey data from Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the UK in 2007 (n=7,867). The data represent four economic sectors: retail trade, finance and banking, telecoms and public hospitals.
Findings
The results show that the level of work engagement varies not only between countries but also between those four economic sectors within each country. Additionally, the findings indicate that demands decrease work engagement, while autonomy and support increase it. Although the effects are mainly the same across the countries, the article also points out some exceptions in this regard.
Originality/value
Although the paper is built upon established theories about job demands and autonomy, it uses a newer work engagement approach, produces cross‐national knowledge about work engagement and its predictors. Cross‐national approaches to work engagement are still rare.