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Pre-pandemic research demonstrated the challenges of the nursing workforce and the provision of quality of patient care. Such challenges have been significantly intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, not least in the workplace and fear of staff catching and transmitting COVID-19. We draw on conservation of resources (COR) theory to examine the impact of the fear of COVID-19 on nurses and the role of well-being-HRM (WBHRM) in negating the fear of COVID-19 and its impact on job stress and perceived quality of patient care.

We collected data from 260 nurses (treating COVID-19 patients) employed in US hospitals across two-waves. Data were analyzed using mediated regression and moderated mediation.

The results indicated that when nurses report higher levels of fear of COVID-19, this translates into higher levels of nursing job stress. This, in turn, reduces nurses’ perceptions of quality of patient care they can provide. As previous research has found, decreased perceptions of quality of patient care is a significant factor driving intentions to leave the profession. The results demonstrated that WBHRM practices buffer the negative impact of fear of COVID-19 on job stress, and in turn, the perceived quality of patient care.

Our paper contributes to new knowledge for healthcare managers on WBHRM bundles and their efficacy in buffering the effects of fear on job stress and quality of patient care. We contribute new knowledge on fear at work and how to manage employees’ fear through WBHRM practices.

Aged-care work has become an extreme form of work. Anti-violence HRM, comprising practices to combat workplace violence, is important in an industry with widespread violence. In this paper, we employ social exchange theory to better understand the effect of anti-violence HRM and trust in the manager on perceived nurse and PCA cynicism working in Australian aged care facilities and their subsequent intention to leave.

This study used a mixed method with two stages. Stage 1 comprised semi-structured interviews with 10 managers and 50 nurses and PCAs working in Australian aged care facilities. Stage 2 comprised a survey of nurses and PCAs with a total of 254 completed responses in Time 1 (first wave) and 225 completed responses in Time 2 (second wave).

We tested three hypotheses and reported that interestingly anti-violence HRM was positively associated with organisational cynicism. Organisational cynicism mediated the relationship between anti-violence HRM and intention to leave. Worker trust in the manager moderated the relationship between anti-violence HRM practices and organisational cynicism, such that high levels of trust in the manager increased the effect of anti-violence HRM practices to reduce organisational cynicism and subsequently reduce intention to leave.

We find evidence that in aged care, workers' trust in their managers is critical for effectual anti-violence HRM. We argue that implementation of HRM practices may be more complex in extreme work settings. It is crucial to study HRM in situ and understand the root of social exchange(s) as a foundation for HRM to influence employee attitudes and behaviour.

The purpose of the scoping review is to develop understandings around the high demand for in-home healthcare for the aged and how to find ways to better support declining numbers of in-home care workers and healthcare professionals. The scoping review highlights the role of human resource management (HRM) in this sector.

This scoping review of literature takes a systematic approach to identify themes on the aged care sector and levels of support for in-home care. We map the literature from specific databases to find themes.

It is important for HRM of aged care service providers to understand the key issues around homecare workers and healthcare professionals. There are key issues for stakeholders, such as clients’ health needs, organizations struggling to recruit and retain healthcare workers, and it is critical to know how such issues impact on clients and the healthcare workforce.

There is a dearth of literature on in-home care for the aged, and therefore, we contribute to understandings about the competing pressures surrounding the demand for in-home care versus the declining number of homecare workers and professional healthcare workers in this sector. We highlight the lack of HRM support from aged care providers and the impact on homecare workers.

The purpose of this study is to examine the rostering practices and work experiences of medical scientists at four health services in the Australian public healthcare sector. There are over 16,000 medical scientists (AIHW, 2019) in Australia responsible for carrying out pathology testing to help save the lives of thousands of patients every day. However, there are systemic shortages of medical scientists largely due to erratic rostering practices and workload issues. The purpose of this paper is to integrate evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM), the LAMP model and HR analytics to enhance line manager decision-making on rostering to support the wellbeing of medical scientists.

Using a qualitative methodological approach, the authors conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with managers/directors and nine focus groups with 53 medical scientists, making a total 74 participants from four large public hospitals in Australia.

Across four health services, manual systems of rostering and management decisions do not meet the requirements of the enterprise agreement (EA) and impact negatively on the wellbeing of medical scientists in pathology services. The authors found no evidence of the systematic approach of the organisations and line managers to implement the LAMP model to understand the root causes of rostering challenges and negative impact on employees. Moreover, there was no evidence of sophisticated use of HR analytics or EBHRM to support line managers' decision-making regarding mitigation of rostering related challenges such as absenteeism and employee turnover.

The authors contribute to HRM theory by integrating EBHRM, the LAMP model (Boudreau and Ramstad, 2007) and HR analytics to inform line management decision-making. The authors advance understandings of how EBHRM incorporating the LAMP model and HR analytics can provide a systematic and robust process for line managers to make informed decisions underpinned by data.

This study examines the management rostering systems that inform the ways medical scientists are allocated their work in the public healthcare sector in Australia. Promoting the contributions of medical scientists should be a priority given the important roles they are performing in relation to COVID-19 and the demand for medical testing doubling their workloads (COVID-19 National Incident Room Surveillance Team, 2020). This study examines the impact of work on medical scientists and rostering in a context of uncertain work conditions, budget restraints and technological change that ultimately affect the quality of patient care. This study utilises the Job-Demands-Resources theoretical framework (JD-R) to examine the various job demands on medical scientists and the resources available to them.

Using a qualitative methodological approach, this study conducted 23 semi-structured interviews with managers and trade union officials and 9 focus groups with 53 medical scientists, making a total 76 participants from four large public hospitals.

Due to increasing demands for pathology services, this study demonstrates that a lack of job resources, staff shortages, poor rostering practices such as increased workloads that lead to absenteeism, often illegible handwritten changes to rosters and ineffectual management lead to detrimental consequences for medical scientists’ job stress and well-being. Moreover, medical science work is hidden and not fully understood and often not respected by other clinicians, hospital management or the public. These factors have contributed to medical scientists’ lack of control over their work and causes job stress and burnout. Despite this, medical scientists use their personal resources to buffer the effects of excessive workloads and deliver high quality of patient care.

Findings suggest that developing mechanisms to promote sustainable employment practices for medical scientists are critical for the escalating demands in pathology.

Paramedics have played a critical role in the health care system response to the COVID-19 pandemic as frontline responders. However, in comparison to other health care workers (i.e. nurses), less research has been conducted on how paramedic work has been undertaken and how they manage their resources in the context of high workloads. This study examines several factors that deplete paramedic resources as well as the importance of family support in buffering the effects of low levels of resilience that can impact paramedic intention to leave and promotive voice.

Data were collected from 648 paramedics employed by Ambulance Victoria, Australia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine five hypotheses: (1) resilience mediates the relationship between role overload and intention to leave; (2) resilience mediates the relationship between role overload and promotive voice; (3) family support moderates the relationship between role overload and resilience; (4) family support moderates the indirect effect of role overload on intention to leave via resilience and (5) family support moderates the indirect effect of role overload on promotive voice via resilience.

We found that when family support was low, the impact of role overload on turnover intention via resilience was significant. When family support was low, the negative impact of role overload on promotive voice via resilience was significant. When family support was high, such a negative indirect effect was not significant in predicting employee promotive voice via resilience.

We suggest that organisations should focus human resource management (HRM) policies and practices on family-friendly initiatives to further enhance family support resources to benefit individuals, families and organisations.

Our findings demonstrate the importance of family support as a buffer to the negative effects of role overload on employee resilience and promotive voice. There is clear importance of the contextual elements of family support as a resource, and its absence may result in resource depletion and can act as a catalyst in a resource depletion spiral. This demonstrates the importance of organisations understanding and learning to utilise external resources to complement organisational and individual resources to reduce intention to leave and support promotive employee voice. We suggest that organisations should focus HRM policies and practices on family-friendly initiatives to further enhance family support resources to benefit individuals, families and organisations.

The purpose of the article is to examine the experiences of workers with intellectual disability (WWID) and subtle discriminatory practices that hold these workers back from thriving at the workplace.

The research design employs the Shore et al. (2011) framework of inclusion supported by optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT) (Brewer, 1991). These theoretical frames are used to examine the potential for WWID to become members of a work group and experience the opportunity to develop their unique selves, negotiate and thrive through their work for purposeful career outcomes. A qualitative case study approach was adopted through interviews and focus groups with a total of 91 participants: 41 WWID, 5 human resource (HR) managers, 5 duty/department managers (DMs), 24 colleagues and 16 supervisors.

The authors found that enhancing inclusion is underpinned by the positive impact of human resource management (HRM) practices and line management support for WWID feelings of belongingness and uniqueness that enable them to thrive through their work activities. The authors demonstrate that WWID need manager support and positive social interactions to increase their learning and vitality for work to embrace opportunities for growth. However, when WWID do not have these conditions, there are fewer opportunities for them to thrive at the workplace.

There is a need for formal HRM and management support and inclusive organisational interventions to mitigate discriminatory practices and better support WWID at work. There is an opportunity for HRM to design training and development around belongingness and uniqueness for this cohort of workers to maximise WWID opportunities to thrive through their work.

This study examines a cohort of WWID who are often forgotten and subtly discriminated against more so than other minority or vulnerable cohorts in the workplace, especially in terms of their development and reaching their full potential at work, which has an impact on their ability to thrive through their work. The paper makes an innovative contribution to the HRM literature through unpacking the processes through which Shore et al.'s (2011) conceptualisation of belongingness and uniqueness contributes to thriving for a marginalised and often overlooked cohort of workers.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Researchers have demonstrated the inefficiency of antiquated rostering practices, which often use pen and paper, in Australian health services. They made the case for a modern approach integrating evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM), the LAMP model – an acronym referring to Logic, Analytics, Measurement, and Process, and HR analytics.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.