scholarly journals Remote Working in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results From a Questionnaire on the Perceived Noise Annoyance

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Emma Puglisi ◽  
Sonja Di Blasio ◽  
Louena Shtrepi ◽  
Arianna Astolfi
Keyword(s):  
Home Environment ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Subjective Perception ◽  
Living Room ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Noise Annoyance ◽  
And Performance

Noisiness in the working environment was largely proved to have effects on the working activity and performance. To limit the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first wave between March and May 2020, Italian workers had massively started performing remote working. Insights on the subjective perception of noise annoyance under the remote working settings were thus necessary. Workers from a university and from several large and small Italian companies, resulting in 1,934 participants overall, answered to a questionnaire on the perception of noise annoyance in the remote working environment. A total of 57% of the responding workers stated to be sensitive to noise. The questionnaire was delivered online; data were recorded anonymously and then aggregated for statistical analyses. Results show that 55% of the workers perform their activity in an isolated room of the home environment, 43% in a shared room (e.g., kitchen, living room), and 2% in an outdoor space, with the majority of workers (57%) performing activity without other people in the environment. Among the noise sources investigated, 25% of workers recognize the noise generated by people (e.g., talking, moving, calling, listening to music) as the main source of disturbance. The negative consequences of noise annoyance during the remote working hours are mainly related to a loss of concentration and to a difficulty in relaxing. Furthermore, workers reported to get easily irritated by noise generated from the neighborhoods or from the housemates as it tends to distract from finishing a task.

scholarly journals Safe working hours - doctors in training a best practice issue

2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Safe Working

In 1995,the Australian Medical Association launched its Safe Working Hours campaign. By 1998,this had been developed into a National Code of Conduct that continues to resonate in the Australian public health system. However, and particularly in respect of Doctors in Training (DITs) who continue to work long hours, there are levels of resistance to proposals that seek to re-organise work or change prevailing professional and cultural expectations.Long working hours have substantial impacts on a DIT's capacity to consistently deliver high quality patient care, dilute the effectiveness of their training regime and have negative consequences on their health, social life and family responsibilities. While public hospitals often maintain the view that minimal budget flexibility restricts their capacity to affect change in a positive way, in fact devisable productivity and efficiency gains can be achieved by reducing working hours. Further, the medical profession needs to consider whether long hours provide an optimal environment for quality learning and performance.

The impact of long working hours on the health of German employees

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 217-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grit Müller ◽  
Anita Tisch ◽  
Anne Marit Wöhrmann
Keyword(s):  
Working Hours ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Long Working Hours ◽  
Psychosomatic Health ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Future Work ◽  
The Impact

Excessive working hours have negative consequences for employees’ health. Looking deeper into this problem, this article examines how employers’ needs for more intense working or more flexible working hours affect their employees’ psychosomatic health. A German representative survey of 13,452 full-time employees found that long working hours, work intensity (deadline and performance pressure) and flexibility requirements (permanent availability, changes in working hours) were significantly related to psychosomatic health complaints. When considering future work design and practices, these findings show which unfavourable working conditions are to be avoided to maintain the psychosomatic health of employees.

scholarly journals The organization of working hours of selected employee categories in Czech businesses

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (211) ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
Hana Urbancová ◽  
Miroslava Navrátilová
Keyword(s):  
Senior Citizens ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
And Performance

In the current dynamic working environment, the adaptation of working hours is an important instrument for supporting the work and performance of all groups of employees. It also serves as an instrument that encourages their identification with the company. The aim of this article is to identify and evaluate the utilization of individual methods of work organization among selected groups of employees in Czech companies across the gamut of the business sector. The analysed data comes from a quantitative questionnairebased survey (n=315). The results show that in the Czech companies, flexitime is most frequent among regular employees (51.7%) and graduates up to 30 years old (24.1%). A reduced work schedule is most frequently used by mothers with children and senior citizens (41.3%, 27%) and as part-time work among students (41%). The use of flexible working hours is an instrument of diversity management and builds the company brand through enlisting the cooperation of different groups of employees.

The Relationship between Working Environment and Internship Satisfaction Level: A Case Study Of A 4-Star Hotel Restaurant In Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 276-291
Author(s):  
Chatarina Natalia Putri
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
The Other ◽  
Satisfaction Level ◽  
Supervisory Support ◽  
Support Organization ◽  
The Relationship

There are many factors that can lead to internship satisfaction. Working environment is one of the factors that will result to such outcome. However, many organizations discarded the fact of its importance. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a significant relationship between working environment and internship satisfaction level as well as to determine whether the dimensions of working environment significantly affect internship satisfaction. The said dimensions are, learning opportunities, supervisory support, career development opportunities, co-workers support, organization satisfaction, working hours and esteem needs. A total of 111 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and were processed by SPSS program to obtain the result of this study. The results reveal that learning opportunities, career development opportunities, organization satisfaction and esteem needs are factors that contribute to internship satisfaction level. In the other hand, supervisory support, co-workers support and working hours are factors that lead to internship dissatisfaction. The result also shows that organization satisfaction is the strongest factor that affects internship satisfaction while co-workers support is the weakest.

Entrepreneurs and Burnout. How Hardy Pesonality works in this process

2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412199697
Author(s):  
Laura Quiun ◽  
Marta Herrero ◽  
Maria del Carmen Yeo Ayala ◽  
Bernardo Moreno-Jiménez
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Burnout Syndrome ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Occupational Factors ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Background Considering the importance of entrepreneurship and the impact of burnout on workers’ health, this study aims to explore the presence of burnout in entrepreneurs and the interaction of hardy personality (HP) in this process. Method The sample included 255 Spanish entrepreneurs. Occupational factors, working hours, labour immersion, HP, burnout syndrome (i.e. Emotional exhaustion, Depersonalization and Lack of accomplishment) and burnout consequences were assessed. Results Descriptive analysis showed that entrepreneurs had low levels of occupational factors, burnout syndrome and consequences. Hierarchical regression exploratory results indicated that working hours, labour immersion, and Emotional exhaustion were the most relevant predictors of the consequences. Besides, mediation models with PROCESS macro (v.3.0) highlighted the indirect effect of occupational factors and showed that emotional exhaustion was the only component of burnout that mediated in between the predictors and the consequences. As well, HP moderated the relationship between occupational factors and emotional exhaustion. Conclusions Occupational factors are the main predictor of burnout in entrepreneurs and HP could prevent their effect on Emotional exhaustion. The results suggest the importance of training to promote HP for better health and performance of entrepreneurs.

scholarly journals Lower Noise Annoyance Associated with GIS-Derived Greenspace: Pathways through Perceived Greenspace and Residential Noise

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel M. Dzhambov ◽  
Iana Markevych ◽  
Boris Tilov ◽  
Zlatoslav Arabadzhiev ◽  
Drozdstoj Stoyanov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Noise Level ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Noise Abatement ◽  
Noise Annoyance ◽  
Lower Noise

Growing amounts of evidence support an association between self-reported greenspace near the home and lower noise annoyance; however, objectively defined greenspace has rarely been considered. In the present study, we tested the association between objective measures of greenspace and noise annoyance, with a focus on underpinning pathways through noise level and perceived greenspace. We sampled 720 students aged 18 to 35 years from the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Objective greenspace was defined by several Geographic Information System (GIS)-derived metrics: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), tree cover density, percentage of green space in circular buffers of 100, 300 and 500 m, and the Euclidean distance to the nearest structured green space. Perceived greenspace was defined by the mean of responses to five items asking about its quantity, accessibility, visibility, usage, and quality. We assessed noise annoyance due to transportation and other neighborhood noise sources and daytime noise level (Lday) at the residence. Tests of the parallel mediation models showed that higher NDVI and percentage of green space in all buffers were associated with lower noise annoyance, whereas for higher tree cover this association was observed only in the 100 m buffer zone. In addition, the effects of NDVI and percentage of green space were mediated by higher perceived greenspace and lower Lday. In the case of tree cover, only perceived greenspace was a mediator. Our findings suggest that the potential for greenspace to reduce noise annoyance extends beyond noise abatement. Applying a combination of GIS-derived and perceptual measures should enable researchers to better tap individuals’ experience of residential greenspace and noise.

Comment on Cameron and Cameron (2002): “Children of Homosexual Parents Report Childhood Difficulties”

2002 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-332
Author(s):  
Lowell L. Brubaker
Keyword(s):  
Home Environment ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Childhood Difficulties

Cameron and Cameron's reanalysis of published data in 2002 indicates children being raised in a home environment with at least one homosexual parent report some negative consequences. However, a closer look at the information presented suggests (especially in the absence of control groups) that the negative consequences documented do not constitute major psychological trauma. Rather, they are more in the nature of the teasing and bullying that plagues any child who comes from a home that may be atypical in any fashion.

scholarly journals Toward a dynamic model of Gelotophobia: Social support, workplace bullying and stress are connected with diverging trajectories of life and job satisfaction among Gelotophobes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willibald Ruch ◽  
Alexander G. Stahlmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Work Stress ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Workplace Bullying ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Dynamic Framework ◽  
And Performance

Abstract Recent theoretical advances have grounded gelotophobia (Greek: gelos = laughter, phobos = fear) in a dynamic framework of causes, moderating factors, and consequences of the fear of being laughed at. This understanding corresponds to that of vulnerability and translates gelotophobia into a distinguishable pattern of lacking resources (i.e., misinterpretation of joy and laughter) that can result in negative consequences (e.g., reduced well-being and performance) if individuals have no access to further resources (e.g., social support) or are exposed to severe stressors (e.g., workplace bullying). Based on the panel data provided by the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES (N = 2469 across six measurement intervals), this study takes the first step toward empirically testing this model’s assumptions: First, we computed exemplary zero-order correlations and showed that gelotophobia was negatively connected with social support (resource) and life and job satisfaction (consequences) and positively connected with perceived stress, work stress, and workplace bullying (stressors). Second, we used longitudinal cluster analyses (KmL; k-means-longitudinal) and showed that the panel data can be clustered into three stable patterns of life and job satisfaction and that gelotophobia is primarily related to the two clusters marked by lower levels of satisfaction. Third, we computed partial correlations and showed that social support, perceived stress, and work stress (but not workplace bullying) can weaken or completely resolve gelotophobia’s relationships with such diverging trajectories of life and job satisfaction. We concluded that seeing gelotophobia through the lens of vulnerability is useful and that such research warrants further attention using more dedicated, theoretically grounded projects.

scholarly journals Organizational culture and its impact on the behavior and performance of employees: الثقافة التنظيمية و أثرها على سلوك و أداء الموظفين

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Ahmed Bakthir
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Open Door Policy ◽  
Administrative Authority ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Employees Satisfaction ◽  
And Performance ◽  
High Level ◽  
High Degree

The study aimed to identify the type of organizational culture among managers and department heads of United Sugar Company in Jeddah and its impact on the performance of employees. In addition to diagnose the staff and management understanding of the organizational culture role in improving the overall performance of the company. The study sample consisted of (17) managers and (141) employees from all departments within the United Sugar Company. The researcher used the study tool represented by two questioners, one for managers and the other for staff. Answers samples were treated statistically using the statistical analysis software SPSS. Approach that the researcher used was descriptive analytical approach, which describes the nature of the theoretical and field study. The researcher was able to reach managers’ answers results, represented by the diversity of the study sample in terms of organisational rank, qualifications, experience and age. Results indicated the presence of a degree of neutrality in giving managers a mandate administrative authority over employees. It was shown in the study the presence of margin of freedom for employees to express their opinions, however it was not in the required level. The study also shown that the administration involves staff in the development of current and future plans for the company with a high degree, also managers encourage staff to propose alternatives and scientific solutions to problems they face. Awareness demonstrated by staff and managers towards work policies and regulations indicates a good organizational culture. It was found also that managers contribute to modernizing the working environment and identify their needs in modern scientific ways and they encourage team work spirit within employees to create a healthy organizational culture while not afraid of pressure groups since they have a high level of organizational culture. Interest in transferring expertise from outside the company is evidence on the capacity of their organizational culture. The high degree employees’ satisfaction represents the drive to believe in the culture of the organization. The study recommended the need to raise the degree of mangers involving staff in the authorities delegation and the need to adopt open-door policy also for staff to participate in decision-making process. Also it was recommended by the research to direct the attention towards training on the job and make it a gateway to the company's culture. It was urged on the need for transferring a lot of successful experiences to other companies in support of spreading the organization's culture. It was recommended to care about the importance of the development of policies and administrative regulations and make them more flexible to allow for a wide organizational culture. And to follow global corporate developments and investigate the reasons for its success and the role of organizational culture in it and adopt accordingly. It was pointed the need to honor the contributions of outstanding efforts to encourage science and organizational culture. It also recommended holding periodic contests where workers highlight the performance and awareness degree of organizational culture, also holding seminars, lectures and exhibitions inside and outside the company to spread the organizational culture of the company to other parties.

scholarly journals Modeling and Mapping of Combined Noise Annoyance for Aircraft and Road Traffic Based on a Partial Loudness Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8724
Author(s):  
Wonhee Lee ◽  
Chanil Chun ◽  
Dongwook Kim ◽  
Soogab Lee
Keyword(s):  
Background Noise ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Noise Source ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Masking Effect ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Noise Annoyance ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Loudness Model

Complex transportation systems often produce combined exposure to aircraft and road noise. Depending on the noise source, the annoyance response is different, and a masking effect occurs between the noise sources within the combined noise. Considering these characteristics, partial loudness was adopted to evaluate noise annoyance. First, a partial loudness model incorporating binaural inhibition was proposed and validated. Second, short- and long-term annoyance models were developed using partial loudness. Finally, the annoyance of combined noise was visualized as a map. These models can evaluate the annoyance by considering both the intensity and frequency characteristics of the noise. In addition, it is possible to quantify the masking effect that occurs between noise sources. Combined noise annoyance maps depict the degree of annoyance of residents and show the background noise effect, which is not seen on general noise maps.

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