Job quality, work intensity and working time

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-68
Author(s):  
Patrick McGovern
Keyword(s):  
Job Quality ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Quality Work

Flexible Despotism

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Alex J. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Power Relationship ◽  
Flexible Scheduling ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Managerial Power

This introductory chapter provides an overview of flexible despotism. New economic processes are taking hold in the spaces opened up by the steady decline of collective workplace regulation. No longer is working time understood as a standard, stable eight hours, five days a week. Instead, working time is flexible, on demand, and 24/7. Consequently, many workers are increasingly employed flexibly, while others may not even have an employment contract at all, and instead be classified as self-employed—and yet have their labor controlled by a platform. Even workers with standard, full-time, permanent contracts can experience high levels of insecurity as a result of flexible scheduling within this new temporal order. As a result, the benefits and drawbacks of flexible scheduling have been widely debated. These discussions, however, have tended to focus on issues of job quality, work–life balance, and well-being. This book goes further, by drawing attention to important but under-researched issues of managerial power and workplace control. This is necessary, as it is only when one understands paid work as a power relationship that one is able to see how precarious scheduling constitutes flexible despotism—a new regime of control within the workplace.

‘As Disposable as the Next Tissue Out of the Box . . .’: Casual Teaching and Job Quality in New South Wales Public School Education

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Bamberry
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Quality Work ◽  
Public School Education ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Education Industry

This article builds on recent research into both casualization and job quality or ‘decent work’ by exploring the qualitative aspects of casual employment in the education industry. The article attempts to bridge two distinct positions in the literature on decent work between research that identifies objective components of decent work, and research that focuses on subjective perceptions of job quality. The article focuses on objective aspects of quality work but draws in subjective perceptions both as a path of additional evidence and as a way of capturing the crucial level of personal experience. The article draws on a recent study that explored the experiences of casual school teachers in the New South Wales public education system. It finds that casual employment can erode the job quality of otherwise decent work within professional occupations.

scholarly journals The Quality of Work Index and the Quality of Employment Index: A Multidimensional Approach of Job Quality and Its Links to Well-Being at Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 7771
Author(s):  
Georges Steffgen ◽  
Philipp E. Sischka ◽  
Martha Fernandez de Henestrosa
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Quality Of Work ◽  
Work Index ◽  
European Working

(1) Background: Job quality is a multidimensional and elusive concept that is back in vogue among social scientists and policymaker. The current study proposes a new job quality approach that is compared with the European Working Conditions Survey framework and structured with the help of the Job Demands-Resources model. Two new measures of job quality, the Quality of Work Index (QoW) and the Quality of Employment Index (QoE) are developed and validated in three different languages (German, French, Luxembourgish). The QoW is composed of 43 items, focusing on four areas of work—work intensity, job design, social conditions, and physical conditions (subdivided in eleven components)—which are particularly important for employees’ well-being. The QoE is composed of 13 items that cover training opportunities, career advancement, job security, employability, work life conflict, and income satisfaction. (2) Methods: Data were collected via computer-assisted telephone interviews in a representative sample of 1522 employees working in Luxembourg (aged 17–67 years; 57.2% male). (3) Results: Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the proposed factors structure and scalar measurement invariance for the three different language versions. Internal consistencies were satisfactory for all subscales (Cronbach’s α between 0.70 and 0.87). Correlations and hierarchical regression analyses with different psychological health measures (i.e., burnout, general well-being, psychosomatic complaints, work satisfaction, vigor) and subjective work performance confirmed the construct validity of the new instruments. (4) Conclusions: The QoW and the QoE are globally and on the level of the sub-categories effective tools to measure job quality, which could be used to compare job quality between organizations and different countries. Furthermore, the current study confirms associations between the different components of the QoW and QoE and employees’ health.

scholarly journals Denmark, Durkheim, and Decentralization: The Structures and Capabilities of Danish Working Lives

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
John-Paul Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Working Life ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Quality Work ◽  
Psychosocial Risks ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
And Control

Over the last two decades, a range of reports and cross-sectional surveys of European workers have highlighted Denmark as scoring exceptionally, and consistently, well across several dimensions shaping working life, for example, job quality, work-life balance, discretion and learning, and job satisfaction. This is despite a trend of increasing psychosocial risks of work across Europe. Providing a retrospective interpretation of this exceptionalism, the paper draws on data from 40 expert interviews in Denmark to theoretically map the advantageous institutional components shaping working life in Denmark. Aligning the theories of Émile Durkheim with the capabilities framework, the analysis highlights the role of interdependent collective agreements, which link macro and microwork contexts and generate resources that augment the experience of balance and control within working life

scholarly journals Changes in Job Quality as People Work Beyond Pensionable Age in Sweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 417-417
Author(s):  
Kevin Cahill ◽  
Hugo Westerlund ◽  
Loretta Platts ◽  
Lawrence Sacco
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Job Strain ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Time Control ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Reward Imbalance ◽  
Employment Characteristics

Abstract This paper uses data from the biennial Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health to examine changes in job quality among older workers, controlling for work intensity and employment characteristics. Job quality outcomes included job satisfaction and physical (dangerous, strenuous or unpleasant work) and psychosocial (job strain, effort-reward imbalance, work time control) working conditions. First difference estimation was used to analyze within-individual changes in job quality, as well as changes in hours, employment characteristics (shifting to a non-permanent contract, the private sector and self-employment) and health. Individuals who worked beyond pensionable age experienced statistically significant improvements in job quality, with larger improvements among those who reduced working hours and shifted from permanent to non-permanent contracts, from the public into the private sector, and from wage-and-salary to self-employment. We conclude that work beyond pensionable age is a distinctive period characterized by employment that becomes more flexible and rewarding and less stressful.

Standards of Good Work in the Organisation of Working Time: Fragmentation and the Intensification of Work Across Sectors and OccupationsDate submitted: September 9, 2018Revised version accepted after double-blind review: August 13, 2019.

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-284
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Piasna
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Good Work ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Blind Review ◽  
Hours Of Work ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

This article addresses the issue of good work in terms of working time organisation by exploring the link between diverse working time practices and work intensity. Existing studies have demonstrated that non-standard working hours expose workers to the pressures of work intensification, which can be defined as the compression of work activities into a unit of time. This article expands existing knowledge by investigating how the outcomes of non-standard working hours differ by sector and occupation, as well as by incorporating detailed and comprehensive measures of working time organisation in the empirical analysis. Based on EWCS data from 2010 and 2015 for 28 EU countries, the empirical analysis uses multilevel regression models with workers nested within countries. The results show that non-standard working hours and employer-driven scheduling are, on average, linked to more intense work than regular daytime hours scheduled from Monday to Friday or under worker-led flexibility arrangements. Consistent with expectations, the study points to significant differences in this relationship between sectors and occupations. Among others, in low-skilled and routine occupations, and service sectors such as transport, commerce, hospitality and health, short hours of work and employer-led flexibility are associated with relatively more intense work. Even where workers have some control over their schedules, jobs in these areas are not linked to lower levels of work intensity. The findings also support the expectation of overwork in high-skilled jobs, where long hours of work and high levels of worker-led flexibility are linked to relatively more intense work.

scholarly journals Accountancy as a Meaningful Work. Main Determinants from a Job Quality and Optimization Algorithm Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9308
Author(s):  
José-Joaquín del-Pozo-Antúnez ◽  
Horacio Molina-Sánchez ◽  
Francisco Fernández-Navarro ◽  
Antonio Ariza-Montes
Keyword(s):  
Professional Competence ◽  
Meaningful Work ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Accounting Profession ◽  
Personal Time ◽  
The Social ◽  
European Working ◽  
European Working Conditions Survey ◽  
Main Determinants

The primary purpose of the accounting profession is to provide quality information to the market that facilitates the allocation of resources. The context in which it operates must attend to some stressors that can affect the professional’s meaning of the work. Meaningful work (MW) is based on the concept of valuable work and work well done, so it is directly related to the concept of quality at work, which is a constant concern in the accounting profession. The method used to determine meaningful work identifies the set of job quality indexes, as defined by the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), related to the MW. This paper has used an integer programming genetic algorithm (GA) to determine the JQIs and the statistically significant combinations. The findings showed that JQIs, skills development and discretion (SD), and physical environment (PE) positively and intensely relate to MW. Likewise, reduction of the work intensity (WI) and improvement of the social environment (SE) are related in the same direction as the MW. On the other hand, the results showed different indicator weightings depending on the age of the accountants. This paper shows the importance that accountants attribute to professional competence and how, throughout their careers, the JQI that most relate to MW is changing, from a social vision to preferences where the care of personal time also prevails.

scholarly journals A little less autonomy? The future of working time flexibility and its limits

2020 ◽  
pp. 203195252092224
Author(s):  
Marta Glowacka
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Working Time ◽  
European Working Time Directive ◽  
Security Measures ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
European Court ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
European Working ◽  
Working Time Flexibility ◽  
Working Time Directive

The European Court of Justice has recently issued rulings on the interpretation of the European Working Time Directive 2003/88, which appear to restrict flexible working time arrangements (especially Matzak C-518/15, Syndicat C-254/18 and CCOO C-55/18). Only a few months prior to the latter ruling of the CJEU, the Austrian legislator amended the Working Time Act in order to make it more flexible. The article argues that the measures taken by the Austrian legislator to enable more flexibility and autonomy can still be regarded as compatible with Union law. In general, the article tackles the question of possible further legislative developments in order to strike a balance between autonomy and the need for security of both parties to the employment relationship. Among other suggestions, the article introduces the concept of molecularisation of working time and examines whether work intensity should be introduced as a qualitative dimension to the concept of working time, thus deviating from the current European Working Time Directive. Finally, the article suggests security measures – often referring to Austria as a best practice example – in order to safeguard workers in view of working time flexibility.

Cumulative impact of high job demands, low job control and high job insecurity on midlife depression and anxiety: a prospective cohort study of Australian employees

2020 ◽  
pp. oemed-2020-106840
Author(s):  
Lay San Too ◽  
Liana Leach ◽  
Peter Butterworth
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Common Mental Disorder ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Cumulative Exposure ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
Quality Work ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Over Time

ObjectiveThere is a lack of evidence concerning the prospective effect of cumulative exposure to psychosocial job stressors over time on mental ill-health. This study aimed to assess whether cumulative exposure to poor quality jobs places employees at risk of future common mental disorder.MethodsData were from the Personality and Total Health Through Life project (n=1279, age 40–46 at baseline). Data reported on the cumulative exposure to multiple indicators of poor psychosocial job quality over time (ie, a combination of low control, high demands and high insecurity) and future common mental disorder (ie, depressive and/or anxiety symptom scores above a validated threshold) 12 years later. Data were analysed using logistic regression models and controlled for potential confounders across the lifespan.ResultsCumulative exposure to poor-quality work (particularly more secure work) on multiple occasions elevated the risk of subsequent common mental disorder, independent of social, health, verbal intelligence and personality trait confounders (OR=1.30, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.59).ConclusionsOur findings show that cumulative exposure to poor psychosocial job quality over time independently predicts future common mental disorder—supporting the need for workplace interventions to prevent repeated exposure of poor quality work.

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