Quality of work community and workers’ intention to retire

Purpose To study the workers’ perception of the quality of work community and its association with intention to retire early, separately among women and men working in Finnish postal service. Methods A questionnaire survey was sent to all Finnish postal services employees aged ≥ 50 years in 2016 and 44% (n = 2096) replied to the survey (mean age 56.3, 40% women). Employee’s intention to retire before statutory retirement was measured on a scale of 1–5 and dichotomized. The quality of work community was defined by four composite variables: equality at work, flexibility at work, supportive work environment and health or other reason and trichotomized by their tercile values. Odds ratio (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations of quality of work community with intention to retire were calculated separately for men and women using log binomial regression models adjusted for potential confounders. Results About one-third of respondents intended to retire early with no significant gender difference in retirement intention. Low equality at work (women OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.60–4.81; men 2.84, 1.80–4.48) and low flexibility at work (women 3.30, 1.94–5.60; men 2.91, 1.88–4.50) was associated with higher likelihood of intention to retire. Among women intention to retire was found less likely due to low supportive work environment (0.52, 0.31–0.89) and among men due to intermediate health or other reason (0.65, 043–0.98). Conclusion The results highlight the importance of the quality of work community as well as the promotion of work-related health in order to encourage employees to remain at workforce for longer.

Gendered Vocational Identities – Female Students' Strategies for Identity Formation During Workplace-Based Learning in Male-Dominated Work

Purpose: This article investigates female vocational students' strategies for becoming part of a workplace community, what these strategies are and how they are tied to the formation of vocational identities within male-dominated industrial work. Of particular interest is how female students enrolled on Swedish upper secondary industrial programmes experience workplace-based learning at industrial workplaces as part of their vocational education. The theoretical framework derives from Wenger's concept of community of practice, but his theoretical concept does not explicitly include gender dimensions. Therefore, the concept of community of practice is also combined with Paechter's assumption of gender, whereby femininity and masculinity can be considered as different communities of practice. Methods: The article draws on evidence from a Swedish study based on interviews with 20 female students enrolled on the industrial programme at six upper secondary schools. In this vocational programme, there is a distinct gender distribution and only a small minority of the students on the programme are girls. In the analysis, the focus is on the female students' strategies used during workplace-based learning to become part of the work community which consists almost exclusively of male workers.Findings: The female students deliberately negotiated vocational identities as female industrial workers to become accepted in the male-dominated work community. The findings highlight three specific strategies that the female students used: Acting like gender does not matter, acting like boys (not like drama queens), and acting tough and joking around. The female students' strategies were part of – and tied to – a complex vocational identity formation process that featured contradictory requirements. By taking individual responsibility, they identified relevant information for becoming industrial workers and chose to act like boys. The female students saw no problem with being a girl, yet they struggled with implicit, diffuse and hidden gender structures and prejudices in the male-dominated industrial companies. Nevertheless, they strived for what they perceived to be an attractive vocational identity as industrial workers; it was an alternative, atypically feminine way of being that attracted the female students. Conclusions: The study concludes that female students mostly rely on their individual agency when interacting with others in the male-dominated workplace community. A "gendered vocational identity" is formed which shows that the identity formation of female students is a complex double process, in which vocational and gender identities are formed simultaneously and in parallel within the male-dominated workplace.

A Theory of Human Flourishing for Company Decision-Making

<p>Business is one engine of well-being, and the main engine of material well-being, in society. Companies produce goods and services that we would not be able to do without or that add comfort or pleasure to our lives, provide us with jobs, and help make our communities dynamic and lively. Still, businesses come increasingly under criticism for being the cause of many social, environmental and economic problems, and are often seen as prospering at the expense of individual people and the broader society. Also, as customers or employees of businesses, we are frequently dissatisfied with substandard product quality, unfriendly service, a work community in which not everyone is pulling in the same direction or leaders who do not inspire. We invest many resources and much energy and time in our roles that have to do with companies. In such a situation, it seems justified to ask whether businesses are fulfilling their potential, if viewed as agents of well-being. My thesis aims to be one contribution to the active academic, political and societal debate we have in the Western world on the appropriate evolution of businesses in the 2010s. Faced with intensifying competition from developing world produce, large private and public sector debts restricting consumption opportunities at home, and social and environmental concerns about ways companies operate, Western businesses are re-thinking their strategies. Many progressive companies are going even further and are revising their objectives in ways that challenge our traditional conception of what a business is, what it does and how.</p>

A Theory of Human Flourishing for Company Decision-Making

<p>Business is one engine of well-being, and the main engine of material well-being, in society. Companies produce goods and services that we would not be able to do without or that add comfort or pleasure to our lives, provide us with jobs, and help make our communities dynamic and lively. Still, businesses come increasingly under criticism for being the cause of many social, environmental and economic problems, and are often seen as prospering at the expense of individual people and the broader society. Also, as customers or employees of businesses, we are frequently dissatisfied with substandard product quality, unfriendly service, a work community in which not everyone is pulling in the same direction or leaders who do not inspire. We invest many resources and much energy and time in our roles that have to do with companies. In such a situation, it seems justified to ask whether businesses are fulfilling their potential, if viewed as agents of well-being. My thesis aims to be one contribution to the active academic, political and societal debate we have in the Western world on the appropriate evolution of businesses in the 2010s. Faced with intensifying competition from developing world produce, large private and public sector debts restricting consumption opportunities at home, and social and environmental concerns about ways companies operate, Western businesses are re-thinking their strategies. Many progressive companies are going even further and are revising their objectives in ways that challenge our traditional conception of what a business is, what it does and how.</p>

Teachers’ Time for Planning, Assessment and Development Connected to Staff Well-Being in Early Childhood Education

The planning, assessment and development (PAD) of pedagogy carried out by early childhood education (ECE) teachers is an important quality factor in ECE. In Finland, the working hours reserved for PAD tasks for ECE teachers were increased from 8 to 13% in 2018. The purpose of this study was to investigate ECE teachers’ and centre directors’ perceptions of the impact of increased PAD hours on the well-being of ECE staff. Based on the mixed-methods approach, 325 ECE teachers and 107 ECE centre directors participated in the study. The results of the study indicated that, apart from the atmosphere in the work community, the impact of working hours on the well-being at work was positive. In particular, the reform has increased the well-being of teachers at work. The increased PAD hours have had only a minor impact on the well-being of all staff.

Racial bias and ASWB exams: A failure of data equity

This commentary contributes to the ongoing conversation about racial bias in social work licensing exams. It reviews recent public statements by the organization that describe the process for assessing racial bias in examinations developed and implemented by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). It demonstrates that, contradicting the purported policies forbidding the collection of demographic and exam outcomes data, such data is collected on all test-takers. ASWB performs analyses on them and reports one-line conclusions; however, they refuse to release the data to the social work community, and indeed, claim to have no relevant data to share. The commentary concludes that the social work community must take action rather than demand the ASWB reform itself.

How Sex Workers Understand Their Experiences of Working in the Republic of Ireland

Introduction This study seeks to explore the ways in which sex workers understand their experiences of working under sex work legislation in the Republic of Ireland, including laws that criminalise the purchase of sexual services. Participants reflected on their experiences of working in Ireland both and after the passing of [the] Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017. In 2017, the Republic of Ireland criminalised the purchase of sexual services and increased fines and sentences for brothel keeping. Method In 2020, semi-structured interviews lasting 60 to 90 min were conducted with 6 sex workers from diverse backgrounds, ages 24–44, actively working in Ireland since 2017. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcriptions were used to conduct an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results Seven themes arose from the data: psychological wellbeing, relationships with law enforcement, relationships with friends and family, the effects of client criminalisation laws on clients, benefits of sex work community, stress related to precarious accommodation and experiences of both discrimination and perceived discrimination. Conclusion Changes to sex work legislation appear to have failed in their mission to improve life for sex workers in Ireland. Other options such as decriminalisation should be considered.