Can Working Conditions and Employees’ Mental Health Be Improved via Job Stress Interventions Designed and Implemented by Line Managers and Human Resources on an Operational Level?

Magnus Akerstrom, Linda Corin, Jonathan Severin, Ingibjörg H. Jonsdottir and Lisa Björk
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Magnus Akerstrom: Region Västra Götaland, The Institute of Stress Medicine, 413 19 Gothenburg, Sweden
Linda Corin: Region Västra Götaland, The Institute of Stress Medicine, 413 19 Gothenburg, Sweden
Jonathan Severin: Region Västra Götaland, The Institute of Stress Medicine, 413 19 Gothenburg, Sweden
Ingibjörg H. Jonsdottir: Region Västra Götaland, The Institute of Stress Medicine, 413 19 Gothenburg, Sweden
Lisa Björk: Region Västra Götaland, The Institute of Stress Medicine, 413 19 Gothenburg, Sweden

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Organisational-level interventions are recommended for decreasing sickness absence, but knowledge of the optimal design and implementation of such interventions is scarce. We collected data on working conditions, motivation, health, employee turnover, and sickness absence among participants in a large-scale organisational-level intervention comprising measures designed and implemented by line managers and their human resources partners (i.e., operational-level). Information regarding the process, including the implementation of measures, was retrieved from a separate process evaluation, and the intervention effects were investigated using mixed-effects models. Data from reference groups were used to separate the intervention effect from the effects of other concurrent changes at the workplace. Overall, working conditions and motivation improved during the study for both the intervention and reference groups, but an intervention effect was only seen for two of 13 evaluated survey items: clearness of objectives ( p = 0.02) and motivation ( p = 0.06). No changes were seen in employees’ perceived health, and there were no overall intervention effects on employee turnover or sickness absence. When using operational-level workplace interventions to improve working conditions and employees’ health, efforts must be made to achieve a high measure-to-challenge correspondence; that is, the implemented measures must be a good match to the problems that they are intended to address.

Keywords: sickness absence; workplace intervention; organisation; work environment; public sector; operational level; manager (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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