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This study examined whether perceived work-family conflict would function as a mediator in the link between work-family culture perceptions and self-reported distress. Data were obtained from employees (N = 1,297) of five Finnish organizations representing both the public (local social and health care, school, and labour departments) and the private sectors (paper mill, IT company). The results showed that perceived work-family conflict functioned as a partial mediator between employees' perceptions of work-family culture and self-reported distress in two organizations (i.e. in the social and health care department and paper mill), whereas the relationship turned out to be direct in the other three organizations (i.e. the education, labour departments and IT company). Thus, a supportive work-family culture was related directly and indirectly, through reduced work-family conflict, to the well-being of employees., Recently, a new concept, work-family culture, has been introduced in the work-family literature (e.g. Campbell Clark, 2001; Kinnunen, Mauno, Geurts, & Dikkers, 2005; Lewis, 2000; Lewis & Smithson, 2001; Thompson, [...]

Aims: Intensified job demands (IJDs) and their effects on employee burnout, work engagement and patient satisfaction were investigated across different work units and occupational groups in a healthcare setting. Design: A multilevel study. Methods: One thousand twenty‐four healthcare employees responded to a survey in 2019 and rated their experiences of IJDs, burnout and work engagement. Nine hundred fifty‐one patients rated their satisfaction with care received from healthcare staff. Results: Work units and occupational groups who shared more experiences of increased time pressure and multitasking reported higher exhaustion. Shared perceptions of increased planning and performing one's work autonomously correlated with higher exhaustion and lower patient satisfaction at the work‐unit level. Moreover, work intensification was found to be highest in emergency care and among nurses, while job‐related planning demands were highest in leadership services. Conclusion: IJDs are a shared risk to employee well‐being among heterogeneous healthcare staff and relate negatively to customer‐rated patient satisfaction. We found that high time‐pressure demands increase the shared risk of burnout—especially among nurses and healthcare staff working in emergency care. Furthermore, increased independence and self‐determination in planning and executing work tasks also increase the shared risk of burnout especially among those in leadership services. This can lead to lower customer/care satisfaction among patients. Impact: With the accelerating pace of socio‐economic change, the pace of work is also getting faster. Our findings help understand how IJDs are experienced among heterogeneous healthcare staff. Because different occupational groups and work units had different demands, this research shows that attempts to mitigate the negative effects of IJDs need to be planned and implemented in a context‐specific way. It seems crucial to pay more attention especially to adequate nurse staffing so that the adverse effects of IJDs could be mitigated among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: The aims of the study were to identify content categories of unreasonable and unnecessary illegitimate tasks and to investigate how unreasonable and unnecessary tasks relate to occupational wellbeing. Background: Illegitimate tasks are a common stressor among healthcare professionals, and they have been shown to have negative associations with occupational well‐being. Despite this evidence, research has not yet uncovered what kinds of tasks healthcare professionals consider illegitimate. Design and method: The data gathered by means of an online survey consisted of 1024 municipal healthcare organisation employees. A theory‐driven qualitative content analysis was used to analyse freely reported illegitimate tasks. For occupational well‐being associations, a mixed‐methods approach was used (ANCOVA and linear regression analysis). The STROBE statement—checklist for cross‐sectional studies was used. Results: Eight content categories were found for illegitimate tasks. For unreasonable tasks, these were (1) tasks outside one's occupational role (78% of all unreasonable tasks), (2) conflicting or unclear demands (9%), (3) tasks with insufficient resources (8%) and (4) tasks with difficult consequences (5%), and for unnecessary tasks, these were (1) impractical or outdated working habits (31% of all unnecessary tasks), (2) tasks related to dysfunctional technology (30%), (3) unnecessary procedures (27%) and (4) tasks related to bureaucratic demands (12%). Unreasonable and unnecessary tasks were associated with higher levels of burnout and lower work engagement and the meaningfulness of work. Conclusions: Our findings support the theory that illegitimate tasks are an occupational stressor with negative effects on burnout, work engagement and meaningfulness of work. Relevance to clinical practice: The study offers insights into the types of tasks health care employees see as illegitimate and highlights the importance of good job design in promoting occupational well‐being in health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The study examined whether three resources, that is, compassion, transformational leadership and work ethic feasibility, buffer against the negative effects of emotional labour on work engagement. Background Emotional labour is a common job stressor among nurses, but little is known about whether certain personal and work resources buffer against it in relation to work engagement. Revealing buffers of emotional labour would help organizations to design tailored interventions. Design Cross-sectional online survey conducted in 2014. Methods Participants were 3466 Finnish nurses. Hypotheses were tested via hierarchical moderated regression analyses. Results Higher emotional labour related to lower engagement. Two interaction effects were found. First, work ethic feasibility buffered against emotional labour: the nurses who perceived work ethic feasibility as high in a situation of high emotional labour, scored higher on engagement compared with those nurses who in this stress situation perceived work ethic feasibility to be low. Second, high compassion was detrimental to engagement in the presence of high emotional labour. Transformational leadership did not act as a buffer but showed a positive relationship with engagement. Conclusion Work ethic feasibility (being able to work according to high ethical standards) is an important resource in nursing as it protects an employee against the negative effects of emotional labour and as it also directly promotes engagement. However, compassion may not always be beneficial in nursing, especially if co-occurring with high job stress. Transformational leadership has potential to improve engagement in nursing although it may not operate as a stress buffer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates perceived external employability (PEE) as a personal resource in relation to job insecurity and exhaustion. We advance the idea that PEE may reduce feelings of job insecurity and, through felt job insecurity, also exhaustion. That is, we probe the paths from PEE to job insecurity and from job insecurity to exhaustion. We furthermore account for possible reversed causality, so that exhaustion → felt job insecurity and felt job insecurity → PEE. This aligns with insights from the Conservation of Resources Theory, which is built on the assumption of resource caravans passageways and associated gain and loss spirals. We based the results on a sample of 1314 workers from two Finnish universities. Respondents participated twice in the study with a time lag of one year. We found that PEE related negatively to felt job insecurity and vice versa. Similarly, there was a reciprocal positive relationship between felt job insecurity and exhaustion. We conclude that PEE may prevent feelings of insecurity and, through reduced job insecurity, also exhaustion. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]