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OBJECTIVES: This study aims to provide insight into (i) how the combination of paid work and family care is longitudinally associated with gender-related differences in depressive symptoms and (ii) the role of work characteristics in this association. METHODS: Data were derived from STREAM, a Dutch prospective cohort study of older workers aged 45–64 years. Respondents were included if they were employed in at least one measurement between 2015 and 2017 (N=12 447). Mixed-models were applied to disentangle between-person (BP) and within-person (WP) effects of family caregiving on depressive symptoms. Analyses were stratified by gender. Work characteristics (social support, autonomy, emotional and mental workload) were separately added to the multivariable models. RESULTS: For older employees, family caregiving was positively associated with depressive symptoms between and within persons for both women [BP B=0.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.52–1.08; WP B=0.32, 95% CI 0.08–0.56] and men (BP B=0.75, 95% CI 0.45–1.05; WP B=0.25, 95% CI 0.01–0.48). Social support at work reduced the adverse effect of family care on depressive symptoms for women (BP) and men (BP and WP). Emotional workload partly explained the effect of family care for both women and men (BP). CONCLUSIONS: The longitudinal association between family care and mental health was similar for male and female employees. Resources at work (ie, social support) could protect caregiving employees against depressive symptoms. More research is needed regarding the relative impact of the care context compared to the work context of working family caregivers.

Abstract Background Occupational accidents continue to be a significant public health challenge worldwide. Construction workers in particular are at high risk of occupational accidents, and thus it is of major importance to identify possible predictors of occupational accidents among construction workers. We aimed to investigate the association between self-reported work pace and physical work demands and occupational accidents among ageing male construction workers in Denmark. Methods Data on perceived work pace, physical work demands, and occupational accidents was acquired from questionnaires sent to ageing construction workers in Denmark in 2016 as part of the ALFA project (ALdring og Fysisk Arbejde; Ageing and Physical Work). A sample of 1270 Danish male construction workers above 50 years of age was included in the present study. Multiple logistic regression models were applied, with adjustments for age, smoking, body mass index, musculoskeletal disorders, occupation, work experience, and support at work. Results Of 1270 construction workers, 166 (13.1%) reported an occupational accident within the last 12 months. There was no significant association between perceived work pace and occupational accidents, but physical work demands were associated with higher odds for occupational accidents, with an odds ratio of 2.27 (95% confidence interval 1.26–4.10) for medium physical work demands and 2.62 (95% confidence interval 1.50–4.57) for high physical work demands. Conclusions Ageing male construction workers with high physical work demands had statistically significant higher odds of having an occupational accident. By contrast, perceived work pace was not associated with occupational accidents in this large cross-sectional study.

(English Version) Readymix concrete is a common product that produce in plant that called batching plant, every batching plant must have Operational Performance required by design to ensure that product received well at the right time and the right grade to the project. This research purpose is to analyze work characteristic (1), compensations (2), and leading style (3) compare with operational Operational Performance (4) starts from raw material receiving to concrete delivery. Technic sampling method is using quota technics sampling with 80 respondence. This research population collected from PT XYZ readymix concrete company in Regional Banten that have 8 batching plants across. This need to be analyse in a written research due operational production activity needs to improve Operational Performance at PT XYZ company. Indo (Version) Beton siap pakai adalah produk umum yang diproduksi di pabrik yang disebut batching plant. Semua pabrik campuran harus memiliki kinerja operasional yang diperlukan untuk memastikan bahwa produk diterima dengan baik pada waktu dan kualitas yang tepat untuk proyek tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan membandingkan karakteristik pekerjaan (1) penghargaan (2) gaya kepemimpinan (3) dan kinerja manajer (4), mulai dari penerimaan bahan baku hingga pengiriman beton. Sebagai metode pengambilan sampel, kami mengadopsi metode pengambilan sampel kuota sebanyak 80 responden. Subyek penelitian ini berasal dari perusahaan beton siap pakai PTXYZ di pedesaan Banten, dimana terdapat delapan mixing plant yang tersebar. Hal ini perlu dianalisis dalam sebuah studi tertulis karena operasi manufaktur perlu meningkatkan kinerja operasional di PTXYZ.

Background: Occupational accidents continue to be a significant public health challenge worldwide. Construction workers in particular are at high risk of occupational accidents, and thus it is of major importance to identify possible predictors of occupational accidents among construction workers. We aimed to investigate the association between self-reported work pace and physical work demands and occupational accidents among ageing male construction workers in Denmark.Methods: Data on perceived work pace, physical work demands, and occupational accidents was acquired from questionnaires sent to ageing construction workers in Denmark in 2016 as part of the ALFA project (ALdring og Fysisk Arbejde; Ageing and Physical Work). A sample of 1270 Danish male construction workers above 50 years of age was included in the present study. Multiple logistic regression models were applied, with adjustments for age, smoking, body mass index, musculoskeletal disorders, occupation, work experience, and support at work.Results: Of 1270 construction workers, 166 (13.1%) reported an occupational accident within the last 12 months. There was no significant association between perceived work pace and occupational accidents, but physical work demands were associated with higher odds for occupational accidents, with an odds ratio of 2.27 (95% confidence interval 1.26-4.10) for medium physical work demands and 2.62 (95% confidence interval 1.50-4.57) for high physical work demands.Conclusions: Ageing male construction workers with high physical work demands had statistically significant higher odds of having an occupational accident. By contrast, perceived work pace was not associated with occupational accidents in this large cross-sectional study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe the development and the content of the Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Questionnaire (DPQ) and to test its reliability and validity. METHODS: We describe the identification of dimensions, the development of items, and the qualitative and quantitative tests of the reliability and validity of the DPQ. Reliability and validity of a 150 item version of the DPQ was evaluated in a stratified sample of 8958 employees in 14 job groups of which 4340 responded. Reliability was investigated using internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The factorial validity was investigated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). For each multi-item scale, we undertook CFA within each job group and multi-group CFA to investigate factorial invariance across job groups. Finally, using multi-group multi-factor CFA, we investigated whether scales were empirically distinct. RESULTS: Internal consistency reliabilities and test-retest reliabilities were satisfactory. Factorial validity of the multi-item scales was satisfactory within each of the 14 job groups. Factorial invariance was demonstrated for 10 of the 28 multi-item scales. The hypothesis that the scales of the DPQ were empirically distinct was supported. The final DPQ version consisted of 119 items covering 38 different psychosocial work environment dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the DPQ is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing psychosocial working conditions in a variety of job groups. The results indicate, however, that questions about psychosocial working conditions may be understood differently across job groups, which may have implications for the comparability of questionnaire-based measures of psychosocial working conditions across job groups.

Objectives The aim of this study was to describe the development and the content of the Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Questionnaire (DPQ) and to test its reliability and validity. Methods We describe the identification of dimensions, the development of items, and the qualitative and quantitative tests of the reliability and validity of the DPQ. Reliability and validity of a 150 item version of the DPQ was evaluated in a stratified sample of 8958 employees in 14 job groups of which 4340 responded. Reliability was investigated using internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The factorial validity was investigated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). For each multi-item scale, we undertook CFA within each job group and multi-group CFA to investigate factorial invariance across job groups. Finally, using multi-group multi-factor CFA, we investigated whether scales were empirically distinct. Results Internal consistency reliabilities and test-retest reliabilities were satisfactory. Factorial validity of the multi-item scales was satisfactory within each of the 14 job groups. Factorial invariance was demonstrated for 10 of the 28 multi-item scales. The hypothesis that the scales of the DPQ were empirically distinct was supported. The final DPQ version consisted of 119 items covering 38 different psychosocial work environment dimensions. Conclusions Overall, the DPQ is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing psychosocial working conditions in a variety of job groups. The results indicate, however, that questions about psychosocial working conditions may be understood differently across job groups, which may have implications for the comparability of questionnairebased measures of psychosocial working conditions across job groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, a large body of research has addressed the associations between the psychosocial work environment and work stress on the one hand, and worker health and well-being on the other (1–5). Although the evidence for associations between work characteristics (ie, stressors) and worker health and well-being (ie, strain) is considerably stronger in cross-sectional than in longitudinal studies (2, 3) and whereas the strength of these associations varies across different combinations of stressors and well-being/health indicators (3, 5), overall the current evidence supports the notion that work characteristics affect work outcomes, including worker health and well-being. Interestingly, the notion that the health and well-being of workers may also affect the (perceived and/or objective) characteristics of their jobs has attracted considerably less attention. The assumption that people are not just passive recipients of environmental influences but also actively shape that environment is not particularly controversial (eg, 6–8). However, research that systematically tests for the “reversed” effects of the presumed “outcomes” of work (such as health and well-being) on the presumed “antecedents” of these outcomes (ie, work characteristics) has remained rare. Apparently, it is implicitly assumed that the effects of work on the outcomes thereof are practically more relevant and theoretically more interesting than the reverse effects. Whether this is indeed the case is subject to further scrutiny, though. Current theorizing considers to an increasing degree the possibility of reversed relationships (ie, effects from health and well-being on the work environment), and empirical research supports the existence of such strain-to-stressor effects (9), although the evidence is scattered and piecemeal. However, this issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health includes a major review (10) that fills this important void. Drawing on the results of ten high-quality longitudinal studies, Kenneth Tang shows that the evidence for a positive strain-to-stressor association is moderately strong in the case of job demands. For two other major work characteristics (job control and social support), no such evidence was present. His findings suggest that, whereas reciprocal stressor-strain relationships may exist for job demands, such relationships are considerably less likely to occur for other job characteristics. In this editorial we focus on the possible mechanisms underlying the reversed association between worker health and the psychosocial work environment and provide some recommendations for future research in this area. Although research on strain-to-stressor effects is scarce, it has been around for several decades. For example, already in the 1980s, it was shown that indicators of strain relate negatively to subsequent ratings of social support received from colleagues (11) and positively to subsequent experienced time pressure (12). Although an explicit theoretical framework for such strain-to-stressor effects is lacking, certain principles from existing psychological theories may shed light on this issue. For example, the Conservation of Resources theory assumes the existence of “loss spirals” (13), in which losing resources (ie, the “objects, personal characteristics, and energies that are either themselves valued for survival, directly or indirectly, or that serve as a means of achieving these resources”; p45) causes future resource loss. Pertaining to the strain-to-stressor association at work, a loss spiral refers to a process in which strained employees who have “lost” their resource of good health, are more likely to “lose” resources in their work, which in turn negatively affects their health, and so on. For example, a burned-out employee may be too exhausted to maintain enjoyable interactions with his/her colleagues and may consequently receive less social support at work, inducing even higher levels of burnout. The opposite process is referred to as a “gain spiral” (13). Loss and gain spiral-like processes have also been proposed in other theoretical perspectives. For example, the idea that healthy employees may become healthier over time whereas the health of unhealthy employees’ may deteriorate over time is a variation on Robert Merton’s familiar Matthew effect (“For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath”; 14, p58). Further, Barbara Fredrickson’s (15) Broaden and Build theory proposes that positive emotions (which signify high well-being) broaden people’s thought-action repertoire, which enhances their ability to interact with their environment. This enhanced interaction ability boosts employees’ opportunities to increase their resources, which will subsequently positively affect their well-being and health, and so forth. Empirical research regarding these gain and loss spirals in the work context is scarce, but the available evidence supports the assumption that work stressors and strains are reciprocally related (16). Furthermore, Tang’s (10) findings seem to indicate that such spirals may primarily exist for job demands (and not for job control and social support). Four specific mechanisms have been proposed that account for the associations between employee health status and the stressors experienced in the work situation. Interestingly, whereas the gain and loss spiral-like approaches discussed above exclusively propose positive associations between work characteristics and employee health (the more positive the work environment, the better employee health and well-being), these mechanisms allow for both positive and negative relations. Moreover, these associations can be due to perceptual and/or actual changes in the work environment. Regarding perceptual changes, two processes have been proposed. The “rosy perception mechanism” (17) presumes that healthy workers evaluate their work more positively over time, for example, because they have sufficient resources to meet their work demands, which causes them to perceive these demands as less severe over time. According to this mechanism, unhealthy employees may also change their perception of their work environment in a more positive way, for example, by adjusting their aspirations or changing their cognitions to reinterpret the characteristics of their job more favorably (cf. cognitive dissonance; 18). Conversely, the “gloomy perception” mechanism (17) refers to a process in which employees evaluate their work environment less positively over time. For example, due to their high levels of resources, healthy employees may feel that their capacities exceed the challenges offered by their job. Similarly, unhealthy employees may perceive their work less favorably over time, for example because their decreasing resources make it more difficult to meet their work demands. Actual job changes may also account for the association between employee health and work characteristics. The “upward selection process” (17) refers to a process in which (un)healthy workers find more challenging or less stressful jobs. For example, an unhealthy employee may find refuge in a less stressful job, or an healthy employee may be promoted to a more challenging job. Finally, the “drift mechanism” (17), which is a derivate of the traditional “healthy worker effect”, describes a situation in which (un)healthy employees change jobs and start working in a less favorable work situation (eg, a new job may not meet their expectations). These four mechanisms fit with the idea of loss and gain spirals as proposed in the Conservation of Resources theory (13). Specifically, for healthy employees, the rosy perception and upward selection mechanisms concur with the idea of a gain spiral, whereas for unhealthy employees the gloomy perception and the drift mechanisms may lead to a loss spiral. Longitudinal research (17) has generally supported the existence of these mechanisms, and also Tang’s findings (10) can be interpreted in this light: his finding that strain is longitudinally related to increased job demands can be considered indicative of the gloomy perception and/or drift hypothesis. Tang’s review highlights the importance of conducting more studies on reversed associations between strain on the one hand, and job demands and other job characteristics on the other. We believe this research should address at least the following five issues. Firstly, from a theoretical point of view it should be noted that not all work characteristics may be equally affected by strain, as evidenced by Tang’s (10) review. This underlines the importance of developing a clear theoretical framework for the possible reversed associations between employees’ health and well-being, and the characteristics of their work. This is all the more important, since Tang’s findings question whether the gain spirals proposed by Hobfoll and others (15, 16, 19) operate with respect to all possible strain-stressor relations; earlier research and theorizing has not distinguished among different types of stressors. Secondly, the distinction between perceptual change and actual job change may need some refinement, as it fails to acknowledge that employees may also initiate actual changes in their work environment while staying in the same job. In this respect, the concept of job crafting is relevant. It occurs in the context of the current job and can be defined as “the changes that employees may make to balance their job demands and job resources with their personal abilities and needs” (20, p174). For example, healthy employees may engage in job crafting to make their job more challenging, whereas unhealthy employees might use their job crafting capabilities to increase their resources and/or to reduce demands. This implies that a simple distinction between real job changes (which is usually operationalized as a change of jobs) versus perceived changes in the job (drawing on the absence of a job change) is not sufficient: at the very least, the possibility that factual changes occur in the context of the current job should be acknowledged. Thirdly, more research and theory development is needed to obtain insight in how (mediators) and when (moderators) each of the proposed mechanisms that can explain strain-to-stressor effects operates. Regarding potential mediators, it may be valuable to explicitly examine the proposed cognitive processes that underlie the rosy and gloomy perception mechanisms (eg, by examining employees’ expectations regarding their jobs). With respect to moderators, it may be useful to take potentially relevant variables in the broader ecological context into account. For example, the extent to which employees’ health status causes them to switch jobs may be dependent on the current situation on the labor market or on their position as a main breadwinner (21). Fourthly, from a methodological point of view the statistical approach that is best suited to provide insight in the processes underlying reversed associations needs attention. The four mechanisms proposed by De Lange and colleagues (17) suggest that, over time, healthy and unhealthy employees may experience both positive and negative changes in the characteristics of their work: indeed, different processes may operate simultaneously within and between healthy and unhealthy workers. Statistically, these different processes may cancel each other out, resulting in non-significant longitudinal associations between health and work characteristics. This may erroneously lead to the conclusion that no reversed associations exist at all. Moreover, a significant positive or negative association between health and subsequent work characteristics is merely the outcome of the operation of these different processes, and can therefore not unambiguously be interpreted as support for any mechanism in particular. To obtain insight in the processes causing health to affect work characteristics, it would be valuable to create subgroups of workers based on their health status at the start of the study and examine longitudinally the development of work characteristics in each of these groups. Finally, to obtain insight in the gain/loss spiral connecting work characteristics with employee health and well-being, future research should employ longitudinal designs with more than two measurement waves. Such an approach would also allow for examining the degree to which effects are contingent upon the length of the time interval (2). However, it should be noted that even in a well-designed study, it may be difficult to address each of the four mechanisms underlying strain-to-stressor relationships simultaneously, and we agree with Tang (10) that different study designs may be needed to examine these mechanisms. In conclusion, we argue that in order to understand fully the relations between work characteristics and worker health and well-being, it is important for future research to not only consider stressor-to-strain effects but also to test for strain-to-stressor effects, and thus examine how worker health affect the psychosocial work environment. Obviously, this requires that longitudinal – preferably multi-wave – designs are used. In this context Tang’s review (10) provides a valuable starting point, showing that the magnitude of strain-to-stressor effects may well depend on the stressor under consideration. However, the mechanisms accounting for strain-to-stressor effects deserve more attention, considering which effects can be expected, why these effects should be present, for which strain/stressor combinations, and for which particular groups of workers. This implies that researchers should consider the possible mediators and moderators of the relationship between strains and stressors and requires that research designs are adjusted accordingly – certainly a daunting task, but one that is necessary to go beyond the ad-hoc interpretation of lagged strain-to-stressor effects.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to review longitudinal and intervention studies examining the association between psychosocial work characteristics (eg, job demands, job control, and social support) and sleep quality. Our main research aims were to examine whether (i) psychosocial work characteristics are a predictor of sleep quality, and (ii) sleep quality, in turn, is a predictor of psychosocial work characteristics. METHODS: A systematic literature search resulted in 20 relevant papers, of which 16 were longitudinal studies and 3 were intervention studies (1 study was discussed in separate papers). To quantify results, we assessed the strength of evidence of all examined associations and subsequently evaluated the studies’ research quality based on predefined quality criteria. RESULTS: One intervention and three longitudinal studies studies were categorized as being of high-quality. In longitudinal studies, we found consistent and strong evidence for a negative relation between job demands and sleep quality as well as evidence for a positive relation between job control and sleep quality. Other psychosocial work characteristics were examined in an insufficient number of (high-quality) studies. Moreover, both intervention studies as well as studies investigating reversed and reciprocal relations are rare, which further limits the possibility of drawing conclusions on causality. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the current literature, it can be concluded that high job demands and low job control are predictors of poor sleep quality. More high-quality research is needed to examine the possible causal relationship between these and other psychosocial work characteristics with sleep quality, in addition to research focusing on reversed and reciprocal relations.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to get insight into the role of poor health, unhealthy behaviors, and unfavorable work characteristics on exit from paid employment due to disability pension, unemployment, and early retirement among older workers. METHODS: Respondents of the longitudinal Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) in 11 European countries were selected when (i) aged between 50 years and the country-specific retirement age, (ii) in paid employment at baseline, and (iii) having information on employment status during the 4-year follow-up period (N=4923). Self-perceived health, health behaviors, and physical and psychosocial work characteristics were measured by interview at baseline. Employment status was derived from follow-up interviews after two and four years. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to identify determinants of unemployment, disability pension, and early retirement. RESULTS: Poor health was a risk factor for disability pension [hazard ratio (HR) 3.90, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 2.51–6.05], and a lack of physical activity was a risk factor for disability pension (HR 3.05, 95% CI 1.68–5.55) and unemployment (HR 1.84, 95% CI 1.13–3.01). A lack of job control was a risk factor for disability pension, unemployment, and early retirement (HR 1.30–1.77). CONCLUSIONS: Poor health, a lack of physical activity, and a lack of job control played a role in exit from paid employment, but their relative importance differed by pathway of labor force exit. Primary preventive interventions focusing on promoting physical activity as well as increasing job control may contribute to reducing premature exit from paid employment.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association between return-to-work (RTW) outcomes and sociodemographic, clinical, and work characteristics among a cohort of injured workers who underwent knee surgery between 2001–2005 in British Columbia, Canada. METHODS: Workers’ compensation databases were used to identify the retrospective cohort and abstract the study variables. Multinomial logistic regression provided odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association between RTW (unspecified, partial, full, or non-RTW) and the independent variables. RESULTS: Data was abstracted for 1394 injured workers. Compared to men, women were more likely to have partial RTW (OR 2.55, 95% CI 1.53–4.23) and non-RTW (OR 2.61, 95% CI 1.35–5.03) than full RTW; low income earners were more likely than high income earners to have partial RTW (OR 3.05, 95% CI 1.86–4.99) and non-RTW (OR 4.07, 95% CI 2.19–7.57). Moreover, workers in trade, primary resource, and processing/manufacturing occupations were more likely than those in management occupations to have non-RTW than full RTW by the end of follow-up (OR 2.97, 95% CI 1.32–6.68; OR 9.31, 95% CI 3.41–25.41, and OR 2.71, 95% CI 1.07–6.5, respectively). Surgical and clinical factors were not associated with RTW outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Using population-based data, our study found a link between sociodemographic and work characteristics and the type of RTW outcome following knee surgery for a work-related injury. Women and lower income earners tended not to have full RTW, after controlling for covariates. Workers in physically demanding occupations also tended not to have full RTW, suggesting that factors beyond clinical and surgical characteristics influence disability outcomes. RTW programs need to take into consideration these broader determinants of worker health.

In highly competitive world industry today, company has to be able to improve and explore it's various resources, among other things: human resources. The human resources are the company's or organization's main driving force. The achievement of company's objective will be well performed if the human resources present the great work performance. Work performance can be influenced by some sorts of factors like work characteristic, work satisfaction, leadership style, motivation, etc. The main focuses of this research are at the work characteristic and work satisfaction as an influential factor for work performance. If an employee has the characteristic which matches his work, then his performance and work satisfaction will be increasing as well. On this research the means which is used to communicate indirectly with the respondent is a questionnaire. The respondent which becomes this research sample was PT Candratex Sejati in Bandung, particularly at weaving section. This textile company's major production outcome based on export-oriented, continued with the path analysis calculation which applicable to determine the influence size of a variable or few variable against another either directly or indirectly. On the Variabel of Job Characteristic, employee should increase the relationship with the manager. On the Variabel of Internal Job Satisfaction, company should increase the initiative which is come up from the employee without waiting for direction anymore. On the variable of External Job, company should increase the salary which was given. On the Variabel of Working Performance, company should increase the will of the employee, so that they could gain achievement. Abstract in Bahasa Indonesia : Dalam persaingan dunia usaha yang semakin tinggi saat ini, perusahaan harus dapat mengembangkan dan mengolah berbagai sumber daya yang dimilikinya, antara lain sumber daya manusia. Sumber daya manusia adalah penggerak utama suatu organisasi atau perusahaan. Pencapaian tujuan perusahaan akan terlaksana bila sumber daya manusianya menunjukkan performansi kerja yang baik. Performansi kerja dapat dipengaruhi oleh berbagai faktor, seperti karakteristik pekerjaan, kepuasan kerja, gaya kepemimpinan, motivasi, dan lain-lain. Penelitian ini berfokus pada faktor karakteristik pekerjaan dan kepuasan kerja sebagai faktor yang berpengaruh pada performansi kerja. Jika seorang pekerja memiliki karakteristik yang sesuai dengan pekerjaannya, maka performansi dan kepuasan kerjanya akan meningkat. Dalam penelitian ini sarana yang digunakan untuk berkomunikasi secara tidak langsung dengan responden adalah kuesioner. Responden yang menjadi objek penelitian ini adalah karyawan PT. CANDRATEX SEJATI bagian weaving, Bandung. Perusahaan ini merupakan suatu perusahaan tekstil yang sebagian besar hasil produksinya diekspor ke luar negeri. Identifikasi faktor yang digunakan adalah analisis faktor, lalu dilanjutkan dengan perhitungan analisis jalur yang digunakan untuk menentukan besarnya pengaruh suatu variabel ataupun beberapa variabel terhadap variabel lainnya baik pengaruh yang sifatnya langsung atau tidak langsung. Variabel karakteristik pekerjaan sebaiknya pekerja perlu meningkatkan hubungan dengan atasannya. Variabel kepuasan kerja internal sebaiknya perusahaan perlu meningkatkan inisiatif yang timbul dari dalam pekerja tanpa harus menunggu perintah lagi. Variabel kerja eksternal sebaiknya perusahaan perlu meningkatkan imbalan dan tunjangan-tunjangan yan diberikan Variabel performansi kerja sebaiknya perusahaan perlu meningkatkan tekad yang ada dalam diri pekerja agar masing-masing pekerja dapat meraih prestasinya. Kata kunci: karakteristik pekerjaan, kepuasan kerja, gaya kepemimpinan, motivasi.

Practical tips for good sleep are a popular topic in monthly published magazines and tabloids. Despite the plethora of good advice, normal sleep length has been mostly on the decline during the past three decades, with sleep quality among the work-aged population decreasing the most (1–3). In addition to long working hours, work stress and shift work are among the primary culprits for the increase of sleep problems among the world’s workers. In this issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, a systematic review examines the association between psychosocial work characteristics and sleep quality (4). While earlier research has often been cross-sectional and predominantly focused on work stress (5, 6), the current review took on the demanding task of analysing only longitudinal and intervention studies. The review is also valuable in its analysis of both the normal and reversed relations and its creation of valuable quality criteria for future studies on psychosocial work characteristics and sleep. Based on the review, consistent and strong evidence exists for a negative relationship between job demands and sleep quality as well as a positive relation between job control and sleep quality. However, the number of reviewed studies was too small to conclude on the association between other psychosocial work characteristics and sleep or the possible reversed relationship of sleep quality and work characteristics. Considering the extensive evidence on the association of psychosocial work characteristics, work stress and sleep, the detection of only three high-quality longitudinal studies and a single high-quality intervention study from the original 2397 papers is most surprising. This is partly explained by the inclusion criteria applied and the strict quality criteria related to the study design, the validity of exposure and outcome measures, and the statistical analysis. However, none of the reviewed studies used objective sleep recordings although sleep quality was investigated validly by questionnaires in the high-quality studies. Jackowska et al (7) recently studied the role of psychosocial factors and affective responses with the discrepancies between subjective and objective measures of sleep. While objective sleep efficiency (based on actigraph recording) was unrelated to variation in both psychosocial work characteristics and negative affect, self-reported poor sleep efficiency was more prevalent among those overcommitted or with lower level of social support at work (7). If the evaluation of both work characteristics and insomnia are based on subjective estimations, the findings of cross-sectional associations between the two are not surprising. However, based on the obvious discrepancies between subjective and objective analysis of sleep, longitudinal studies that may indicate a time-related change in subjectively reported sleep quality due to a change in psychosocial work characteristics may not have any effects on objectively recorded sleep. If the link between psychosocial work and sleep quality is limited to only subjective reports, it has implications for how the relationship should be interpreted. One interpretation is that the relationship is moderated by other variables like depressive symptoms or is related to reporting biases. Psychosocial work characteristics have been found to be associated with a moderate risk of coronary heart disease and some mental health problems (eg, 8, 9). Since disturbed sleep (based mostly on sleep length) is associated with several cardiovascular manifestations (eg, 10–12), and there are also potential mechanisms between the two based on experimental sleep restriction studies (eg, 13, 14), it would be interesting to know whether disturbed sleep due to work stress or unfavorable psychosocial work characteristics could be a pathway from work stress to cardiovascular diseases (15). It is possible but not plausible. First, the present review (2) indicates that effects sizes for work demands and job control in relation to sleep quality were only small to moderate based on the fully adjusted models. Second, the material did not allow for a qualitative estimation of the magnitude of the effects on sleep length. Studies measuring only sleep length were even excluded due to the focus on perceived sleep. Sleep follows a homeostatic regulation with the ability to adapt to small changes in sleep quality. Work stress is typically associated with increased sleep latency due to work rumination (5). It is also the degree of sleep deprivation – not the degree of perceived sleep quality – that correlates best with the biological and metabolic changes (16). The majority of the current knowledge on the association of sleep with health is still based on sleep length (10–12) even though the number of epidemiological studies on the association of sleep quality and health continues to increase (17). Although sleep quality correlates with short sleep in the general population (18), the effects of unfavorable psychosocial work characteristics on sleep length among healthy subjects may only be minor. We recently studied the association of work stress with insomnia using both subjective and objective analysis of sleep (19, 20). The shift-working women were recruited from hospital wards that belonged to either the top or bottom job strain quartiles of the Job Content Questionnaire. High job strain was associated with difficulties initiating sleep (probably due to work rumination) and reduced psychomotor vigilance during the night shifts, but the average objective sleep duration and sleep efficiency did not differ between the groups. A detailed analysis of the working hours showed that the job strain-related differences in sleep and recovery were mostly attributable to differences in shift arrangements. While the sleep curtailment due to work stress was only 16–28 minutes during the working days, sleep length varied up to 2 hours due to changes in work shifts (18, 19). In the second paper of this issue, Garde et al (21) examined if sleep duration is a risk indicator for ischemic heart disease (IHD) and all-cause mortality, and how perceived stress during work and leisure time and the use of hypnotics modified the association. As expected, short sleep (

A topic for research for many years now, the work environment is an important factor for worker health. For example, van Rijn and colleagues showed in a review how unfavorable working conditions were associated with shoulder disorders (1). When work characteristics are associated with health problems, this may have implications for employability. This was illustrated in a Swedish follow-up study where poor work characteristics were associated with work disability (2). An additional concern is the age-related decline in health and the concomitant increase in prevalence of chronic disease among the older part of the working population. The influence of unfavorable working conditions on health is particularly relevant for vulnerable populations. Workers with chronic disease suffer from limitations at work that are associated with sick leave (3), and unfavorable working conditions are predictive for exit from paid work in this group (4). In a study on workers with early arthritis, it was shown that unfavorable physical working conditions were associated with a poor prognosis of physical functioning (5). There is ample evidence that unfavorable work characteristics have negative effects on health. However, what is less well-established is how changes in exposure to certain work characteristics will influence health-related outcomes. Knowledge about the effects of changes in exposure is of particular relevance given the increasingly flexible labor market, where workers change jobs more often and exposure is changing more frequently. In this issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, Mänty and colleagues (6) investigate the effects of changes in work characteristics on physical functioning. They conclude that repeated and increased exposure to physical work characteristics (ie, awkward positions, rotation of the back, repetitive movements, standing, walking, and heavy physical effort) and job control were associated with greater declines in physical health, whereas a decrease in these exposures reduced the decline in physical health (6). Focusing on changes in exposure poses new questions on how to operationalize change. How did previous studies on changes in working conditions define change? An approach often used is to define four different exposure categories based on exposure at two moments in time (eg, T1 and T2): (i) stable low exposure (low at T1 and T2), (ii) increase in exposure (low at T1, high at T2), (iii) decrease in exposure (high at T1, low at T2), and (iv) stable high exposure (high at T1 and T2). Traditionally, we compare those workers with a high exposure to those with a low exposure for their respective risk on a particular health outcome (7–9). For example, Wang and colleagues investigated effects of changes in job strain on risk for depression comparing the patterns of increase, stable, and decrease with low exposure (7). What we can learn from the results is how the health effects in the three exposure groups differ from the group with the lowest risk over time. But is this really the most relevant result? When the group with a decreased exposure has an increased risk compared to the stable low group, this increased risk is likely caused by the effects of the high exposure at T1. This is already known from many previous publications. Mänty and colleagues used an alternative approach to establish the effects of changes in exposure to unfavorable working conditions and physical functioning (6). Similar to previous research, they defined four exposure categories: no exposure, increased exposure, decreased exposure, and repeated exposure. However, their choice of reference categories differs. In contrast to earlier work in the broader field of occupational health where one reference category was chosen, the authors used two different reference categories depending on the exposure group in which they were interested. They compared the decreased exposure group with the stable high exposure group and the increased exposure group with the stable low exposure group. The results nicely show how a decrease in exposure to physical work characteristics is associated with significantly better health functioning compared to the group that continued to be exposed to the unfavorable physical working conditions. This provides us with direct information about the potential benefits of reducing exposure, which will be of interest to, for example, employers. It is of high societal relevance as it shows the potential health benefits of decreasing exposure to unfavorable working conditions. We can move forward in the field of exposure–outcome research by investigating changes in exposure, rather than the effects of high exposure. I have proposed one way of doing so, but there will likely be alternatives available. For example, Leijten and colleagues compared three models for change in exposure (10). My main message is to think carefully about what you wish to analyze when it comes to change as the results may not truly reflect the effects of change, as I illustrated above. When we have a better understanding of change, a next step may be to gain insight into a maximum duration of exposure that will not lead to adverse health effects and directions on when to change from unfavorable to more favorable work characteristics to restore health. This will be particularly relevant for the population of older workers, many of whom suffer from chronic health conditions, where employability is a major challenge. My advice is to carefully think about the choice of reference categories when investigating effects of changes in exposure. And sometimes that requires inclusion of different reference categories within one study.αα

This paper refers to the ambiguity that resides in over three decades of telework research and develops the concept of community-based teleworkers as people who work from home or community-based offices using telecommunications. It investigates three case studies of live/work communities in which different levels of collective telework facilities have been offered to support community-based telework. This investigation promotes further understanding of individual and work-related characteristics of community-based teleworkers, and opens discussion on their spatial preferences. Understanding these preferences could lead the future of live/work community design and planning to fully embrace this flexible work option in the information age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Studies have shown that women receive lower wage returns to attained occupational prestige than do men. In this article, I examine whether the gender difference in wage return for attained occupational prestige can be explained by men's and women's different family obligations, and whether gender differences in work characteristics, which are difficult to combine with family duties, account for some of the gender wage gap in returns for attained occupational prestige. If women's family obligations were a major cause of women's disadvantage, the negative interaction between women and occupational prestige with regard to wages would be larger for mothers and married/cohabiting women than for single women without children. Results show a gender wage gap between married/ cohabiting men and women with children that increases with occupational prestige. However, the interaction between gender and prestige is insignificant among single women and men and among married/cohabiting respondents without children. Furthermore, when controlling for time-consuming work, the gender wage gap for married/cohabiting respondents with children according to occupational prestige narrows, especially in occupations with high prestige. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study prospectively evaluated factors of working conditions and lifestyle in the development of chronic non-specific lung disease (CNSLD).Methods: Baseline data were collected in 1981 from 5386 municipal employees born in 1923-35 who had no diagnosed CNSLD. The subjects were studied again in 1985 with a postal questionnaire. The predictors of CNSLD were selected by multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results: 159 (3%) reported the development of CNSLD confirmed by a physician. During the 4.6 year follow up period the average annual incidence was 6.5/1000 subjects. In men the logit model followed was: smoking (odds ratio (OR) 1.17, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.06-1.29), tight work schedule (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.03-1.65), loss of a close friend (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.13-4.31), and retirement of a spouse (OR 3.31, 95% CI 1.35-8.11). In women the selected risk factors were: smoking (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.01-1.38), atopy (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.12-3.53), physically heavy work (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.09-2.29), poor physical working conditions such as heat, cold, changing temperature (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.13-1.75), and infrequent communication with other people at work (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.05-1.49).Conclusion: The differences in the predictors of the incidence of CNSLD between men and women were partly explained by different smoking habits, frequency of atopy, and working conditions. In men the significance of life events (loss of close friend and retirement of wife) need further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]