Abstract
Following current prognosis, an aging of the working population is expected. A field study was conducted to investigate interventions to strengthen the ability to work of (older) employees. Interventions should support them to recover from stress to maintain performance and work-related motivation. The current paper addresses this interplay and analyzes the effect of three different interventions (standard intervention; interruption-specific intervention; biological rhythm group). Following research questions should be answered: (1) Can the subjective well-being of employees be improved by specific interventions for breaks? (2) Are there differences between older and younger employees’ subjective well-being depending on the contents of break interventions? 34 employees of two Austrian public service organizations participated in the field study. 58.82% of the participants were female. Following the definition of WHO (1993) whereas “aging workers” are defined as workers which are aged 45 years and older, 21 participants belong to the group “aging workers” resp. “older workers”. Overall, the study participants participated in the field study for nine weeks (seven measurement times). With regard to the different intervention groups, the results show that additional intervention contents have a positive effect on the subjective well-being of the employees. Furthermore, older employees benefit more from interventions than younger do. The two main research questions can be answered with the results of the study: (1) Specific interventions for breaks are able to improve the subjective well-being of employees. (2) Differences in the subjective well-being between older and younger employees during the intervention can be made visible.
Highlights
IntroductionIn the light of demographic changes, the working world has to adapt to less available younger professionals
Following research questions should be answered: (1) Can the subjective well-being of employees be improved by specific interventions for breaks? (2) Are there differences between older and younger employees’ subjective well-being depending on the contents of break interventions? 34 employees of two Austrian public service organizations participated in the field study. 58.82% of the participants were female
The main questions that should be answered with the results of the study were: (1) Can the subjective well-being of employees be improved by specific interventions for breaks? (2) Are there differences between older and younger employees’ subjective well-being depending on the contents of break interventions?
Summary
In the light of demographic changes, the working world has to adapt to less available younger professionals. Following Semmer and Richter (2004), older employees are able to compensate performance deficits with the help of expertise and a better comprehension of working processes. They compensate performance deficits by working more precisely (Kallus, Schmitt, & Benton, 2005) and/or by conducting (additional) training (Wild-Wall, Gajewski, & Falkenstein, 2009). Job satisfaction of younger employees seems to be more motivated by extrinsic factors like salary, job satisfaction of older employees correlates stronger with intrinsic factors like reputation or a feeling of “being needed” (Kanfer & Ackermann, 2004). Regarding the need of recovery, older employees seem to have a stronger need of recovery than younger employees do (e.g., Jansen, Kant, & van den Brandt, 2002; Kiss, De Meester, & Braeckman, 2008)
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