Personal flexibility and psychological well-being under multiple employment

Abstract

Multiple employment is a new and insufficiently studied object of psychological research, it has ambiguous social and psychological characteristics. The purpose of the article is to compare the levels of personal flexibility and psychological well–being under single and multiple employment, to assess the socio-demographic factors of possible differences between single and multiple employment groups. Additionally, the task is to assess the level of precarity of multiple employment. The total sample was 748 people, average age 31,03 years (min — 20, max — 45), 48,13 % men, 51,87 % women. A subgroup of persons with more than one place of work (multiple employment) included 150 subjects. The employment status of the respondents and their socio-demographic characteristics were identified using closed-ended questions in the questionnaire. Personal flexibility and indicators of work instability (precarity) evaluated using the precarity index (Diomin A.N.) and the scale of flexibility in the professional sphere (Diomin A.N., Kireeva O.V.). Psychological well-being in the professional and labor sphere was measured using two indicators: the forced employment (the scale of forced employment from the questionnaire «Psychological structure of employment») and perception of career development barriers (scale «Development Barriers» from the Russian adapted methodology «My Vocational Situation» by J. Holland, D. Gottfredson, P. Power). It was found that inclusion in additional employment occurs more often in the case of a short-term relationship with the employer, as well as when there is an opportunity to use information and communication technologies in the labour process. Education, financial status and level of main employment precarity do not influence inclusion in multiple employment. Personal flexibility in the labour sphere also does not affect this process. Multiple employment is accompanied by a lower level of experiencing barriers to career development compared to those who have only one job, thus demonstrating a higher level of psychological well-being of this category of workers. Probably, they consider multiple employment as a resource of adaptation to the labour market.