Fear Of Job Loss Research Articles

The extent and determinants of precarious employment in Europe

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and determinants of the so-called precarious employment across Europe and using different measures and based on individual’s self-assessment.Design/methodology/approach– Data on over two million workers across Europe (EU-15) from the European Union Labour Force Survey are utilised and a Heckman selection approach is adopted.Findings– About one tenth of the total European workforce is in employment relationships that could be related to precariousness. The sources of precariousness are mainly involuntary part-time and temporary work. Less prominent as a source of precariousness is job insecurity related to fear of job loss. Vulnerable groups are found to have a higher risk of precariousness while significant country variations indicate that precariousness cannot be examined in isolation of the national context. Finally, signals of previous employment inability, such as lack of past working experience, as well as the state of labour market significantly increase the risk of precarious work.Originality/value– The present study utilises a large-scale survey in order to investigate the incidence of precarious employment in a harmonised way and produce results that are comparable across EU-15 countries.

Understanding and managing conflict: a prerequisite for post-merger FET colleges

It was common practice in the pre-1994 South Africa that many historical black universities and Further Education and Training (FET) colleges were deeply entangled in ongoing conflict, instability and crisis. The academic and administrative staff was in constant conflict with senior management while councils were also deeply divided among themselves, especially on the issue of governance and management. As a result of political changes in South Africa in 1994, the government proposed that the higher education system should be restructured to address past inequalities. Subsequent investigations into restructuring the education system resulted in a wave of mandated mergers across the sector. The Department of Education made provision for the merging of technical colleges by addressing the social structural inequalities manifested through apartheid, and ensuring that limited resources are effectively and efficiently utilized. However, FET mergers introduced a number of organizational changes and dynamics resulting in heightened emotions, fear of job losses, having to move sites, and changes to conditions of service that were unfavourable. Using a questionnaire, this study investigated the perceptions of academic staff on how managers and management teams handled conflict in post-merger FET colleges. The empirical findings included lack of conflict management skills, poor communication and lack of participative decision-making amongst role-players. The Conflict Resolution Model was developed to provide a substantial basis for assisting managers to effectively manage conflict during future FET merging processes, or at newly merged institutions.

Job insecurity and compensation evaluations: the role of overall justice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations of job insecurity with pay and incentive satisfaction and the role of overall justice in these relationships. Design/methodology/approach – The authors surveyed employees of an industrial equipment sales firm located in the Southeastern USA. Surveys were completed by 151 employees using instruments assessing job insecurity, overall justice, pay satisfaction, and incentive satisfaction. Findings – The study results indicated job insecurity is negatively related to both pay and incentive satisfaction. Further, the study found that overall justice mediated the job insecurity to pay satisfaction relationship, but not the job insecurity to incentive satisfaction relationship. Research limitations/implications – Because overall justice only explained the job insecurity-pay satisfaction relationship, future research should examine other potential mediators to better understand these disparate effects when compared with incentive satisfaction. Future research should also examine the model with a larger sample using a time-lagged design to further mitigate the limitations of the study. Practical implications – The results of this study suggest that employees who contain a strong fear of job loss tend to experience reduced pay and incentive satisfaction levels. Managers should do what they can to limit the impact of job insecurity on these attitudes and provide additional training to employees in coping strategies so that they might better deal with the job insecurity stressor. Originality/value – Integrating the literatures on stress appraisal and organizational justice, the empirical model provides understanding of how job stressors and perceptions of organizational justice influence pay and incentive satisfaction.

Perceptions of Job Insecurity before, during, and after the Great Recession

This Research Note documents how insecure workers were feeling before, during, and after the Great Recession, using the American General Social Surveys, and highlights disparities and inequalities by gender, race, age, and education. This study confirms that, like unemployment rates, fear of job loss varies significantly across race, gender, and age groups. I find two unexpected results. First, both male and female workers’ perceptions of job insecurity seem to have increased equally, despite the term “man‐cession.” Second, older workers felt much more insecure than the middle‐aged workers, despite their higher level of experience and lower likelihood of unemployment.

Fear of Unemployment and its Effect on the Mental Health of Spouses.

Unemployment has been shown to have adverse effects on different aspects of a person's life, and even the fear of losing a job affects individuals negatively. In addition, not only the individuals directly affected but also their spouses and other family members might be affected. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel, this study analyzes the relationship between individual job worries and spouse's mental well-being. The empirical results remain robust to different specifications and indicate that fear of job loss is negatively related to spouses' mental well-being and that this relationship seems to be stronger in single-income than in dual-income households. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Leaveism and illness-related behaviour.

Recent studies have suggested that leaveism may be a link between sickness absence and sickness presence (attending work despite illness). This paper examines one of the three components of leaveism (utilization of annual leave entitlements or flexi hours instead of sick leave). To study whether leaveism provides additional information about employees' well-being not already predicted by sickness absence and sickness presence and to test previously suggested reasons for this behaviour. Data from a heterogeneous sample of employees from a study on presenteeism was used to analyse the association between leaveism and self-rated health and to further investigate previously hypo thesized links with sickness absence and sickness presence. Data from 930 employees (response rate 31%) were analysed. Although the use of leave entitlements when unwell is less prevalent (mean = 1.5 days per year) than sickness absence (6.2 days) and sickness presence (7.4 days), this component of leaveism is significantly related to subjective health adjusted for sickness absence, sickness presence and other control variables. The results suggest that this component of leaveism is associated with fear of job loss, promotion prospects, more restrictive attendance policies and work overload. Contrary to expectations it is associated with lower, rather than higher, job enjoyment. Leaveism provides additional information about employees' illness-related behaviour and well-being and should be further considered in future research. Among those employees who try to avoid sick leave, high workload seems to be a stronger predictor of sickness presence, whereas fear of job loss seems to promote leaveism.

Hospital Employee Willingness to Work during Earthquakes Versus Pandemics

BackgroundResearch indicates that licensed health care workers are less willing to work during a pandemic and that the willingness of nonlicensed staff to work has had limited assessment. ObjectiveWe sought to assess and compare the willingness to work in all hospital workers during pandemics and earthquakes. MethodsAn online survey was distributed to Missouri hospital employees. Participants were presented with 2 disaster scenarios (pandemic influenza and earthquake); willingness, ability, and barriers to work were measured. T tests compared willingness to work during a pandemic vs. an earthquake. Multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted to describe factors associated with a higher willingness to work. ResultsOne thousand eight hundred twenty-two employees participated (15% response rate). More willingness to work was reported for an earthquake than a pandemic (93.3% vs. 84.8%; t = 17.1; p < 0.001). Significantly fewer respondents reported the ability to work during a pandemic (83.5%; t = 17.1; p < 0.001) or an earthquake (89.8%; t = 13.3; p < 0.001) compared to their willingness to work. From multivariate linear regression, factors associated with pandemic willingness to work were as follows: 1) no children ≤3 years of age; 2) older children; 3) working full-time; 4) less concern for family; 5) less fear of job loss; and 6) vaccine availability. Earthquake willingness factors included: 1) not having children with special needs and 2) not working a different role. ConclusionImproving care for dependent family members, worker protection, cross training, and job importance education may increase willingness to work during disasters.

Understanding health beliefs and behaviour in workers with suspected occupational asthma

Long delays from symptom onset to the diagnosis of occupational asthma have been reported in the UK, Europe and Canada and workers are often reluctant to seek medical help or workplace solutions for their symptoms. Reducing this delay could improve workers' quality of life, and reduce the societal cost of occupational asthma. This study aimed to explore reasons behind such delays. A purposive sample of 20 individuals diagnosed with, or under investigation for, occupational asthma (median age = 52; 70% male; 80% white British) undertook a single semi-structured interview. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was undertaken in order to explore health beliefs and identify barriers to diagnosis. Four themes were identified: (1) workers' understanding of symptoms, (2) working relationships, (3) workers' course of action and (4) workers' negotiation with healthcare professionals. Understanding of symptoms varied between individuals, from a lack of insight into the onset, pattern and nature of symptoms, through to misunderstanding of what they represented, or ignorance of the existence of asthma as a disease entity. Workers described reluctance to discuss health issues with managers and peers, through fear of job loss and a perceived lack of ability to find a solution. The evolution of workers' understanding depended upon how actively they looked to define symptoms or seek a solution. Proactive workers were motivated to seek authoritative help and negotiate inadequate healthcare encounters with GPs. Understanding workers' health beliefs will enable policy makers and clinicians to develop better workplace interventions that may aid diagnosis and reduce delay in identifying occupational asthma.

The Slow Adoption of Cloud Computing and IT Workforce

Cloud computing created many new opportunities for organisations across the world. Presently, Cloud services are available at affordable prices and accessible for all scales of businesses. The economic benefits of this wider acceptance to adopting Cloud computing are enormous and many companies have embraced Cloud computing now. Over the years, technology emergence has helped to enhance the growth of Cloud computing, but the growth had not been as per expectations in the beginning era of the Cloud computing. This paper analyzes various factors that have affected the adoption rate of Cloud computing to be slower than expectations. This paper also identifies that the major factor behind the slower growth of Cloud computing is the controversial view about Cloud computing in the eyes of IT workforce. Based on the result of a survey of IT workforce at various organizational levels, this paper establishes that the identified factors such as Cloud computing awareness and the fear of job loss in IT workforce played a role in slow adoption of Cloud computing. Further, this paper presents recommendations to handle technology adoption and forecasting in a better way in future.

Can We Manage a Balance between Care and Employment?&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;—The Compatibility of Informal Care and Employment at the Alpen-Adria University

Thedemographic trend confronts the younger generation with the decision to care for family members. The care of a loved one is seen as not only a challenge but also a burden. The aim of the present study is to investigate the compatibility of care and employment in the university context by a multilevel triangulations design. First we determined the amount of persons concerned by all staff members of the Alpen-Adria University (AAU) (n = 919). Subsequently we discussed the problems in depth with ten employees. The results show that 11% of the employees are caring for a family member and are exposed to a variety of burden. In addition to physical and mental disorders, there are changes in the work style. The affected employees kept the care secret and formulated fears of job loss and degradation of efficiency. These results formed the basis for expert interviews (n = 7) and the development of concrete solutions.

Exploring downsizing: a case study of airline company of Pakistan

Pakistan is facing economic downfall for the past few years and this has created adverse impact on all government and private organizations. Due to economic downfall organizations are reducing number of employees to decrease their costs by using downsizing. This study investigated the consequences of downsizing on survivor employees in a leading airline company of Pakistan. Case study technique has been used and data has been collected through un-structured interviews from 12 employees. NVivo 10 software has been applied for in-depth qualitative analysis. Different techniques have been used for the validation of different themes of the study including graphs, word tag clouds, word tree map and tree map. The findings depicted 14 more or less critical consequences of downsizing on survivor employees. More critical consequences are perceptions about work, internal feelings, internal motivation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, career development, employee performance, feelings of job insecurity, thinking for better opportunity and stress. Less critical consequences are increase in workload, fear of job loss, bad health and thinking to switch. These consequences of downsizing can be divided into two major categories such as effects on attitudes and effects on behaviors. It is concluded that employees with less experience are more inversely affected by downsizing. Downsizing has negatively affected attitudes and behaviors of survivor employees in leading Airline Company of Pakistan but impact on attitudes is higher than on behaviors. Keywords: Attitudes, Behaviors, Downsizing, Survivors, NVivo.

The perceived probability of job loss and future labour market outcomes

Longitudinal survey data are used to test the degree to which worker expectations of future job loss are correlated with changes in labour market status. Three major findings are reported. First, perceived probabilities of expected job loss are only weakly related to both exogenous job separations and subsequent transitions to unemployment and inactivity. Second, while fears of job loss tend to persist across time and job spells, they do so at a highly diminishing rate. Third, quit intentions are strongly correlated with both voluntary separations and transitions to alternative employment, and do not diminish greatly across successive employment spells.

Leaveism and public sector reform: will the practice continue?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine and report how the construct of “Well-being” is being recognised within the public services. Using research conducted in a northern provincial police force in the UK the paper explores the issues that may contribute to sickness absence, presenteeism and leaveism; a recently described manifestation of workload overload. As sweeping public sector reform results in reduced workforce and potentially static demand, the question asked here is, “how do organisations adapt to the shifting landscape and retain employee engagement in the workplace?” Design/methodology/approach – The study used A Short Stress Evaluation Tool to assess the risk of stress in the workforce. The questionnaire employed an online self-administered survey and collected data from 155 respondents on stress perceptions, health, attitude towards the organisation, job satisfaction and commitment to the organisation. Findings – Sickness absence figures receive detailed attention when it comes to managing employees, but they may not represent a reliable picture. In this study one-third of respondents indicated that they had taken leave when they had actually been ill or injured; leaveism. The concept of leaveism does not currently appear within sickness absence reporting mechanisms, and the authors would suggest that the omission of this concept leaves a lacuna in current thinking that may have significant impact on both individual and organisational performance. Research limitations/implications – This research clearly shows that the issue of leaveism is a valid concept and has potentially far-reaching consequences. This study has only touched on the first (of three) of the leaveism behaviours and is conducted solely in a policing environment (although non-warranted employees are included in the research cohort). Further research could include attempts to quantify elements two and three of leaveism, and explore to what extent these may impact on organisations undergoing public sector reform. Practical implications – Previous studies have highlighted the negative health effects on “stayers” in public sector downsizing exercises. This in turn raises the question of just how these “survivors” cope with the new regime; with potentially more work and less pay. The authors ask what behaviour cuts of this magnitude will eventually drive when the dust settles? As a consequence could the authors see an end to the practice of leaveism? In which case the authors could make the assumption that (in its first form) it may convert to sickness absenteeism? With a third of people surveyed conceding to the practice, this has far-reaching consequences. In comparison to presenteeism, which has no overt costs, this scenario presents an entirely different fiscal proposition. Originality/value – Leaveism, a recently described and under researched phenomenon, is a hidden source of potential abstractions from the workplace, and could impact enormously on organisational effectiveness. The motivation for the practice is unclear, and could be a manifestation of loyalty, enjoyment or duty. It could also be construed as a reaction to fear of job loss, redundancy or down grade. Whatever the underlying reason this study clearly illustrates the potentially harmful consequences to (public sector) organisations.

Sickness Absence, Moral Hazard, and the Business Cycle

The procyclical nature of sickness absence has been documented by many scholars in literature. So far, explanations have been based on labor force composition and reduced moral hazard caused by fear of job loss during recessions. In this paper, we propose and test a third mechanism caused by reduced moral hazard during booms and infections. We suggest that the workload is higher during economic booms and thus employees have to go to work despite being sick. In a theoretical model focusing on infectious diseases, we show that this will provoke infections of coworkers leading to overall higher sickness absence during economic upturns. Using state-level aggregated data from 112 German public health insurance funds (out of 145 in total), we find that sickness absence due to infectious diseases shows the largest procyclical pattern, as predicted by our theoretical model.

BEHAVIORAL AND ATTITUDINAL RESPONSES TO ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE MEDIATED BY JOB SATISFACTION WITH LOCUS OF CONTROL AS A MODERATOR: A STUDY OF TELECOM SECTOR OF PAKISTAN

The purpose of this study is to explore organizational justice outcomes in telecom sector of Pakistan. The tested model proposes a path through job satisfaction to improve organizational commitment among firms in the competitive industry. Data was collected from 120 telecom employees in three companies. Results from regression analysis show job satisfaction to explain attitudinal response to procedural justice. Mediation effects were not supported for absenteeism. Strict controlling measures in the private sector and fear of job loss do not enable employees in the sector to respond by being absent, despite being dissatisfied. No moderation was seen for procedural justice effects on job satisfaction. Overall implications for telecom sector managers are also discussed.

SELF‐PERCEIVED JOB INSECURITY AND THE DEMAND FOR MEDICAL REHABILITATION: DOES FEAR OF UNEMPLOYMENT REDUCE HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION?

An inverse relationship between job insecurity and sickness absence has been established in the literature, which is explained by employees avoiding to send signals of both poor health and uncooperative behavior towards the employer. In this paper, we focus on whether the same mechanism applies to the demand for medical rehabilitation measures. This question has recently gained much interest in the context of the current public debate on presenteeism. Using county-level unemployment rates as instrument for the employees' fear of job loss on the individual level, we find that an increase in subjective job insecurity substantially decreases the probability of participating in medical rehabilitation.

X-Ray Film, 2009

X-Ray Film, 2009 Anne Harding Woodworth (bio) Near where lattice-stemmed mushrooms bloomx-ray film was buried in a baseball diamond, sunk in haste when the film factory closedand the company baseball teams folded. Men played for relief from the stress of chemistry,cellulose triacetate in their nostrils, and forklifts, until the fear of job loss became a malignancyunder a thousand ribcages and spines. The film has bubbled up to the surfacebecause Earth spits back what tries to poison it. And the film is exposed now in the forest light,lying in pieces, small and large rectangles, blue, gray, opaque, some transparent,spreading out over first base and left field, vestiges of shadow, of sickness in the human gut,insight into the workings of a thing gone wrong. [End Page 97] Anne Harding Woodworth Cedar Mountain, North Carolina Anne Harding Woodworth Anne Harding Woodworth is the author of four books of poetry and two chapbooks. She divides her time between a home south of Brevard, North Carolina, and a home in Washington, D.C., where she is a member of the Poetry Board at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Copyright © 2013 Berea College

Real-Time Analysis for Remote Operations Centers

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper IPTC 16999, ’Remote Real-Time Analysis - A Game Changer for Remote Operations Centers,’ by Erland Saeverhagen, Arve Thorsen, Jan Ove Dagestad, Nic Spanovic, and Kate Cannon, SPE, Baker Hughes, prepared for the 2013 International Petroleum Technology Conference, Beijing, 26-28 March. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Drilling completion, production, and general surveillance are all areas that benefit greatly from remote real-time analysis. However, several challenges to remote services exist, including communications issues, fear of job loss, and working outside one’s comfort zone. What is considered an important development goal for a business might be regarded as a threat to an individual, leading to reduced development within remote services. Remote-Operations Business Model A remote-operations business model removes geographic location and physical distance in all phases of oilfield-service delivery. It reduces the cost of delivering services, increases geographic reach, and improves safety. Remote operations, in essence, are real-time workflows that integrate personnel at rigsites and at assembly and maintenance and overhaul (AMO) facilities; at remote operations centers; or at real-time operational centers (RTOCs) anywhere in the world. Remote operations are the acquisition of sensor data from rigsite equipment and instruments, and the transmission and processing of those data from remote locations. Monitoring, alarm, or advisory services are delivered in real time with global delivery models, increasing the capability to move work from the point of service to another lo cation, where it can be performed more safely, more quickly, and at a lower cost. Infrastructure, while critical, is only an enabler. The true sources of efficiency and competitive advantage come from the organizational redeployment of the workforce and the re-engineering of workflows. Providing on-demand expertise enables service providers to deploy new technology faster and deliver high-end services in areas with few local qualified resources. Customers also benefit from bundled services, which require the integration of different disciplines and expertise that may be in short supply. The Digital Oil Field Improved connectivity through radio link, fiber optics, and satellite systems has opened a new world of opportunities for operation optimization. Real-time operations monitoring occurs from any office, accessing data streams through Web portals. New downhole tools and software have been developed on the basis of these new abilities, and new service levels have resulted, leading to new and interesting jobs, improved well placement, high service quality, and reduced non-productive time (NPT).

Workplace bullying: the experiences of building and construction apprentices

This paper examines the workplace bullying experiences of building and construction apprentices. The aims of the paper are to learn about the types of behaviours to which building and construction apprentices are subjected and to examine the reasons why a significant proportion of them neither confront the perpetrator of the behaviour nor report the behaviour, either within the organisation or externally. Individual semi-structured interviews were used. The results indicate that the apprentices were subjected to a wide range of negative behaviours. There were several reasons for them neither confronting the perpetrator nor reporting the bullying, including fear of job loss and financial impact.

Study of impact of proposed "51 % FDI in multi brand retailing" by Government of India on the unorganized retail market

According to AT Kearney's Global Retail Development Index (2011), India has been ranked as the 4th most emerging market for retail (after Brazil, Uruguay and Chile). India has been ranked as the 4th most emerging market for retail (after Brazil, Uruguay and Chile). The organized retail market in India is approximately 6 % of the total retail market but growing at a significant rate of 35 - 40 % (Indian Retail Report, 2011). India being a signatory to World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in services, which includes wholesale and services, had to open up the retail trade sector to foreign investment. There were initial reservations towards opening up of retail sector arising from the fear of job losses, procurement from international market, competition and loss of entrepreneurial opportunities. However, In 1997 FDI in cash and carry (Wholesale) with 100 percent ownership was allowed under the government approval route. It was brought under the automatic route in 2006. percent investment in a single brand retail outlet was permitted in 2006. The paper studies the impact of proposed 51 % FDI in multi brand retailing by Government of India on the unorganized retail market by discussing the pros and cons of the proposed FDI policy. The paper is based on secondary data and analysis is done by taking into account the views expressed by government and findings of surveys done by various market research agencies.