Sustainable Workplace Research Articles

CSR in a controversial industry: the case of Malaysian oil palm companies

This paper examines the CSR engagements of listed companies in a controversial industry namely the palm oil production industry in Malaysia. The study employs content analysis method to identify and describe CSR activities reported by the companies in their 2014 annual reports. While there remains considerable variability in the reporting practices and levels of CSR disclosures, the majority of palm oil companies report extensively on environmental-related information. The second most disclosed CSR information is on workplace CSR activities, followed by the community and marketplace CSR-related information. These findings show that the majority of palm oil companies appear to heed the call of stakeholders to minimise the negative social and environmental impacts of their operations by focusing on sustainable agricultural and workplace best practices within their CSR programs.

A collaborative approach to reduce healthcare-associated infections.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) continue to be an ongoing issue for patients in acute hospital settings. Effectively preventing and controlling HAIs requires a collaborative approach compelling all healthcare staff to take up responsibilities and be involved. A surgical ward in an acute hospital aimed to implement comprehensive HAI prevention strategies by applying both Kotter's eight-step change model and the practice development principles into its current system. The project motivated staff to be involved and engaged in the assessment, implementation and evaluation of the project processes, and take ownership of the practice change. It focused on ensuring a clean environment, improving hand hygiene compliance, increasing staff's knowledge base regarding HAIs and enhancing active surveillance. The project achieved success in the reduction and prevention of HAIs as well as the development of a sustainable workplace culture.

Collaborative Governance, Decent Work and Innovation: An Analytical Framework for Sustainable Workplaces Based on the Case of Philippine Science and Technology Parks

Collaborative Governance, Decent Work and Innovation: An Analytical Framework for Sustainable Workplaces Based on the Case of Philippine Science and Technology Parks

A decade of an HIV workplace programme in armed conflict zones; a social responsibility response of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) works in fragile States and in armed conflict zones. Some of them are affected by the HIV pandemic. Within the framework of its social responsibility programme concerning HIV affecting its staff members, the organization has implemented an HIV workplace programme since 2004.We carried out a retrospective analysis over 10 years. Data collected were initially essentially qualitative and process-oriented, but were complemented over the years by data on annual voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) uptake and on direct annual costs covering awareness, testing and antiretroviral therapy.The number of people covered by the programme grew from none in 2003 to 4,438 in 2015, with an increase in annual VCT uptake over the years increasing from 376 persons (14 %) in 2007 to 2,663 in 2015 (60 %).Over the years, the services were expanded from awareness raising to bringing VCT to the workplace, as well as offering testing and health coverage of other conditions and innovative approaches to facing challenges linked to situations of violence.Within its social responsibility framework, the ICRC has shown the importance and feasibility of a workplace HIV programme in conflict zones. A sustainable workplace programme in these conflict settings requires constant adaptation, with regular follow-up given the relatively high turnover of staff, and ensuring sustainable stocks of condoms and antiretroviral drugs.

Addressing and managing sustainable workplace health during times of change: Reflections from the DOP 2016 Annual Conference

Addressing and managing sustainable workplace health during times of change: Reflections from the DOP 2016 Annual Conference

Boredom in the Workplace: Reasons, Impact, and Solutions

Boredom in the workplace is not uncommon, and has been discussed widely in the academic literature in relation to the associated costs to individuals and organizations. Boredom can give rise to errors, adverse patient events, and decreased productivity—costly and unnecessary outcomes for consumers, employees, and organizations alike. As a function of boredom, individuals may feel over-worked or under-employed, and become distracted, stressed, or disillusioned. Staff who are bored also are less likely to engage with or focus on their work. In this article, we consider the nature of boredom and also the reasons why employees, including mental health nurses, become bored in the workplace. We also discuss the role that can be taken by employees and employers to recognise and address the problem of boredom and we consider how best to develop sustainable workplaces that are characterised by engaged employees who provide the best possible service in healthcare settings.

Sustainable Workplaces as Innovation

IntroductionACADEMIC RESEARCH AND POPULAR NEWS sources alike decry what has come to be called the (Chamberlain & Hodson, 2010; Williams, 2011; Morgan, 2013; Schwartz, 2014). As an environment, the toxic workplace includes an array of harmful working conditions ranging from hostile co-workers and insensitive bosses to chaotic and exploitative work environments. Awareness of the toxic workplace has become more pronounced since the great recession of 2008. As businesses downsized, there have been myriad reports that surviving employees are forced to work harder to offset the diminished worker population, and subjected to debilitating working conditions (Greenhouse, 2015, p. BU1; Sanger-Katz, 2015; Miller, 2015, p. A3). Worse, workers are trapped in bad jobs by a weak labor market.Yet, amid bad news on the labor front, here and there pockets of hopeful news have emerged. Some management scholars and a host of local and international social movement organizations are calling for action to promote more sustainable workplaces (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2007; Pfeffer, 2010; Spreitzer & Porath, 2012). They argue for conceptualizing sustainable workplaces in ways that go beyond eco-friendly environments to positive, regenerative environments for employees. Sustainable workplaces are viewed as an innovation, not so much of products or production processes, but as a change that entails decent treatment of employees (Ehnert & Harry, 2012).In this paper, we present an analysis of 60 interviews of small business owners that employed 1-100 employees. These firms were identified by local chambers of commerce, business organizations and business magazines as innovative businesses. Innovations included product, service and process types (Jurik, McGhee, & Bivona, 2010). In the course of interviews, we asked owners how they created innovative businesses. Over three-fourths of the 60 businesses credited the work environment that they had created for themselves and their employees. Upon a review of our findings and the growing body of literature on toxicity and its counterpart, sustainable work environments, we found that our sample of small businesses offered important insights into managerial strategies for building non-toxic work environments in small businesses. Some literature argues that sustainable work environments promote high employee work performance. Our data link such environments to business innovation.In the sections below, we discuss the literature on toxic and sustainable work environments followed by a discussion of our methodology and sample. We then present our analysis of owner narratives about the work environment. We found that 77% of owners stressed the importance of strategies in one or some combination of the following three realms: job dimensions, organizational level dynamics, and interpersonal interactions.Toxic vs. sustainable work environments: the literatureThe global recession that began in 2008 heightened the sense of insecurity, stress, and exhaustion that workers experience, and older terms such as burnout or rustout have reappeared in the literature (Docherty et al., 2007). Amid unemployment at rates not seen in decades, downsizing (even globally) is the new normal, and workers have been stretched to and beyond capacity. Yet, workers are afraid to complain about, much less leave, a bad job because there are so few jobs. The situation is so dire that research decries that Taylorism lives (Kira, 2002; Crowley et al., 2010; Witzel & Warner, 2015), and there are increasingly allusions to the (Chamberlain & Hudson 2010).Recent years have been a time of much bad news in the workplace. The academic literature is replete with research about incivility and rudeness, even outright bullying in the workplace (Hutton, 2006; Tracy et al., 2006; Johnson & Indvik, 2001). U.S. businesses seem to be so obsessed with short-term financial gain that there is little concern about job insecurity, ill-health due to job-related stress, or any sense of work-life balance for workers. …

Exploring the theoretical link between cultural and emotional intelligence: A system analysis for human resource management

In light of increasing globalisation and a changing workforce, the ability to bridge cultural fissures separating diverse groups will be increasingly critical to sustained work place well-being, especially with relation to global competitiveness and economic growth. This article explores the link between cultural and emotional intelligence in an effort to investigate the possibility of measuring, developing, and effectively managing individual responses to cultural influences that give rise to significant tension within the organisational context. Since South Africa’s heterogeneous workforce is characterised by culturally diverse group interaction, the conceptualisation of a cross-cultural facet of intelligence with emotional-management as reciprocal component has practical implications towards optimal intercultural organisational harmony, effective globalised interaction and overall group-dynamics.

High work ability and performance in psychiatric health care services: Associations with organizational, individual and contextual factors

IntroductionContinuing development in the German healthcare system has a strong influence on the work situation of hospital clinicians working in Psychiatric Medicine. Since the job demands for psychiatrists are growing, there is a strong need to promote, preserve and restore doctors’ work ability. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of psychiatrists’ work ability and to examine relations between work ability, job performance and organizational as wells as individual resources (e.g. work engagement) of doctors working in psychiatric hospitals. Methods and materialsThe current survey investigation was conducted as a cross-sectional. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and the Work Ability Index were used to evaluate psychiatrists’ work engagement, working conditions and work ability. ResultsPsychiatrists reported high levels of work ability and work engagement. Significant associations have been found between doctors’ sources of work engagement, work ability and organizational factors (e.g. possibilities for development, income, etc.). Moreover, significant differences in gender, age and marital status have been analyzed with regard to perceived work ability scores. ConclusionThe study results reflect the positive effect of supportive working conditions and work engagement on the preservation of psychiatrists’ work ability. Our research suggests that strengthening psychiatrists’ work ability and work engagement will contribute to a more sustainable workplace, in terms of both individual and hospital performance. Innovative strategies for physicians’ personal development and improving capacity and performance of clinicians working in Psychiatric Medicine are strongly required.

Safety Reloaded: Lean Operations and High Involvement Work Practices for Sustainable Workplaces

Starting from the recent quest to investigate the human side of organizational sustainability, this study applies a variety of regression analyses to investigate the effects of Lean Operations, High Involvement Work Practices, and management behaviors on occupational safety. It tests and finds support for the hypotheses that Lean Production systems, High Involvement Work Practices, and two specific management behaviors—workers’ capability development (coaching and teaching of workers) and empowerment (autonomy and participation of workers in developing their own job standards)—positively affect occupational safety. Furthermore, empowering behaviors positively moderate the effect of Lean Operations on workers’ safety. The study bridges sustainable operations literature with theories related to the ethical side of safety management, sustainable HRM, ethical leadership, and empowerment. In doing so, it contributes to the understanding of occupational safety as constitutive aspect of organizational sustainability.

A New Human-centric Factory Model

The traditional manufacturing concept puts tasks at the center of the production system and the workers’ role is rather passive. However, the workplaces of the future will be worker-centric instead of task-centric, and the role of the workers is expected to increase, leading to an optimization of the production performance. In this manner, it is of paramount importance to define new social sustainable workplaces where the human dimension is a key cornerstone, highlighting the requirements for shifting from a traditional task-centric production to a worker centric production. The idea of this study is to design the workplaces of the future and to understand how the worker's role will change in the next years, focusing on the workers’ perspective to create workplaces that fit to their needs. The study therefore highlights a new human-centric factory model and provides a taxonomy of the aspects to be considered in designing these worker-centric factories of the future. The EU-Funded Man-Made Project is used for the development and validation of the concepts of the research work utilizing case studies in the transportation and white-goods industries.

A socio-technical approach to improving retail energy efficiency behaviours

In recent years, the UK retail sector has made a significant contribution to societal responses on carbon reduction. We provide a novel and timely examination of environmental sustainability from a systems perspective, exploring how energy-related technologies and strategies are incorporated into organisational life. We use a longitudinal case study approach, looking at behavioural energy efficiency from within one of the UK's leading retailers. Our data covers a two-year period, with qualitative data from a total of 131 participants gathered using phased interviews and focus groups. We introduce an adapted socio-technical framework approach in order to describe an existing organisational behavioural strategy to support retail energy efficiency. Our findings point to crucial socio-technical and goal-setting factors which both impede and/or enable energy efficient behaviours, these include: tensions linked to store level perception of energy management goals; an emphasis on the importance of technology for underpinning change processes; and, the need for feedback and incentives to support the completion of energy-related tasks. We also describe the evolution of a practical operational intervention designed to address issues raised in our findings. Our study provides fresh insights into how sustainable workplace behaviours can be achieved and sustained over time. Secondly, we discuss in detail a set of issues arising from goal conflict in the workplace; these include the development of a practical energy management strategy to facilitate secondary organisational goals through job redesign.

Work and organisations in 2020

Purpose – The report aims to make the case for workplace innovation in an increasingly volatile global environment and outlines the opportunities for the creative and rewarding work that it affords. Work and Organisations in 2020 argues that workplace innovation has a major impact on both the performance of the enterprise and on national economic competitiveness. It boosts productivity, quality and innovation, by making better use of workforce talent and has a profound effect on employees’ learning and development, health, well-being, ageing and wider roles as citizens. Design/methodology/approach – Keys issues include: the intrinsic value of work; sustainable workplaces; harmonising technological innovation and human potential; entrepreneurship and developing and utilising skills. Findings – The paper considers challenges to sustainable and effective change, and key issues concerning the way forward including responsible globalisation, new roles for public policy, new roles for trade unions and employers’ organisations, a new labour market perspective, listening to the voice of employees and realising the promise of employee ownership. Originality/value – The report concludes that there is a way towards a more coherent UK approach to renewing the employment agenda in the UK: an agenda that has often been somewhat fragmented and lacking in a strategic focus capable of guiding the efforts of different actors. At the heart of these values is a commitment to sustainable improvement in economic performance and social well-being, and an explicit rejection of short-termism.

Sustainable cultures

Purpose – This paper aims to describe a design research project which looked at how to support facility managers engage employees in behaviour change to create more environmentally sustainable workplaces and work styles. Design/methodology/approach – The multi-disciplinary research team used ethnographic and user-centred design methodologies to get employees’ perspectives on environmental sustainability in the workplace. This involved in-depth interviews and workplace observations to understand employees’ views on sustainability in their organisation; workshops to explore attitudes towards sustainability; and design provocations to explore how employees might be motivated to act more sustainably. Findings – The research demonstrated the different understandings people have of what sustainability in the workplace should mean and whose responsibility they think it should be. The results were developed into a model of four different sustainability cultures, pragmatist, libertarian, housekeeper and campaigner, based upon people’s perception of the cost of sustainability to both company and employees. This model can be used to provide insight into the predominant sustainability culture of an organisation as well as the attitudes of individual employees. Originality/value – The research has been compiled into a toolkit, “The Sustainable Cultures Engagement Toolkit”, aimed at FM and workplace managers, which uses this model as the basis to provide information about how best to communicate with employees about environmental sustainability in the workplace and how to motivate behavioral change. This research demonstrates a user-centred design approach to address these challenges.

Persuasive technology for sustainable workplaces

This forum presents innovative thought, design, and research in the area of interaction design and environmental sustainability. We explore how HCI can contribute to the complex, interdisciplinary efforts to address sustainability challenges. ---Elaine M. Huang, Editor

Build the best: A case study of Juniper's new dynamic workplace

This paper describes the approaches Juniper Networks took to build a new 635,000ft2 (57,150m2) corporate campus in Sunnyvale, California, and deliver on the promise of an innovative, efficient and sustainable workplace environment where Juniper employees can do their best work. Juniper's new campus shows what can be achieved when an established workplace strategy is integrated with a state-of-the-art enterprise network and energy efficiency strategy. Juniper now has a cutting-edge, world-class workplace that improves productivity, enhances collaboration, increases employee satisfaction and reduces real-estate and technology costs.

Surgeons' work engagement: Influencing factors and relations to job and life satisfaction

BackgroundWork engagement has become a topic of great interest in recent years. However, clinicians' work engagement has rarely been studied and relatively little is known about its predictors and consequences. Therefore the objective of this cross-sectional questionnaire study was to test a model of possible institutional and personal predictors and significant relations to job and life satisfaction. Methods123 clinicians specializing in Surgery Medicine participated in the study. Self-administered questionnaires, including the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Brief Resilient Coping Scale and the Questionnaire for Self-efficacy, Optimism and Pessimism, were administered. Bivariate analyses and a stepwise regression analysis were performed. ResultsThe whole sample of surgeons rated work engagement with a high mean of M = 4.38; SD = .91. Job satisfaction and perceived quality of life have been rated with moderate scores. The results show that job resources have a greater impact on surgeons' work engagement than their job demands. Significant correlations between surgeons' work engagement, their job satisfaction and quality of life were found. Moreover, work engagement mediated the relation between institutional factors and surgeons' job satisfaction. ConclusionOur research suggests that strengthening surgeons' work engagement will contribute to a more sustainable workplace, in terms of both individual and hospital performance. Therefore, increasing work engagement among surgeons should be of concern for supervisors and hospital managers. Future research should focus on further predictors that may have an influence on health professionals' work engagement. Another field for future research is to study potential effects of interventions on work engagement.

10 Bold Steps to Prevent Burnout in General Internal Medicine

Physician burnout is an escalating problem receiving little attention from health care leaders. Burnout is a long-term stress reaction which includes emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of sense of personal accomplishment. Physician burnout rates range from 30–65 % across medical specialties, with the highest rates experienced by those at the front line of care, including emergency medicine and general internal medicine.1 Recruitment of medical students into general internal medicine is worrisomely low, and may relate in part to the perceived stressfulness of a primary care career. Addressing burnout among general internists is a national imperative, as health care reform necessitates greater reliance on primary care. Burnout poses problems for both health care organizations and patients. While burned-out physicians attempt to maintain quality of care at their own expense, work conditions that result in burnout are associated with poorer care quality.2 Burned out doctors are more likely to leave their practice, thus reducing access to care. Turnover sacrifices continuity, and replacement costs are at least $250,000 per primary care physician. Satisfied role models could make a difference in this steady drain on primary care, but it is getting harder to find them. The situation may be no better for hospitalist physicians, for whom burnout is also common.3 Women physicians in national surveys have a 60 % higher burnout rate than that seen in men, yet the workplace remains largely unmindful of gender as a predictor of burnout. And despite known work condition challenges that contribute to burnout in clinics serving minority patients, few if any changes have occurred to improve this situation. Finally, models to prevent physician burnout are not well documented. We offer suggestions for addressing these challenges. The fact that burnout is a long-term stress reaction allows time to measure and intervene. To combat burnout, organizations need to identify stress in its earlier stages (Fig. 1), and choose programs to prevent burnout before it occurs. Following this quality improvement (QI) model for organizational self-care can produce a sustainable workplace for clinicians, with high quality and accessible care for patients (see Table 1). Figure 1. Conceptual model of Ql feedback loop to prevent stress, burnout and turnover. Table 1 Ten Steps to Prevent Physician Burnoutᅟ

Nurturing a Healthy, Safe, Sustainable Workplace Culture

Why does healthy, sustainable living matter? Healthy people, healthy worksites and health-promoting “green” processes all intersect at the bottom line. Healthy, safe, sustainable work environments are key for recruiting and retaining team members. These environments lower cost, decrease inputs, and provide better products and new business models while optimizing human health and wellness. Healthy, safe, sustainable work cultures help companies to:

Leveraging Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainable Workplace Harmony: A Conflict Management Tool for International Managers

In the multinational enterprise (MNE), workplace conflict is generally managed within organisational systems adopted from the West. When MNEs operate in emerging economies, there is a potential disconnect between these systems and the conflict management preferences of local employees. We propose that international managers consider using indigenous knowledge to inform the conflict management systems in their subsidiaries in order to enhance and sustain cooperative workplace relations. Drawing on literature from management, anthropology, and international development, as well as the authors’ experience as participant observers in the industrial sector in Sri Lanka, we develop a conceptual model for ‘leveraging’ indigenous knowledge. The model is illustrated by a practical application in the Sri Lankan subsidiary of a European MNE. We conclude by suggesting that the leveraging of indigenous dispute resolution knowledge from the community into the organisation contributes to greater workplace harmony and global corporate citizenship.