Variation Of Work Research Articles

COVID-19’S IMPACT ON FOOD STALL WORKERS: NIGHT MARKETS’ RESILIENCE IN PENANG, MALAYSIA

The COVID-19 pandemic has left an enduring mark on Southeast Asia, with lasting repercussions on financial markets, employment, and gender equality in the workplace. Various activities were halted in order to curb the virus’s spread, which dealt a severe blow to Malaysia’s thriving economy. The informal sector, a cornerstone of the Asia-Pacific service industry, felt these effects acutely, as it heavily relies on informal workers. Given that more than three quarters of Malaysia’s service sector comprises informal workers, the country’s economic recovery is now significantly reliant on this workforce. Considering the contribution of the informal sector to Malaysia’s food market, this study aims to explore the impact of social shocks and economic crises on the resilience of informal workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a multistage probability sampling method, the study employed a questionnaire survey involving Penang’s food stalls in night markets. Findings reveal significant variations in workers’ lifestyles, attitudes, and family dynamics. Gender-related factors also exert a substantial influence on their behavior, attitudes, and engagement levels. While many studies have examined night markets as tourism spots in terms of how to increase sales or attract visitors, this study is among the first to focus on the vendors themselves, exploring the impact of COVID-19 on food stalls as an unseen vulnerable community.

Exploring construction workers' attention and awareness in diverse virtual hazard scenarios to prevent struck-by accidents

Repetitive tasks in construction reduce workers' attentiveness of hazards on sites. This decline in attentiveness can be influenced by their situation awareness level. However, research on the relationship between attentiveness and situation awareness is scarce in the construction safety domain. This study employs eye-tracking techniques to investigate how visual attention changes due to variations in workers’ situation awareness levels. A virtual reality-based experiment was conducted to evaluate the situation awareness level of individual workers and examine its relationship with attentiveness towards different hazards using the situation awareness global assessment technique and linear regression analysis. The experimental findings reveal that the overall trend of allocating attention toward hazards declined over time. Furthermore, the attentiveness of workers varied depending on their situation awareness levels and the type of hazardous condition. Throughout the experiment, the group with a low situation awareness failed to sustain their vigilance toward hazards as effectively as the group with a high situation awareness. The outcomes of this study will help construction safety trainers understand variations in workers' vigilance behavior over time and, thus mitigate the risk of accidents owing to inattentiveness at job sites.

Trajectories of U.S. Parents’ Remote Work during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had numerous consequences for work and family, but one of the most important was the substantial increase in remote work. Despite interest in changes to remote work and questions about whether the new environment of remote work will persist long-term, we know little about variation in workers’ experiences with remote work since the beginning of the pandemic. In this data visualization, we use longitudinal data on U.S. working parents from 2020–2023 and group-based trajectory models to illustrate varying patterns of remote work for partnered parents. The heterogeneity of parents’ experiences with remote work throughout the pandemic reveals important nuances not previously identified in tracking polls and highlights important gender differences that likely had implications for mothers’ and fathers’ well-being and gender equality.

Employment effects of the minimum wage: evidence from the Spanish 2019 reform

We examine the employment effects of the 2019 minimum wage increase in Spain on individual probabilities of losing employment status (extensive margin) and lowering work intensity (intensive margin). To do so, we use variation of workers’ exposure to the reform by comparing monthly employment transitions into unemployment and reductions in number of working hours between employees earning less than the minimum wage (treatment group) and those earning more and that should therefore be unaffected by the reform (control group). We find that the new minimum wage significantly increased the probability of experiencing unemployment (1.7 percentage points) and a reduction in work intensity (0.9 percentage points) for treated workers after one year. Our results suggest substantial heterogeneity by age, prior work intensity, economic sector and geographical region of employees affected by the reform.

Differences in Workers’ Safety Behavior by Project Size and Risk Level of Work in South Korea

Unsafe behavior is the main cause of accidents in the construction industry. Considering the fact that accidents occur more frequently in small projects and on more hazardous works, this study tests the hypotheses that workers’ safety behavior varies (1) with project size, and (2) with the risk level of work. Survey data were collected from a total of 313 construction workers at 21 sites using questionnaires, and the data were analyzed using a series of factor analyses and structural equation modeling. Multigroup factor analysis revealed that the mean safety behavior value for the workers in large projects was greater than that for the workers in small projects, with a statistically significant difference. This indicates that large-project workers tend to behave more safely than small-project workers. However, no statistically significant difference was found for the workers’ safety behavior with regards to the risk level of work. In addition, the differences in the impacts of three factors (management commitment, supervisor’s role, and workers’ perception of safety) on safety behavior depending on the project size and risk level of work were investigated using multigroup structural equation modeling. Management commitment had the greatest impact on workers’ safety behavior in large projects, whereas workers’ perception of safety had the greatest impact in small projects. Regarding the risk level, management commitment had the greatest impact on safety behavior with low-risk work, and workers’ perception of safety had the greatest impact with high-risk work. These results suggest that management commitment is more important to control worker’s safety behavior to prevent accidents for large projects and low-risk works, whereas the workers’ safety perception is more important to prevent accidents for small projects and high-risk works. This study provides a new theoretical basis for explaining the variations in workers’ safety behavior group to group, and facilitates the development of future safety policies and systems. This study also contributes to the establishment of strategic planning and the justification for spending relevant resources to improve workers’ safety behavior.

Wage and Employment Impact of Minimum Wage: Evidence from Lithuania

This paper evaluates the worker-level effects of a historically large and permanent increase in the minimum wage in Lithuania. Our identification strategy leverages variation in workers’ exposure to the new minimum wage, and exploits the fact that there has been no increase in the minimum wage in previous years, to account for heterogeneous labor market prospects of low-wage workers relative to high-wage workers. Using detailed administrative records to track workers before and after the policy change, we show that the minimum wage hike significantly increased the earnings of low-wage workers. This direct effect was amplified by wage spillovers reaching the median of the pre-policy income distribution. Overall, we find no negative effects on the employment prospects of low-wage workers. However, we provide suggestive evidence that young workers, highly exposed municipalities, and tradable sectors may be more negatively affected. In contrast, labor market concentration or the presence of envelope wages appear to be associated with lower job losses. Taken together, our findings imply an employment elasticity with respect to the minimum wage of −0.021, and an own-wage elasticity of −0.033, suggesting that wage gains dominated employment losses.

Evaluating Worker Interactions in U-Shaped Production Lines Using Functional Resonance Analysis Method

The need for resilient production to cope with the variation in workers’ performances has been increasing due to the employed population's decline and the workers’ aging in developed countries. U-shaped production lines have attracted attention as a possible solution to this problem because of their high flexibility and capability to deal with external environmental factors by promoting workers’ interactions. However, more than conventional methods are required to analyze workers’ interactions in U-shaped production lines because of the high complexity and flexibility. This paper proposes a novel framework based on the functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) for investigating the effect of worker interactions in a U-shaped production line. The framework introduced two supportive methods, i.e., the algorithmic analysis and KOMPASS evaluation criteria, to objectively conduct the FRAM analysis process. The feasibility of the framework was explored by a case study focusing on a highly skilled worker in a motor winding process. The results showed that the adjustment feature of the worker based on the interaction factor represented by the FRAM models played a critical role in resilient production. The proposed framework provides a systematic procedure to investigate interactions among multiple workers in U-shaped production lines for resilient production.

Prevalence of workplace bullying and its consequence to employee productivity among civil society organizations in Lira City, Uganda

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of the prevalence of workplace bullying on employee productivity of CSOs in Lira City by focussing on three aspects, viz. workplace bullying and employee attendance, workplace bullying and employee efficiency, and workplace bullying and teamwork.
 Methodology: This study used descriptive case study and correlational designs. The study employed a mixed methods approach, involving the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Primary data from the field was collected by the researcher using research tools. Primary data were obtained first-hand from the target respondents defined by seeking their knowledge, experiences and/or opinions about the impact of workplace bullying on employees’ productivity. External validity which refers to the extent to which the findings of a particular can have credibility and generalizability across populations, contexts and time, the researcher triangulated using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
 Findings: Results that workplace bullying is significantly prevalent among the institutions investigated (Mean = 3.614; std. = 1.02) and from the highest extreme, the study shows that superiors maliciously discount the achievements of the subordinates (mean = 3.766; std. = 1.042). The statistics suggest that a variation in workplace bullying is associated to a weak variation in workers’ absenteeism. The significant value shows that the correlation is significant and that workplace bullying and employee absenteeism are linearly related. Also, the results show that bullying contributes 11% (R Square = .101) of the variations in employee productivity however when treated in isolation, the effect of workplace bullying is not adequate to explain the level of absenteeism among the selected institutions. So a variation in bullying practices is associated to a variation in slowdown of work even if is not very significant. This can be attributed to the fact that slowdown does not mean complete withdrawal of labour like absenteeism, and therefore its ramifications on productivity is not severe.
 Conclusion and recommendations: From the study, it was inferred workplace bullying negatively affect productivity in international non-governmental organizations due to the fact that bullied employees continuously complain of depression and mental illness which put them in the maze of absenting from work. Even when they keep coming for work, bullied employees complain of nervous breakdown and feign sickness just to escape the hostile work environment. Hence, the need to create awareness about what bullying is and how it can be prevented, as a starting point for creating conducive working environments, and organisational managers should not take workplace bullying lightly but should take it as something costly for organizations and therefore should be prevented or redressed by putting in place anti-bullying policies and measures.
 Unique contribution to policy and or practice: This study provides additional evidence to the Lira context as well as helping to widen the methodology of measuring this relationship between workplace bullying and worker productivity.

Queen Caging and Oxalic Acid Treatment: Combined Effect on Vitellogenin Content and Enzyme Activities in the First Post-Treatment Workers and Drones, Apis mellifera L.

Varroa destructor is a mite causing serious damage to western honey bees. Managed colonies require artificial varroa control, which may be best obtained by combining mechanical and chemical methods. This study explored the possible effects of the combination of queen caging and oxalic acid treatment on the immune system (glucose oxidase, phenoloxidase, and vitellogenin) and antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione S transferase) of first post-treatment generation drones and workers (newly emerged, nurses, and foragers). The combination of queen caging and oxalic acid treatment caused a decrease in glucose oxidase activity only in drones. This could cause issues of cuticular sclerotization, making a drone prone to bite injuries, dehydration, and pathogens. No differences in phenoloxidase activity were recorded in both post-treatment drones and workers generation. Among worker bees, the treatment determined a lower vitellogenin content in newly emerged bees while the result was higher in nurse bees. However, the treatment did not significantly affect the antioxidant enzymes activity in either drones or workers. The results obtained in this investigation suggest that the combined anti-varroa treatments had no negative effects on oxidative stress in the first post-treatment generation bees, while effects did occur on the immune system. Further investigations on the potential effects of glucose oxidase decrease in drones and vitellogenin content variation in workers are desirable.

Coping with precarity during COVID-19: A study of platform work in Poland.

This article explores how the COVID‐19 pandemic has affected the work and life experiences of platform workers' and how workers have responded to the outbreak in Poland. Platform workers have been exposed to substantial fluctuations of demand during the pandemic, magnifying the distortions existing in an unregulated asymmetrical employment relationship diverging from the standard employment relationship. Findings illustrate how workers have attempted to reduce the disruptions underpinning the existence of this unregulated asymmetrical relationship by adopting different strategies, which resemble Hirschman's typology of loyalty, voice and exit. We explain the choice of strategies by highlighting workers' different access to resources and institutional capabilities, as well as by variation in their orientations.

Pure-Chance Jobs versus a Labor Market: The Impact on Careers of a Random Serial Dictatorship for First Job Seekers

Do workers' first jobs affect their careers? Do such first-job effects (FJEs) vary across worker types? If so, can policy improve upon a “free” labor market by altering initial worker-employer matches? We study these questions using Norway's pre-2013 system of assigning doctors to their first job–residencies–through a random serial dictatorship. This generated individual-level variation in workers' choice sets over employers, which we use as instrumental variables to estimate FJEs. We then decompose workers' preferences over first employers into FJEs-on-earnings and employer “amenity value” components, showing how matches and worker welfare changed in the post-2013 decentralized labor market.

Workers' Compensation Elements in Different Jurisdictions in the United States.

: Over the decades, the workers' compensation system has provided many injured workers with a significant guarantee of both medical and financial support when they have been injured on the job. To be effective, workers' compensation systems at a minimum should include principles that require the addressing of medical causation, determination of an individual's functional ability both pre- and post-injury to include activity restrictions, return-to-work capability and disability, meeting jurisdiction-specific reporting requirements of the workers' compensation reporting requirements, and having knowledge of other perspectives of the various authorities and jurisdictions present in the United States. ACOEM lays out a description of various aspects of workers' compensations systems in the United States, with recommendations for minimal standards and best practices. This paper limits itself to the discussion of jurisdictions within the United States and ACOEM strongly recommends that providers consult directly with the states in which they are working as there are state variations in workers' compensation.

The institutionalization of part-time work: Cross-national differences in the relationship between part-time work and perceived insecurity

We propose an institutionalization of part-time work model to account for the cross-national variation in workers' perceptions of insecurity in their jobs and in the labor market, arguing that part-time work is institutionalized as high quality or marginal employment depending on the extent to which it is voluntary, gendered, and legally protected. Using heterogeneous choice models on 2005 ISSP data linked to country-level characteristics, we find that the relationship between part-time work and insecurity is gendered and contingent upon the type of insecurity (cognitive job insecurity, labor market insecurity, or affective job insecurity) and whether or not one works part-time on a voluntary basis. At the individual level, working in a part-time job is associated with greater cognitive job insecurity but lower labor market and affective job insecurity. At the national level, the expected negative association between the part-time work rate and insecurity is most consistent for affective job insecurity. The findings also indicate that the strength of the association between working in a part-time job and insecurity varies by the national institutional context of part-time work, including the degree of gender segregation of part-time work and legal protections for part-time workers. Overall, the results from this study provide support for our institutionalization of part-time work perspective. Part-time work is not inherently secure or insecure employment. The amount of insecurity associated with this type of non-standard work is contingent upon the prevailing local myths or scripts that structure the ways that the state, employers, and workers view part-time work.

Firm Leverage, Labor Market Size, and Employee Pay

We provide estimates of the wage costs of firms' debt exploiting within-firm variation in workers' expected unemployment costs due to variation in local labor market size. We find that, following an increase in firm leverage, workers with higher unemployment costs experience higher wage growth relative to workers at the same firm with lower unemployment costs. Our estimates suggest wage costs are an important component in the cost of debt; a 10 percentage point increase in firm leverage increases wages for the median worker by 1.9% and increases total firm wage costs by 17 basis points of firm value.

Feeling secure vs. being secure? Qualitative evidence on the relationship between labour market institutions and employees’ perceived job security from Germany and the U.S.

ABSTRACT How can labour market institutions make workers confident about their economic future? While quantitative studies have repeatedly shown that countries’ labour market regulations and policies are related to variations in workers’ perceived job security, these studies did not explain how these institutions affect workers’ perceptions and expectations. This study seeks to close this gap by analysing qualitative interview data collected on employees in Germany and the U.S. during the great financial crisis (2009–2010). The study's main finding is that policies vary in their effectiveness at making workers feel secure about their jobs. While unemployment assistance can reduce workers’ worries about job loss, dismissal protection does not seem to effectively increase workers’ confidence that their jobs are secure. Overall, employees know relatively little about the policies and regulations that are meant to protect them and have limited trust in their effectiveness. Individual and organisational characteristics seem to be more relevant for employees’ feelings of job security than national-level policies. In particular, comparisons with others who have lower levels of protection increase workers’ perceived security. These insights are particularly important in light of the ongoing changes in the world of work that are making workers’ lives more uncertain and insecure.

A Study on Factors Affecting Suicidal Behavior of Workers

본 연구는 직장인들의 자살행동에 미치는 영향요인을 알아보기 위한 연구이며, C지역 근로자 200인이상의 5개 근로사업장에서 2016년 4월부터 7월 사이에 자발적 설문에 참여한 667명을 대상으로 하였다. 사용한 척도는 직무스트레스 단축형 측정도구, 우울척도, 알코올사용장애 선별검사, 자살행동척도 등이었다. 연구결과 직무스트레스 중상위군 및 상위군이 하위군보다, 상위군이 중하위군보다 자살행동점수가 높은 것으로 나타났으며(F=7.50, p<.001), 우울군이 정상군보다 자살행동점수가 높았 고(t=249.55, p<.001), 알코올사용장애군이 정상음주군과 문제음주군에 비해 자살행동점수가 높은 것으로 나타났다(F=9.94, p<.001). 자살행동에 영향을 미치는 요인은 우울감이 심할수록(？醒？=0.41, p<.001), 여성직장인인 경우(？醒？=0.13, p=.002), 직무스트레스가 심할수록 (？醒？=0.08, p=.042) 자살행동에 대한 예측력이 높았으며, 자살행동에 대한 예측변수들의 총 설명력은 30%였다(F=18.86, p<.001). 따라서, 직장인들의 자살행동을 줄이기 위해서는 우울 및 직무스트레스를 줄일 수 있는 방안을 모색하고 직무스트레스가 높은 집단을 선별하여 관리하는 방법을 시행하기를 제안한다.To investigate the factors influencing suicidal behavior of workers, self-report questionnaires (Korean Occupational Stress Scale, The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Korea, Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire&#8211;Revised) were completed by 667 workers at 5 workplaces in C province in Korea from April to July 2016. The results of this study showed that the high and mid-high job stress groups had higher suicidal behavior ratings than the low group, and the high group had higher ratings than the mid-low group (F=7.50, p <.001). The depression group showed higher suicidal behavior than the normal group (t=249.55, p<.001), and the rating was higher for the alcohol use disorder group than the normal- and problem-drinking groups (F=9.94, p<.001). The regression model explained 30% of the variation in workers’ suicidal behaviors (F=18.86, p <.001), with significant variables such as depression (β=0.41, p <.001), female (β=0.13, p =.002), and job stress (β=0.08, p =.042).

Molecular and morphological recognition of species boundaries in the neglected ant genus Brachymyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): toward a taxonomic revision

Brachymyrmex is a neglected genus of Formicinae because of its small body size, soft mesosoma, and superficially monotonous external morphology. These features have complicated the documentation of morphological variation, resulting in poorly defined and incompletely described species. Consequently, the taxonomy of the genus is complex and problematic, which has impeded research and conservation efforts. Here, we integrate molecular and morphological data to recognize species boundaries in Brachymyrmex and to guide its long-overdue revision. Specifically, we (1) redefine the limits of all described species, subspecies, and varieties based on intra- and interspecific morphological variation in workers; (2) document this variation quantitatively by constructing morphospace occupation and statistically analyzing measurements; (3) synthesize our findings on diagnostic traits in a dichotomous, illustrated identification key; and (4) examine the significance of our morphological identification system with molecular evidence from four gene fragments (EF1aEF1, EF1aEF2, WG, and COI). We recognize 40 species, of which four are new to science: Brachymyrmex bahamensis, Brachymyrmex bicolor, Brachymyrmex iridescens, and Brachymyrmex sosai. Furthermore, Brachymyrmex attenuatus and Brachymyrmex bonariensis are raised to species, and we propose 25 new synonyms. Morphometrics indicated that even poorly distinguishable species pairs show statistically significant differences in some traits, and that taxonomically problematic cases relate to taxa that demonstrate large intraspecific trait variance. Our molecular analysis supports the monophyly of the genus based on increased taxon sampling, and of the 19 species that were included 18 were retrieved as monophyletic. The single case of incongruence was also flagged in morphological analyses and requires extended geographic sampling before it can be resolved. In conclusion, the molecular work corroborates the morphologically recognized species boundaries. We also document the presence of worker dimorphism and putative worker-queen intercastes in several Brachymyrmex species, which indicates that the genus may present a promising study system to understand caste evolution in ants.

The Significance of Suffering in Organizations: Understanding Variation in Workers’ Responses to Multiple Modes of Control

I develop a framework to explain workers’ diverse responses to similar combinations of control modes across organizations. The framework highlights the importance of two conceptual dimensions that draw together insights from studies of control and resistance in the workplace. The dimension of compatibility considers workers’ subjective experiences of the fit between their personhood and modes of control, where alignment can inspire fulfillment and misalignment can prompt suffering. The dimension of coherence considers workers’ perception of the consistency between modes, which can be fragmented or unified to reinforce organizationally prescribed goals and processes. The framework yields four ideal types of interaction between modes of control: complementing, coexisting, competing and clashing. I illustrate how workers experience each ideal type through empirical examples. In doing so, I identify how workers’ experiences can trigger processes that generate different intensities of compliance and resistance to control.

Imperfect Competition, Compensating Differentials and Rent Sharing in the U.S. Labor Market

The goal of this paper is to quantify the importance of imperfect competition in the U.S. labor market by estimating the size of rents earned by American employers and workers from ongoing employment relationships. To this end, we construct matched employer-employee data by combining the universe of U.S. business and worker tax records for the period 2001-2015. Using this panel data, we provide two empirical findings on the role that firms play in the wage determination in the U.S. The first finding is that idiosyncratic productivity shocks to a firm transmit significantly to the earnings of its workers. Controlling for time-invariant firm and worker heterogeneity through a difference-in-differences strategy, we estimate that a 10 percent increase in the value added of a firm leads to a 1.4 percent increase in the earnings of incumbent workers. The second finding is that little of the variation in earnings is due to workers being employed in different firms. Estimating a two-way (worker and firm) fixed effect model, we find that firm effects explain no more than 3 percent of the variation in workers’ earnings. To interpret these two findings, we develop a model of the labor market where multiple employers compete with one another for workers who have heterogeneous preferences over non-wage job characteristics or amenities. These heterogeneous preferences give rise to imperfect competition and rents. The model suggests a significant amount of rents and imperfect competition in the U.S. labor market. Workers are, on average, willing to pay 14 percent of their wage to stay in the current jobs. Comparing these worker rents to those earned by employers suggests that total rents are divided relatively equally between firms and workers. The model also reveals that the finding of small firm effects do not imply that labor markets are competitive or that rents are negligible. Instead, firm effects are small because productive firms tend to have good amenities, which pushes down the wages that these firms have to pay. As a result, firms contribute much less to earnings inequality than what is predicted by the variance of firm productivity only.

Perceptions of climate change and occupational heat stress risks and adaptation strategies of mining workers in Ghana

Heavy physical workload for long hours coupled with increasing workplace heat exposure due to rising temperatures stemming from climate change, especially where there are inadequate prevention and control policies, adversely affect workers' health and safety, productive capacity and social well-being. However, variations in workers' concerns and awareness of occupational heat stress and climate change risks impede the effectiveness of heat stress management. A mixed method approach was used to assess climate change perceptions and occupational heat stress risks and adaptation strategies of Ghanaian mining workers. Questionnaires and focus group discussions were used to collect data from 320 respondents. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used for data analysis. Workers' climate change risk perception, as confirmed by trends in climate data, was reasonable, but concerns about climate change effects and workplace heat exposure risks varied significantly across types of mining activity (p < 0.001). Workers experienced heat-related morbidities, but the variation in heat-related morbidity experiences across the type of mining activity was not significant. However, the type of heat-related morbidities experienced by workers differed across the type of mining activity (p < 0.001). Workers' awareness of occupational heat stress prevention and control was adequate. The disparities in workers' awareness and use of the prevention and control measures significantly differed across the type of mining activity (p < 0.001). Occupational heat stress prevention activities should focus on workers, and a concerted effort must be made to promote workers' adaptive capacity and inform policy decisions.