Work Job Research Articles

Addressing Occupational Ergonomics Issues in Indonesian Forestry

This study addresses occupational ergonomics issues in Indonesian forestry (work conditions, workers' characteristics, occupational safety, occupational health, and job satisfaction) to acquire a comprehensive perspective in understanding the actual problems facing the operations. Direct observation, interview, questionnaires, and secondary data analyses were carried out to acquire all of the required information. A total of 191 frontline forestry workers (chainsaw operators, helpers, manual hauling workers, skidder/tractor operators, logging truck drivers, and nursery workers) participated in this study. The study shows that various techniques of forest operations (labor-intensive to semi-mechanized systems) have been applied in Indonesian plantation forests, both short and long-rotation, as well as in natural forest management. Most of the workers were non-permanent workers, who receive a low wage, work under a straight piecework system, have a high dependency on the forestry work to make a living, and exhibit poor comprehension of the concept of hazard control. The fatality rate was recorded as 1.3 deaths/106 m3 log, but this may be even higher as this rate only represents data taken from formal forestry workers. An intense physical dimension of fatigue occurs among workers involved in forest operations, with the highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the upper back, lower back, neck, shoulders, and arms. This study reveals eight variables that influenced job satisfaction, i.e., wage, type of contract, accessibility, health services, living facilities, work equipment, training, and social facilities.

Low-income workers' perceptions of wages, food acquisition, and well-being.

Although studies have demonstrated an association between increased economic resources and improvements in food security and health, there is a paucity of qualitative research regarding the relationships between household resources, food security, and health. Policy changes related to increasing low wages are potential opportunities to understand changes to material resources. The aims of this analysis were to describe how low-wage workers perceive household resources in relation to food acquisition and to explore how workers in low-wage jobs connect food and diet to perceptions of health and well-being. We analyzed 190 transcripts from 55 workers in low-wage jobs who were living in households with children who were part of the Seattle Minimum Wage Study (up to three in-depth qualitative interviews and one phone survey per participant, conducted between 2015 and 2017). We coded and analyzed interviews using Campbell's food acquisition framework and best practices for qualitative research. Participants relied on a combination of wages, government assistance, and private assistance from community or family resources to maintain an adequate food supply. Strategies tended to focus more on maintaining food quality than food quantity. Restricted resources also limited food-related leisure activities, which many participants considered important to quality of life. Although many low-wage workers would like to use additional income to purchase higher quality foods or increase food-related leisure activities, they often perceive trade-offs that limit income-based adjustments to food-spending patterns. Future studies should be specifically designed to examine food choices in response to changes in income.

Understanding how social worker compassion fatigue and years of experience shape custodial decisions

BackgroundCompassion fatigue (i.e., a worker’s diminished ability to empathize with clients) is common among “helping workers” and can result in psychological detachment from clients as a coping mechanism. ObjectiveIn the present research, we explored the relationship between social workers’ compassion fatigue and years of job experience on hypothetical child custody case judgments. Participants and settingIn two separate studies, individuals with experience working with children in child dependency court (predominantly social workers, Study 1: N = 173, Study 2: N = 119) were recruited on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and read a vignette depicting a mother attempting to regain custody. ResultsSupporting hypotheses, compassion fatigue significantly mediated the relationship between increased years of social worker job experience on recommendations that a neglectful mother receive custody, Indirect Effect = .06, CIs [.026, .127] (Study 1). We also found preliminary support for our hypothesized theoretically derived serial path model, in which (a) social worker compassion fatigue predicts anticipated secondary traumatic stress associated with the child neglect case, B = .54, p = .0001; (b) secondary traumatic stress predicts detachment from the neglected child, B = .27, p = .0003; (c) detachment from the child predicts job efficacy cynicism B = .65, p < .0001; and (d) job efficacy cynicism predicts decisions to allocate custody to the neglectful mother, B = .46, p = .005 (Study 2). ConclusionOur research shows that compassion fatigue among social workers may change the lens through which they perceive cases of child abuse.

Alternative Retirement Paths and Cognitive Performance: Exploring the Role of Preretirement Job Complexity.

Recent research suggests that working longer may be protective of cognitive functioning in later life, especially for workers in low complexity jobs. As postretirement work becomes increasingly popular, it is important to understand how various retirement pathways influence cognitive function. The present study examines cognitive changes as a function of job complexity in the context of different types of retirement transitions. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine change in cognitive function for workers who have held low, moderate, and high complexity jobs and move through distinct retirement pathways-retiring and returning to work, partial retirement-compared with those who fully retire or remain full-time workers. Inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (a propensity score method) is used to adjust for selection effects. There are systematic variations in the relationships between work and cognitive performance as a function of job complexity and retirement pathways. All retirement pathways were associated with accelerated cognitive decline for workers in low complexity jobs. In contrast, for high complexity workers retirement was not associated with accelerated cognitive decline and retiring and returning to work was associated with modest improvement in cognitive functioning. Both policy makers and individuals are beginning to embrace longer working lives which offer variety of potential benefits. Our findings suggest that continued full-time work also may be protective for cognitive health in workers who hold low complexity jobs.

Job Incentives And Career Knowledge As Predictors Of Workers Job Performance Among Employees Of Transmission Company Of Nigeria (TCN)

This study investigated job incentives and career knowledge as predictors of worker job performance in Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). The study was for the purpose of ascertaining whether job incentives significantly contributed to worker job performance among the workers in Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) or not. In the study, primary data was used. Survey research design was used. Primary data was collected through self-administered structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. A total of 100 respondents from the organization were selected for the study using stratified Proportionate sampling technique. The researcher utilized three sets of questionnaire titled Job Incentives Scale, Workers Job Performance Scale and Career Knowledge Scale. Pearson’s Correlation was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that Job Incentives has weak negative relationship with job performance among worker of Transmission Company of Nigeria [r(96)= -0.11, p>0.05], also, findings revealed that career knowledge has weak positive relationship with job performance among workers of Transmission Company of Nigeria [r(96)= 0.119, p>0.05]. It is recommended that employers should concentrate more on adequate job incentives and rewards to their workers to elicit positive attitude from them at work; and achieve job satisfaction which improves employee productivity and corporate performance. Keywords: Job Incentives, Career Knowledge, Workers, Job Performance. DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-14-15 Publication date :July 31 st 2019

Importance-Performance Analysis(IPA) on the Jobs for Teachers and Education Welfare Workers of Education Welfare Priority Support Project

본 연구는 교사와 교육복지사가 교육복지우선지원사업에서 수행되는 업무의 중요도와 실행도를 어떻게 인식하는지에 대해서 IPA(Importance-Performance Analysis: IPA)로 파악하는데 목적이 있다. 이를 위해서 선행연구 결과를 토대로 5개 대업무와 26개 세부 업무를 문항화해서 경기도 내 초․중․고등학교에서 근무하는 교육복지사 전원과 이들 학교에서 교육복지우선지원사업 업무를 담당하는 교사 각 117명에게 설문조사를 실시하여 교육복지사 93명과 교사 89명에게 수집된 자료를 분석하였다. 연구결과, 교육복지사는 프로그램 운영을 제외한 전체의 대업무에 걸친 19개 세부 업무에 대해서 중요도를 실행도보다 통계적으로 유의하게 높게 인식하였다. 교사는 7개 세부 업무에 대해서 중요도를 실행도보다 통계적으로 유의하게 높게 인식하였다. IPA 결과, 교육복지사는 10개, 교사는 15개 세부 업무가 지속유지영역에 속한다고 인식하였고, 낮은 중요도와 실행도인 점진개선영역에는 교육복지사는 7개, 교사는 10개 세부 업무가 속한다고 인식하였다. 우선개선영역에는 소수의 세부 업무가 속하였지만, 높은 중요도에 비해서 실행도가 낮은 업무이므로 실천적인 개선 전략을 마련해야 할 것이다. 과잉투자영역에는 교육복지사에게서만 3개의 세부 업무가 제시되었다. 이러한 연구결과를 바탕으로 교육복지사와 교사가 인식하는 중요도를 바탕으로 실행도를 개선할 수 있는 실천적 방안을 제시하였다.

Employment Quality: An Overlooked Determinant of Workers’ Health and Well-being?

In the past four decades, high-income countries have seen a thorough socio-economic restructuring with important implications for the jobs of many workers, including health- and safety-related aspects. Much attention has been paid to psychosocial risks related to intrinsic features of contemporary work tasks, while the occupational health and safety consequences of 'new' conditions and relations of employment have remained neglected. This relative neglect is unjustified given the disrupting nature of many contemporary forms of employment. In this commentary, I introduce the concept of 'employment quality' as a novel approach towards measuring employment-related OHS risks. Employment quality involves a 'typological approach' towards employment arrangements, identifying five employment types in European labour markets, showing a distinct profile in terms of health-related employment characteristics. Moreover, these types align with segmented labour market theory, have a clear socio-economic profile, and show strong associations with workers' self-reported health.

Critical Incidents of Financial Hardship and Worker Health: a Mixed-Methods Retrospective Study

Rooted in Social Cognitive Career theory, we present a mixed-methods analysis of the perceived impacts of a financial hardship on workers’ job outcomes, the work-family interface, and physical and emotional health. We used the Critical Incidents Technique to gather worker perceptions (n = 571) of the most challenging financial hardship they had recently experienced, as well as the effects of this hardship on work, family, and health. Workers’ qualitative responses overwhelmingly indicate health as an outcome of the financial hardship as well as, to a lesser extent, a cause of a financial hardship, suggesting a damaging reciprocal effect among financial hardships and health. Family was often noted in responses as both impacted by and as a source of the hardship, as were negative effects of financial hardships on employment-related outcomes (i.e., underemployment, difficulty finding a new job, job insecurity). Quantitative results suggest a process whereby financial insecurity affects stress and WFB satisfaction which, in turn, negatively relates to health outcomes (sleep disturbances, musculoskeletal pain, and general health perceptions) as well as organizational outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational justice). Given the potential cost to organizations when worker health and job attitudes are negatively impacted, our results suggest organizations should be mindful of workers’ experiences of financial hardships.

An occupational hazard of workers of wagon-repair production

Introduction. Professional groups of railway workers engaged in the repair of wagons are directly responsible for the safety of railway traffic. The analysis of literature testifies to insufficient attention of researchers to the hygienic problems associated with labor activity of workers of wagon-repair production.The aim of the study is to assess the occupational risk to the health of wagon repair workers, due to the impact on them of factors of the working environment and the labor process.Materials and methods. The study used comprehensive hygienic studies using the methodology of occupational risk to worker’s health.Results. The leading factors of the working environment (class of working conditions 3.2–3.4), which are exposed to workers depending on the specifics of the work performed. Identified professional groups with medium (significant) high (unbearable) and very high (intolerable) category of a priori occupational risk: in wagon meintenance workshop — 17 groups (94% of jobs), in a wagon assembly workshop — 11 groups (80% jobs), in wagon wheel workshop — 3 group (100% jobs). At the same time, according to the request for medical care, employees were diagnosed with isolated cases of occupational diseases.The levels of morbidity with temporary disability of employees of the main workshops are statistically significant (p&lt;0.05) higher than those of the control group in 1.4–1.9 times. The influence of the complex of chemical factors of low and medium intensity on the levels of morbidity of respiratory diseases in the group of workers of the wagon wheel workshop, which were 1.7–2.0 times higher than in the control group, is confirmed by the average degree of causation of the production condition of this pathology (RR=1.7; EF=42.0%).The combined effect of vibration and severity of the labor process forms a high level of temporary disability of employees of the main workshops in connection with diseases of the musculoskeletal system, which was 2.7–4.4 times higher than in the control group, and also determines the prevalence of this pathology in the structure of diseases detected on medical examinations (23.2%). Diseases of the musculoskeletal system are caused by the production of employees of the wagon meintenance workshop (RR=3,9; EF=74,9%), as the most unfavorable in terms of hygiene on these factors.The stressful influence of the complex of harmful production factors on the health of wagon repair workers is manifested by the high risk of diseases of the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, neurological disorders, violation of adaptation of the cardiovascular system in 97% of the examined, as well as the predominance of diseases of the digestive system and circulatory system detected on periodic medical examinations.Conclusions. Harmful working conditions (class 3.1–3.4) cause the suspected occupational risk from small (moderate) to very high (intolerable) to 100% of the jobs of wagon repair workers. The results of the study of morbidity and risk of pathology indicate a significant risk of damage to the health of workers.

City size and the risk of being unemployed. Job pooling vs. job competition

We study the relationship between city size and the risk of being unemployed. We introduce a new mechanism, job pooling, as a source of agglomeration economies in a model of risk sharing with an imperfect labor market and risk-neutral agents. Despite competition across workers for jobs in the largest cities (job competition), workers tend to be located in large cities because tight labor markets yield income gains from the sharing of firms among workers that do not know ex ante the negotiated wage rates (job pooling). The covariance between the probability of being unemployed and firm-specific wage shocks decreases with the number of workers. This explains why larger cities exhibit a higher unemployment rate on average and weaker fluctuations. From French data, we find that the positive covariance between the unemployment rate and local wages decreases with city size. We also show that moving from an area in the first quartile of density to the last quartile translates into an increase in unemployment of 14%. In contrast, the elasticity of unemployment fluctuations with respect to employment density is negative: moving from an area in the first quartile of density to the last quartile translates to a decrease in our unemployment fluctuation index of 25%.

What Do Construction Workers Really Want? A Study about Representation, Importance, and Perception of US Construction Occupational Rewards

The construction industry in the United States employs thousands of workers in various jobs and accounted for over $645 billion of the US Gross Domestic Product in 2017. Given the reported labor shortage, it has never been more important for the construction industry to have a qualified and motivated workforce. To do so, the industry needs to understand the current status of occupational rewards and how they are being perceived by construction workers. This paper describes research that aims to address this issue by investigating workers’ perspectives of occupational rewards in the construction industry. The study utilizes responses from 176 construction workers across different states, different job responsibilities, and different work conditions. The research contributes to the construction industry by providing a unique perspective on occupational rewards through the lens of construction workers. The study identifies the rewards that are available to workers, rewards that are needed by workers, and factors that impact workers’ reward satisfaction. By understanding these three aspects of occupational rewards, the industry will have a better chance of attracting and retaining the right workers for the job and motivating the available workforce for the allocated tasks. The study also contributes to the body of knowledge by facilitating a new and holistic view of rewards and the factors influencing rewards in construction. Findings from the research indicate that workers in general, are satisfied with the rewards that they are receiving, where job responsibility was found to be the reward that is received the most. However, workers’ needs showed a commonality of financial importance. Furthermore, reward satisfaction was found to be influenced by 11 factors, 8 of which are occupational, and 3 sociodemographic factors.

Is Employer Sponsorship a Good Way to Manage Labour Migration? Implications for Post-Brexit Migration Policies

This paper examines the implications of labour migration models that rely on employer sponsorship. According to UK government proposals, long-term migration into high-skilled jobs after Brexit will require workers to be sponsored by employers, while workers in low-skilled and low-wage jobs will receive short-term work permits that do not require an employer sponsor. The paper argues that choosing employer sponsorship over worker-driven routes has three key effects: it gives the government greater ability to regulate which jobs migrants fill; it gives employers more power over their workforce; and it increases the administrative burden associated with hiring workers from overseas. This implies that in high-skilled jobs, employer sponsorship is likely to improve the skill composition of labour migrants but reduce the total number of skilled workers admitted; and that in low-skilled positions the government faces a trade-off between the ability to channel workers to specific jobs (including those where employers struggle to attract workers) and the risk of increasing underpayment or exploitation.

The Culture Of Health In Early Care And Education: Workers' Wages, Health, And Job Characteristics.

Little is known about the health of the 2.2 million early care and education (ECE) workers responsible for the care, well-being, and success of the approximately ten million children younger than age six enrolled in ECE, or the extent to which ECE environments and employers play a role in workers’ health. The purpose of this analysis was to describe the health of an ECE worker sample by wage and by job and center characteristics and to begin to explore the relationships between these factors and workers’ health. Our data indicate that ECE workers earn low wages and experience poor mental well-being and high rates of food insecurity. Lower-wage workers worked at centers with more children enrolled in subsidy programs and were more likely to work at centers that did not offer health insurance, paid sick leave, or parental or family leave. Policies and programs that raised workers’ wages or mandated the provision of meals to both children and workers could better support teacher health and the quality of ECE for children. Our results suggest that the culture of health in ECE settings and equity-related outcomes could be improved by helping centers provide support and flexibility to teachers (for example, offsetting workers’ benefit costs or reducing teacher-to-child ratios to reduce stress) who are managing their own health in the context of demanding work.

Does economic upgrading lead to social upgrading in contact centers? Evidence from South Africa

ABSTRACT Business process outsourcing (BPO) is seen by the South African government as key to employment generation. BPO operations are reasonably footloose and the industry’s immense focus on workplace control and high levels of attrition means that the development potential of the BPO industry on workers in South Africa is a matter of critical concern. This article uses the global production network (GPN) framework to understand the developmental potentials of contact center jobs for workers in South Africa. The key argument is that economic upgrading among contact center firms can lead to both social upgrading and downgrading among workers.

Levelling the Playing Field: The Effects of Slovenia’s 2013 Labour Market Reform

The paper examines the effects of the 2013 labour market reform in Slovenia which made permanent contracts less restrictive and fixed-term contracts more restrictive. Using matched employer-employee data, the differences in the outcomes for workers employed under permanent vs. fixed-term contracts before and after the legislative change are compared. The results show that the reform was successful in both reducing labour market segmentation and improving access to jobs for vulnerable groups: (i) it increased the probability of accessing permanent jobs via transitions from both fixed-term jobs and unemployment, and (ii) it improved the accessibility of permanent jobs for both young and older workers. DOI: 10.15458/85451.81

Segregated and not equal? Occupation, earnings gap between urban residents and rural migrants in Vietnam

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the earnings differentials between the locals and the rural–urban migrants in urban labor market in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachUsing the new Vietnam Rural-Urban Migration Survey 2013 (VRUMS2013) that is specifically designed for rural–urban migration, the author applies Appletonet al.’s (1999) procedure correcting for potential selectivity to decompose the offered earnings gap between the locals and the rural–urban migrants into within- and between-occupation pay differential. Bootstrapping is used to derive the standard errors for the decomposition results. The author further applies the propensity score matching (PSM) method to check whether the results are robust by restricting the sample to the “common support.”FindingsWithin-job difference, particularly, the favorable treatment toward urban workers contributes significantly to the overall and total unexplained earnings gap. Further, between-job pay differential attributed to the over-representation of urban workers in high-paying job also helps to widen the gap. These results are robust restricting to the “common support” sample using PSM.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the sample size, occupations are only classified into three broad categories. Finer classification will allow a better comparison between the contributions of between and within-occupation to earning inequality. The data are only limited to a few cities and do not include other urban centers that also receive rural–urban migrants.Practical implicationsPolicies to promote equal pay and alleviate within-job “discrimination,” especially the preferential treatment favoring the locals (rather than to provide equal access to different jobs) are crucial for migrants’ labor outcome. Moreover, this study can, to some extent, be seen as a timely contribution for the debate on household registration reform in general and in Vietnam specifically. Given China’s announcement to grant permanent household registration (hukou) to unregistrated migrants in late 2015, investigating whether there is a two-tier labor market in the cities in Vietnam is particularly important for the ongoing debate regarding future of household registration system (ho khau).Originality/valueThis is the first study in Vietnam on rural–urban migration and occupation segregation – an area that has been relatively less well studied in developing/transitional countries. Vietnam is also one of the few developing countries who have household registration system in place. This has made it an interesting case. The author uses a new survey data to apply the Appletonet al.(1999) decomposition on the offered wage gap rather than observed wage gap. Standard errors of the decomposition results are bootstrapped and a robust check using propensity score method is conducted.

STUDY OF WORKING CONDITIONS IN PATIENTS WITH OCCUPATIONAL POLYNEUROPATHY OF UPPER EXTREMITIES

Autonomous sensory polyneuropathy of upper extremities is one of the most common occupational diseases of peripheral nervous system. Findings of the study of working conditions in two major worker jobs in which occupational polyneuropathies of upper extremities are prevalent, namely: house-painters and plasterers, as well as mining job workers (underground miners, shaft miners, breakage face miners) are reported. Hygienic investigations envisaged detailed studies of working conditions in workers with diagnosed occupational peripheral nervous system disease. The intensity and hardness of working process, illumination level, spectral noise characteristics, noise, vibration, temperature, humidity, and air velocity levels, as well as adverse chemical concentrations in workplace air were assessed. House-painters as well as miners were found to work with pronounced physical overloads, working conditions being classified as 3.2-3.3 (2-3 degree harmful) according to indices of working process hardness. In spite of new technologies being introduced into the working process, manual labor part in these jobs still remains to be the great. Comparison of findings revealed certain differences in some characteristics of working process hardness. Working process hardness shown by dynamic and static physical load on upper extremities was found to be the most significant harmful occupational factor resulting in polyneuropathy in house-painters and plasterers. Development of polyneuropathy in miners was caused by a combination of adverse occupational factors: working process hardness, local vibration, cold microclimate. Our findings indicated the importance of the study of health state in painters and miners. Working conditions must be taken into account in the process of development of preventive and remedial measures for occupational polyneuropathy treatment.

Empirical Analysis of Factors Impacting Turnover Intention among Manufacturing Workers

The purpose of this study was to investigate how turnover intention relates to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, leadership, job performance, and work-family conflict among manufacturing workers in Tennessee, USA. A causal model was proposed, and a turnover intention survey questionnaire for manufacturing workers was developed. The data were collected from manufacturing companies in the Tennessee area and analyzed by SPSS and structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of our study indicated that job satisfaction and organizational commitment negatively and significantly affected manufacturing workers&amp;rsquo; turnover intentions, while work-family conflict positively and significantly affected turnover intentions. Although leadership indirectly influenced turnover intention, its effects on turnover intention were fully mediated by job satisfaction and organizational commitment. No effect of job performance on turnover intention was found in this study with manufacturing workers. The results suggested that policies for enhancing worker job satisfaction and organizational commitment, balancing work-family conflict, and improving leadership style should be proposed to reduce turnover intention.

Exploratory factor analysis of peer support workers job obstacles and barriers survey (PSWJOBS)

ABSTRACTThe mental health recovery model has become an increasingly influential treatment philosophy and approach. An important and rapidly expanding recovery intervention includes the use of mental health peer support workers (PSWs). Research shows that PSWs have beneficial effects on the caseloads they serve, and as a result, a body of knowledge about their job experiences is developing. This study contributes to advancing knowledge about PSW services by reporting on exploratory factor analysis of an instrument designed to assess the barriers to and facilitators of peer support work. Results uncovered a four-factor structure and high internal consistency of the items comprising each factor.

Towards Sustainable Urban Spatial Structure: Does Decentralization Reduce Commuting Times?

This paper contributes to the existing debate on the co-location hypothesis, by devising a proximity measure and controlling for a set of other urban form measures. Utilizing the LEHD (Longitudinal Employer–Household Dynamics) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) data that provide the number of jobs by a finer geography, this paper measured the degree of centralization, proximity, and job–housing mismatch. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the job–worker proximity leads to a shorter commuting time. In addition, the results focusing on suburban areas revealed that the impact of the job–worker imbalance and the impact of job–worker mismatch on the commuting time are greater in the suburb in comparison with the city center.