Workplace Reform Research Articles

"I felt so small": A qualitative study of migrant nursing assistants' experiences in Norway.

In the wake of an increasingly ageing population, Norway has a growing need for healthcare workers, especially in nursing homes. This study explored the employment experiences of migrant nursing assistants working in elderly care in Norway. A qualitative interview-based study was carried out between March and August 2020. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were performed with 13 purposively selected immigrant nursing assistants working in a nursing home within Western Norway. Data were thematically analysed. Migrant nursing assistants working in Norwegian elderly care faced mixed experiences. On the one hand, study participants experienced several barriers in their workplace, resulting from insufficient command of the Norwegian language, heavy workload and mistreatment and discrimination by both patients and colleagues. On the other hand, participants cited the financial compensation from work, the meaningfulness derived from helping others and the flexible day-off requests as workplace facilitators. Participants also made continuous efforts to learn the Norwegian language and to build good relations with their co-workers. There is a need to enhance migrant nursing assistants' positive experiences in the Norwegian eldercare sector by making targeted workplace reforms and fostering a supportive and inclusive environment.

"Feminist Borers from Within": The CBS Women's Advisory Council and Media Workplace Reform in the 1970s

abstract: In the early 1970s, women who worked at the corporate headquarters of NBC, ABC, and CBS formed groups meant to correct gender inequalities in their workplaces. What began as informal measures taken by a small number of women soon expanded into organized, large-scale reform efforts. Once formalized, the women's groups shaped company policies, formed alliances among workers, and liaised between women employees and company executives for the betterment of women workers. With a focus on the most successful of the groups—the Women's Advisory Council at CBS—this article illustrates how feminist concerns found voice in a corporate media culture, demonstrates the value of a women workers' collective, and re-evaluates the tactics and players of media reform in the age of women's liberation.

“An Exercise in the Art of the Possible”: Waging a Battle Against Apartheid in the South African Workplace

The Wiehahn Commission, a government body that proposed a multipronged 1979 South African labor reform, accelerated the corporate recognition of Black trade unions in apartheid era South Africa. Gradually implemented over the course of two years, the reforms complemented international workplace codes and the burgeoning reformist push for ethically sound business practices in the workplace. Although U.S. multinational firms in South Africa did not initially voice support for Black trade unions, in the aftermath of Soweto, many were faced with cascading internal and external pressures to negotiate with these emerging unions. By incorporating the Sullivan Principles, a U.S. code for ethical business conduct, into the broader scholarship on the South African trade union movement and the late apartheid era Wiehahn Commission reforms, this article examines how corporate reforms landed in South Africa, probing the business response to worker demands. South African workers were not merely passive recipients of workplace reform, but rather active participants, shaping the form and direction of U.S. and South African policy.

(Not) Paying for Diversity: Repugnant Market Concerns Associated with Transactional Approaches to Diversity Recruitment

In a 20-month ethnographic study, I examine how a technology firm, ShopCo (a pseudonym), considered 13 different recruitment platforms to attract racial minority engineering candidates. I find that when choosing whether to adopt recruitment platforms focused on racial minority candidates (targeted recruitment platforms) but not when choosing whether to adopt recruitment platforms on which the modal candidate was White (traditional recruitment platforms), ShopCo managers expressed distaste for what they perceived to be the objectification, exploitation, and race-based targeting of racial minorities. These managers’ repugnant market concerns influenced which types of platforms ShopCo adopted. To recruit racial minorities, ShopCo eschewed recruitment platforms taking a transactional approach that emphasized speed, quantity, efficiency, opportunity, and compensation, in favor of platforms taking a developmental approach that emphasized individuality, ethics, equity, community, and commitment. I show that ShopCo managers had different relational models for recruiting based on the race of the candidate. By exploring the new mechanism of repugnant market concerns, I aim to increase understanding of employees’ resistance to DEI initiatives, which can create barriers to workplace reforms even when organizations are committed to change.

“Technical Editing and Women Scientists Were Made for Each Other”: Ethaline H. Cortelyou's Career Advice to Women in the Sciences

Chemist Ethaline Cortelyou, a significant figure in the emerging profession of technical communication in the 1950s, became a national mentor to women in the sciences, first leading them into the practice of technical editing and then away from it. This article presents a case study of her awakening to the true nature and cost of the patriarchal workplace and her own complicity in actively supporting sexist assumptions and the status quo. During the Sputnik crisis, Cortelyou recognized and overcame her internalized sexism, revised her advice to young women in the sciences, and became a public advocate of workplace reform.

Psychosocial risks among the healthcare workforce working in COVID services: findings from a cross-sectional study on psychosocial risks

IntroductionPoor management in healthcare can have significant consequences in the workers’ health, performance, and quality of care. Several risks worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, namely among the workforce caring for patients with suspected/confirmed COVID-19 infection.ObjectivesWe aimed to assess psychosocial risks among a sample of 235 healthcare workers deployed in COVID-19-related services in Portugal’s Lower Alentejo.MethodsParticipants filled out with ten sociodemographic questions and the Euro-Portuguese medium version of the COPSOQ II questionnaire. Data collection occurred February 2021. Tertiles were used to render a traffic light risk categorization. Results were processed with qualitative and quantitative descriptive statistical analysis. To compare groups relative to each outcome, t-tests were used for variables with two categories. Whenever data was not normally distributed, Mann-Whitney tests were used. For variables with more than two groups non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis was applied. Bonferroni correction was also applied, testing each individual hypothesis at the level of significance of αi=0.05/29. A statistically significant difference between two groups did not necessarily yield a different risk colour.ResultsOverall, cognitive demands, emotional demands and influence at work showed the highest risk, while 19 domains showed intermediate risk. The burnout domain showed to be highest among nurses and operational assistants working in the Intensive Care Unit. Several associations between COPSOQ domains and sociodemographic variables are also discussed.ConclusionsAssessment of psychosocial stressors in healthcare units is needed to promote risk reduction policies and workplace reforms. Accessible occupational services, therapeutic and rehabilitative strategies should play a role in improving health hazards in unhealthy workplaces.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Who will pay for workplace reforms in U.S. meat‐processing plants? Simulation results from the USAGE model*

It is possible that COVID will trigger permanent changes in work practices that increase costs in U.S. meat‐processing plants. These changes will be beneficial for the safety and economic welfare of meat‐processing workers. However, they will have economic costs. In assessing reform options, policymakers seek guidance from analyses based on models embracing micro detail and an economy‐wide perspective. In this paper, we use USAGE‐Food, a highly disaggregated computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the United States, to work out how additional processing costs would be distributed between consumers of meat products and farmers. We also calculate industry and macroeconomic effects. Despite modelling farmers as owning fixed factors, principally their own labour, we find that the farmer share in extra processing costs is likely to be quite moderate. Throughout the paper, we support simulation results with back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations, diagrams and sensitivity analyses. These devices identify the mechanisms in the model and key data points that are responsible for the main results. In this way, we avoid the black‐box criticism that is sometimes levelled at CGE modelling.

Pharmacists at the breaking point: It’s time for workplace reform

Pharmacists at the breaking point: It’s time for workplace reform

A comparative perspective on officer wellness: american reflections from norwegian prisons

ABSTRACT Correctional officers in the United States experience severe work-related stressors and are generally physically unwell compared to similar public employees. An innovative and new approach to improving American corrections that is starting to gain momentum stems from looking at the workplace dynamic in alternative international models, such as in Scandinavian prison systems, for models of workplace reform. This study examines the perspectives of staff and leaders from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections who traveled to Scandinavia as part of a correctional exchange. Each day of the trip, correctional staff recorded their qualitative reflections and completed a basic survey about their observations and experiences. This article examines both forms of data to explore correctional officer wellness from the perspective of American correctional officers. Five key themes are discussed: morale, stress, danger, dynamic security, and communication. Survey results corroborate this pattern, as US correctional officers reported somewhat lower stress and more positive interactions during their time in Norway. Key takeaways and implications for policy are discussed.

Workplace reform: a new social contract for Australia

The COVID‐19 crisis impels us to think about the future of Australia in many dimensions and from different perspectives including our social, economic and governance structures. A new social contract at work in Australia should rest on three pillars: a full employment policy coupled with a strong safety net for those not able to find work; a comprehensive system of post‐secondary and vocational training, and easy transition between them; industrial relations reforms to provide a stronger voice for workers in decisions affecting them in the workplace. These pillars should be based not only on the historical experience of Australia but also draw on successful examples from elsewhere. The Nordic countries, for example, have based their social and economic systems on a social partnership approach that relies on voluntary cooperation between interest groups rather than legislation.

Shift work, and particularly permanent night shifts, promote dyslipidaemia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and aimsShift work is common worldwide and linked to deleterious cardiovascular effects that might be underlined by dyslipidemia. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the impact of shiftwork on dyslipidemia. MethodsSearching in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Science Direct and Embase databases without language restriction on 15 February 2020, included studies that describe blood lipids levels or a risk measure in shift workers compared with fixed-day workers (controls). Differences by study-level characteristics were estimated using stratified meta-analysis by type of shift work, and meta-regression to examine relations between dyslipidemia and demographic, lifestyle and work characteristics. Estimates were pooled using random-effect meta-analysis. ResultsWe included a total of 66 articles, representing 197,063 workers. Shift work globally increased the levels of triglycerides (overall SMD = 0.09; 95CI 0.05 to 0.13; p < 0.001), and globally decreased the levels of c-HDL (−0.08; 95CI −0.12 to −0.03; p = 0.001). Permanent night shift workers were an at-risk type of shift for dyslipidemia with significantly higher blood levels of total cholesterol (0.22; 95CI 0.01 to 0.42; p = 0.043) and triglycerides (0.18; 0.03 to 0.33; p = 0.017), and significantly lower blood levels of c-HDL (−0.16; 95CI −0.32 to 0.00; p = 0.05). Permanent night shift workers were more at-risk for total cholesterol than rotating 3 × 8 shift workers (Coefficient 0.22; 95CI 0.01 to 0.42; p = 0.038) and rotating 2 × 12 shift workers (0.24; 0.02 to 0.46; p = 0.037), and more at-risk for triglycerides than rotating day shift workers (0.21; 95CI 0.03 to 0.38; p = 0.023). Results were non-significant for c-LDL, nor depending on type of shifts. ConclusionsShift work, and particularly permanent night shift, is associated with dyslipidaemia via elevated total cholesterol and triglycerides, and reduced HDL-cholesterol. Our current study provides a practical and valuable strengthening of the evidence-base required for preventive health initiatives and workplace reform.

Public Law and Private Process: Toward an Organizational Justice Model of Equal Employment Quality for Caregiver

This article considers the relationship between prescriptive law and voluntary employer behavior in redressing the structural exclusion of working caregivers. In the last decade, several courts interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act have held that employers are statutorily required to engage in an with workers to identify ways of accommodating their disabilities. In so doing, they have created procedural rights for workers that are distinguishable from and supplemental to the substantive right to reasonable accommodation afforded by the statute. This move resonates with developments in Title VII jurisprudence, such as the creation of an affirmative defense to harassment liability for employers who implement preventative policies. It also exemplifies what can be thought of as a second generation response to structural exclusion, one that calls for greater cooperation between advocates of reform and employers themselves, in recognition of the fact that stimulating viable private solutions and a social commitment to change are essential components of any enduring workplace reform agenda. Drawing on this literature and courts' development of the Americans with Disabilities Act interactive process requirement, this article suggests that a comparable approach can be useful in redressing other types of workplace disparities, such as the attachment and promotion gap between working caregivers and unencumbered workers. It suggests that emphasis on procedural protection for workers may incentivize the development of positive voluntary procedures for preventing and correcting structural impediments to the advancement and inclusion of these workers. In so doing, it refines the relationship between public regulation and private behavior in reaching the goal of true workplace equality.

WORKPLACE REFORM WITH CHANGING MANAGEMENT THROUGH THE USER PARTICIPATION WORKSHOP : THE CASE STUDY OF SEIYO CITY OFFICE

The research explains about workplace reform, aimed at improving productivity of General Affairs and Policy Planning department of Seiyo officeby changing management through the user participation workshop at 4th floor of Seiyo city office and on the changes of workplace reform. The purpose of this research is to find the changes that are worker's behaviour and worker’s awareness of workplace through workplace reform. The researchers surveyed changes, worker's behaviour and worker's awareness of workplace using workplace reform at 4th floor of Seiyo office as case study. In workplace reform, in order to create a place where new work style can be practiced, the researchers conducted the user participation workshops with workers a total of 6 times. Through the workshops, concept of work style and plan of renovation were proposed. In addition, the researchers did a survey using two methods which were a set of questionnaire and 3 observationsthat is before the workplace renovation, 3 months after the renovation, and 1 year and 3 months after the renovation. The findings obtained from the questionnaire in the first 3 months after the renovation showed that the opinions of the workers were divided between pros and cons against workplace reform. However, the survey of 1 year and 3 months after the renovation showed that almost all workers are satisfied with the new environment. In addition, the researchers found that a positive correlation exist between participation rate of workshops and the satisfaction level. The findings suggest the worth of workshops for workplace reform. In the Observation Survey, the workers needed to select a place freely where they can work comfortably after the workplace reform. For example, they chose to work in refresh space. In addition, the findings from the survey showed that the floor became livelier when the participation rate increses at that workplace. Additionally, the participants became more conscious of the work style such as features of work style, after workplace renovation; they are able to clearly differentiate between short intermittent works separated by conversation and phone and personal work on concentration.&#x0D;

Path to Prevention of Spinal Trauma in a Low- to Middle-income Country: A Single-center Study in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

This study sought to characterize the epidemiology and outcomes of spinal trauma, with or without a neurologic deficit, at a major government hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Patient demographics, American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) score on presentation, location of injury, and cause of injury from 316 patients from September 2013 through December 2016 were compiled. Outcome measures included length of hospitalization and surgical intervention. Falls were the leading cause of spinal injury (50.6%), followed by motor vehicle accidents (29.3%) and other accidents (20.1%). Patients who fell from height had higher surgery rates (P = 0.014), and men had worse ASIA scores (P = 0.0013). Patients with ASIA A-C had a mean age of 38.17 years, whereas the D-E group was on average 42.88 years. Motor vehicle accidents caused the most cervical spine injuries, whereas falls caused more thoracic and lumbar trauma (P = 0.0005). Younger, working men are experiencing more severe spinal injuries, undergoing more surgery, and staying hospitalized longer than other demographics in Phnom Penh. This study characterizes spinal trauma from falls as a public health issue in Cambodia, highlighting the importance of fall injury prevention. Protecting this cohort is an important investment for Cambodia and necessitates workplace reform and safety standard implementation.

Reaching Across the Ditch? Similarities and Differences in the Trajectory of Australian and New Zealand Regulation of Collective Labour Relations 1988–2018

This article compares the development of the law and policy relating to collective aspects of labour relations in Australia and New Zealand over the last 30 years, taking account of historical, social, economic and political context. During that period, there have been many shifts and turns in the direction of regulation, although developments in each country have mostly responded to the broader rise of neo-liberalism in economic and social policy. In this article we examine the differing workplace reform agendas of Labor/Labour and Coalition/National governments in these two countries, alongside the competing policy objectives of these reforms (deregulatory versus protective), and assess the extent to which these reforms have encouraged, undermined, or reflected a position of "state neutrality" toward collective bargaining. In making this assessment, we reflect on similarities and differences in the trajectory of Australian and New Zealand regulation of collective labour relations, and the level of influence that developments in each country has had on the other.

Barriers to providing optimal management of psychiatric patients in the emergency department (psychiatric patient management)

BackgroundWe aimed to determine the barriers to optimal management of psychiatric patients in the emergency department (ED). MethodsWe undertook an observational study in a tertiary referral ED with a 24h acute psychiatric nursing service (February to April, 2017). Following patient discharge, the attending psychiatric nurse completed a validated questionnaire to determine the barriers they encountered with their patient. ResultsData were collected on 104 patient encounters. The environmental/resource barriers included limited space (30.8% of cases), limited time (25.0%) and ED overcrowding (22.1%). The ED staff barriers included insufficient knowledge and education regarding psychiatric illness (25.0%), negative attitudes (17.3%) and avoidance of psychiatric patients (16.3%). The patient barriers included dual diagnoses (26.0%), difficulty differentiating between psychiatric illness and social disorganisation (25.0%), and presentation issues complicating management (22.1%). The day of presentation, patient diagnosis and place of disposition were associated with the total number of barriers for each patient. Most barriers were reported on weekdays, for patients with substance abuse disorders or psychosis and for those discharged to home or an inpatient psychiatric ward. ConclusionBarriers to optimal psychiatric management are common and vary considerably. These findings will inform workplace reform and education strategies aimed at mitigating the observed barriers.

Breadwinning, Equity, and Solidarity: Labor Feminism in Oregon, 1945–1970

Laurie Mercier documents influential women in Oregon’s labor movement between 1945 and 1970 and how their work at the state level intersected with national movements. According to Mercier, “union leaderships’ fixed belief in labor hierarchy reflected the stubborn ideology of the white male breadwinner,” and unions in the Pacific Northwest “emphasized physical strength and masculine solidarity in their defense of sex-segregated work.” As a result, little has been written about working-class women’s grassroot efforts following World War II to employ multi-pronged strategies for workplace reforms. In this research article, Mercier sheds light on some of those women and how their efforts helped shape a growing feminist movement that “accelerated the rate of change in working women’s lives.”

Occupational health risks and intervention strategies for US taxi drivers.

Research has shown that taxi drivers are at risk for numerous health concerns, such as low back and leg pain, linked to their highly sedentary occupation, long work hours and stressors related to the job (e.g. low income, safety threats). The goal of this study was to explore occupational health risks and opportunities for health interventions with taxi drivers using community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods. A mixed methods approach included first a convenience sample of 19 East African taxi drivers participating in focus group discussions. Second, a convenience sample of 75 current taxi drivers (M age = 45.7 years) and 25 non-driver comparison participants (M age = 40.3 years) were recruited to complete a structured self-reported questionnaire and objective measures of health. Health education was provided alongside the research to address common health concerns and to ensure mutual benefit and an action orientation. The focus groups described numerous health concerns that drivers attributed to their occupation, including chronic pain, sleep deprivation, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney disease and eye problems, as the most common. Participants offered ideas for health interventions that include workplace reform and driver education. Quantitative data indicate that 44% of drivers reported their health as 'fair' or 'poor'. Drivers were more likely to report musculoskeletal pain, less sleep, more fatigue and less physical activity as compared to non-drivers. The majority of drivers reported financial and job dissatisfaction. The research provides data to inform targeted health interventions that support the health and safety of taxi drivers.

Industrial legislation in Australia in 2016

After three years of trying, the Coalition Government finally succeeded in obtaining passage of several key workplace reform statutes in 2016. This followed the outcome of the federal election held on 2 July, delivering the Government a differently composed Senate and a new opportunity to secure support for its legislative program. This review article explains key aspects of the industrial legislation passed by federal Parliament in 2016, including statutes abolishing the specialist road transport industry tribunal, re-establishing the Howard-era regulator for the construction industry, and setting up a new agency to enforce enhanced governance and accountability standards for registered unions and employer organisations. Legislative amendments aimed at resolving the long-running bargaining dispute in Victoria’s Country Fire Authority are also considered, along with the Government’s muted response to the 2015 Productivity Commission review of the workplace relations framework. The article then examines developments at state level, including a major rewrite of Queensland’s industrial legislation, structural changes in New South Wales, and proposed changes to long service leave and the labour hire sector in Victoria. It concludes by noting the irony that just as the federal Government has tasted some success after a long legislative ‘dry spell’, its labour law reform agenda appears limited and piecemeal.

Promoting Constructive Multicultural Attractors: Fostering UnityandFairness From Diversity and Conflict

Enduring forms of bias and discrimination are well documented and pervasive in many organizations fueling costly patterns of destructive cross-cultural and multicultural conflict. Changes in these dynamics are often slow and beset with setbacks. In this article, we present a dynamical systems model of multicultural organizational change, which outlines how leveraging tension from such conflict can help break down destructive multicultural attractors, or change-resistant patterns of intergroup bias and discrimination, and help promote more constructive attractors through increased institutional accountability for enacting fair and just workplace reforms. By recognizing the complex and dynamic nature of attractor patterns of bias and discrimination and working with the resulting tensions optimally and strategically, we propose that they can provide energy and will for reforms that transform chronic patterns of multicultural relations from destructive to constructive.