Michelle R. Tuckey

Psychosocial safety climate as a lead indicator of workplace bullying and harassment, job resources, psychological health and employee engagement

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is defined as shared perceptions of organizational policies, practices and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety, that stem largely from management practices. PSC theory extends the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework and proposes that organizational level PSC determines work conditions and subsequently, psychological health problems and work engagement. Our sample was derived from the Australian Workplace Barometer project and comprised 30 organizations, and 220 employees. As expected, hierarchical linear modeling showed that organizational PSC was negatively associated with workplace bullying and harassment (demands) and in turn psychological health problems (health impairment path). PSC was also positively associated with work rewards (resources) and in turn work engagement (motivational path). Accordingly, we found that PSC triggered both the health impairment and motivational pathways, thus justifying extending the JD-R model in a multilevel way. Further we found that PSC, as an organization-based resource, moderated the positive relationship between bullying/harassment and psychological health problems, and the negative relationship between bullying/harassment and engagement. The findings provide evidence for a multilevel model of PSC as a lead indicator of workplace psychosocial hazards (high demands, low resources), psychological health and employee engagement, and as a potential moderator of psychosocial hazard effects. PSC is therefore an efficient target for primary and secondary intervention.

National surveillance of psychosocial risk factors in the workplace: An international overview

Abstract National surveillance of psychosocial risk factors in the workplace is important to record the changing work environment and for the development (and monitoring) of policies and programs to prevent stress and promote mental and physical health and well-being at work. This paper overviews national surveillance systems for psychosocial risks and outcomes (35 national systems across 20 different countries, and an additional four multi-country systems), and then looks for convergence between the system, and the current research literature. This paper is the first to provide a compendium of current national surveillance systems on psychosocial risk. It describes the content of each system and gives an overview of sampling methodology, providing an evaluation of comprehensiveness rather than of quality of tools and methods. Recommendations include: (1) surveillance should be the priority for any national research agenda for psychosocial risk management; (2) stakeholders should cooperate with international systems operators to work towards the development of “state of the art” systems; (3) issues for priority inclusion in surveillance systems are emotional demands/emotional labour, workplace bullying, harassment, and violence, exposure to acute stressors, organizational justice, the occurrence and impact of global organizational change, and positive psychological states; (4) systems should be flexible to identify and assess emerging risk factors/groups; and (5) an international surveillance system should be implemented.

Empowering leaders optimize working conditions for engagement: a multilevel study.

Using a multilevel framework, this study examined the role of empowering leadership at the group level by fire brigade captains in facilitating the individual level motivational processes that underpin work engagement in volunteer firefighters. Anonymous mail surveys were completed by 540 volunteer firefighters from 68 fire brigades and, separately, by 68 brigade captains. As predicted on the basis of the Job Demands-Resources model, increased levels of cognitive demands and cognitive resources partially mediated the relationship between empowering leadership and work engagement. In a three-way Leadership × Demands × Resources interaction, empowering leadership also had the effect of optimizing working conditions for engagement by strengthening the positive effect of a work context in which both cognitive demands and cognitive resources were high. Our findings shed light on a process through which leaders can empower workers and enhance well-being: via their influence on and interaction with the work environment. They also underscore the need to examine work engagement from a multilevel theoretical perspective.

Job demands, work–family conflict, and emotional exhaustion in police officers: A longitudinal test of competing theories.

We propose and test a comprehensive theory designed to explain seemingly contradictory relations between job demands, emotional exhaustion, and work-family conflict (WFC) reported in the literature. Using job demands-resources theory, effort-recovery theory, and personal resources theory we hypothesized that job demands would spillover to emotional exhaustion as mediated by WFC (causality model), and alternatively that job demands would also spillover to WFC as mediated by emotional exhaustion (reverse causal model). Further, we also hypothesized using loss spiral theory that a more comprehensive model representing reciprocal and cross-linked effects (causal and reverse causal simultaneously) would best fit the data. The hypotheses were tested in a longitudinal study of 257 Australian (Victorian) frontline police officers at two time points approximately 12 months apart. We used structural equation modelling and found in support of the simultaneous reciprocal effects hypothesis, that the more comprehensive model fitted the data better than either the causality or the reverse causal model. Future research should more comprehensively model the important relationships between job demands, emotional exhaustion, and WFC to reflect their complex interplay. Interventions to reduce work demands arising from work pressure and emotional demands are indicated to prevent conflict at home and emotional exhaustion in police officers.

Emotions in uniform: How nurses regulate emotion at work via emotional boundaries

The management of emotions at work has been conceptualized in terms of its association with emotional inauthenticity and dissonance. In contrast, we integrate the idea of emotion regulation at work with basic strategic and adaptive functions of emotion, offering a new way of understanding how emotions can be harnessed for task achievement and personal development. Through a content analysis of interview data we examined how and why emotion regulation is carried out by employees, focusing on the in situ experiences of nurses. The manipulation of emotional boundaries, to create an emotional distance or connection with patients and their families, emerged as a nascent strategy to manage anticipated, evolving, and felt emotions. The emotional boundary perspective offers possibilities for knowledge development that are not rooted in assumptions about the authenticity of emotion or the professional self but that instead account for the dynamic, complex, multi-layered, and adaptive characteristics of emotion management.

The police turnover problem: fact or fiction?

– The aim of the present study is to examine, in detail, the magnitude and profile of police turnover across Australasia., – Sworn officer turnover statistics (total separations and voluntary resignations) for four financial years were collected from all Australian and New Zealand police jurisdictions. Comparisons were made with the Australian and international public sector. The age and years of service of resigning officers were also obtained., – Despite concerns about the high level of turnover, benchmarking data showed that total police turnover was lower than in other Australian public sector organizations and comparable with that in international public sector organizations. Voluntary resignations were also lower in policing than in the Australian public sector, but higher than in the international public sector. Further, resignations were the major form of turnover, and female officers resigned at a higher rate than male officers with a peak in the 25‐39‐year age bracket., – Although, over the last few years, turnover within Australasian police organizations has been low, the high proportion of resignations suggests that it is possible to achieve further reductions. This finding has an important implication for police agencies currently experiencing difficulty in maintaining sufficient numbers; namely, that the overall turnover rate in police organizations should be responsive to organizational initiatives. Police jurisdictions should therefore endeavor to investigate the causes of voluntary resignation to inform strategies to minimize avoidable turnover., – In addition to highlighting a variety of issues relevant to the consideration of turnover within policing, the present study obtained objective and reliable data to challenge the alleged problem of high turnover within Australasian policing. The benchmarking conducted here offers a detailed insight into the nature and extent of voluntary turnover within Australasian police organizations, and provides clear directions for future work in this area.

Workplace bullying erodes job and personal resources: between- and within-person perspectives.

Workplace bullying is a serious psychosocial occupational hazard. Despite a wealth of empirical study, research has rarely examined the mechanisms through which bullying has its negative effects. Accordingly, using both between- and within-person approaches, we investigated the erosion of job (Study 1) and personal (Study 2) resources following workplace bullying, mediated by the depletion of emotional energy. In Study 1, self-report survey data were collected from 221 retail workers at 2 time-points spaced 6 months apart. Structural equation modeling revealed that over time bullying depletes coworker support, partially mediated by emotional exhaustion. In Study 2, a 6-week diary was completed by a separate sample of 45 workers employed in various occupations. Within-person weekly variability in bullying exposure was 34%. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that weekly emotional exhaustion partially mediated the negative effects of weekly workplace bullying on both optimism and self-efficacy. The consistent pattern across both studies supports the idea of a resource loss process whereby exposure to bullying at work erodes job and personal resources by depleting energy. Future research should clarify the role of exhaustion in utilizing resources to respond to bullying, focus on predictors of within-person variability in bullying exposure, and more explicitly model the resource loss spiral following workplace bullying.

Group critical incident stress debriefing with emergency services personnel: a randomized controlled trial

Although single-session individual debriefing is contraindicated, the efficacy of group psychological debriefing remains unresolved. We conducted the first randomized controlled trial of critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) with emergency workers (67 volunteer fire-fighters) following shared exposure to an occupational potentially traumatic event (PTE). The goals of group CISD are to prevent post-traumatic stress and promote return to normal functioning following a PTE. To assess both goals we measured four outcomes, before and after the intervention: post-traumatic stress, psychological distress, quality of life, and alcohol use. Fire brigades were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: (1) CISD, (2) Screening (i.e., no-treatment), or (3) stress management Education. Controlling for pre-intervention scores, CISD was associated with significantly less alcohol use post-intervention relative to Screening, and significantly greater post-intervention quality of life relative to Education. There were no significant effects on post-traumatic stress or psychological distress. Overall, CISD may benefit broader functioning following exposure to work-related PTEs. Future research should focus on individual, group, and organizational factors and processes that can promote recovery from operational stressors. Ultimately, an occupational health (rather than victim-based) approach will provide the best framework for understanding and combating potential threats to the health and well-being of workers at high risk for PTE exposure.

Hindrances are not threats: advancing the multidimensionality of work stress.

The challenge-hindrance framework has proved useful for explaining inconsistencies in relationships between work stressors and important outcomes. By introducing the distinction between threat and hindrance to this framework, we capture the potential for personal harm or loss (threat) associated with stressors, as distinct from the potential to block goal attainment (hindrance) or promote gain (challenge). In Study 1, survey data were collected from 609 retail workers, 220 of whom responded 6 months later. The results supported a 3-factor threat-hindrance-challenge stressor structure and showed that threat stressors are associated with increased psychological distress and emotional exhaustion, and reduced dedication, whereas hindrance stressors undermine dedication but may not be related to distress or exhaustion with threats included in the model. Study 2 utilized a diary study design, with data collected from 207 workers over 3 workdays. Findings revealed that the threat, hindrance, and challenge appraisals of individual workers are statistically distinct, and associated with stressors and well-being as anticipated: threats with role conflict and anxiety, hindrances with organizational constraints and fatigue, and challenges with skill demands and enthusiasm. Overall, moving to a 3-dimensional challenge-hindrance-threat framework for stressors and stress appraisals will support a more accurate picture regarding the nature, processes, and effects of stressors on individuals and organizations, and ensure prevention efforts are not misguided.

Relationships between tea and other beverage consumption to work performance and mood

The aim of this research was to examine relationships between tea, coffee and other beverage consumption and associates of work performance and mood among individuals in relatively stressful and cognitively demanding work-place settings. Using a naturalistic, cross-sectional study design, 95 professional and academic staff logged their beverage intake and completed self-reports of associates of work performance (fatigue/exhaustion, mindfulness, work engagement), subjective work performance, mood, work-related strain and recovery four times daily during ten working days. Data were analysed using multilevel modelling in keeping with the hierarchical structure of the data. Tea consumption was associated with increased perceived work performance and reduced tiredness, especially when consumed without milk or sugar. Consumption of non-caffeinated beverages was associated with increased relaxation and recovery from work. In contrast, tea and other caffeinated beverages were found to enhance the negative effects of evening recovery and morning mood on mindfulness during the day. The findings suggest that beverage intake may have a role in optimising work-related psychological states and performance.