Wolfgang Kälin

Working conditions, well-being, and job-related attitudes among call centre agents

A comparison of 234 call centre agents with 572 workers in traditional jobs with long lasting training revealed lower job control and task complexity/variety and higher uncertainty among call agents. However, time pressure, concentration demands, and work interruptions were lower in call agents. Within the call agent sample, controlling for negative affectivity and other working conditions, job control predicted intention to quit, and job complexity/variety predicted job satisfaction and affective commitment. Social stressors and task-related stressors predicted uniquely indicators of well-being and job-related attitudes. Furthermore, data confirm the role of emotional dissonance as a stressor in its own right, as it explained variance in irritated reactions and psychosomatic complaints beyond other working conditions. Results indicate that strong division of labour may be a rather general phenomenon in call centres. Therefore, working conditions of call agents require a redesign by means of job enrichment or—better—organization development. Moreover, measures of social stressors and emotional dissonance should be integrated routinely into stress-related job analyses in service jobs.

Illegitimate tasks as a source of work stress

Illegitimate tasks represent a task-level stressor derived from role and justice theories within the framework of “Stress-as–Offense-to-Self” (SOS; Semmer, Jacobshagen, Meier, & Elfering, 2007). Tasks are illegitimate if they violate norms about what an employee can properly be expected to do, because they are perceived as unnecessary or unreasonable; they imply a threat to ones professional identity. We report three studies testing associations between illegitimate tasks and well-being/strain. In two cross-sectional studies, illegitimate tasks predicted low self-esteem, feelings of resentment towards ones organization and burnout, controlling for role conflict, distributive injustice and social stressors in Study 1, and for distributive and procedural/interactional justice in Study 2. In Study 3, illegitimate tasks predicted two strain variables (feelings of resentment towards ones organization and irritability) over a period of two months, controlling for initial values of strain. Results confirm the unique contribution of illegitimate tasks to well-being and strain, beyond the effects of other predictors. Moreover, Study 3 demonstrated that illegitimate tasks predicted strain, rather than being predicted by it. We therefore conclude that illegitimate tasks represent an aspect of job design that deserves more attention, both in research and in decisions about task assignments.

The Effect of Positive Events at Work on After-Work Fatigue: They Matter Most in Face of Adversity

There is evidence that daily negative events at work enhance fatigue. In contrast, positive events may trigger processes that increase, but also processes that decrease, energetic resources. Accordingly, results regarding a main effect of positive events on fatigue have been mixed. However, a clearer pattern between positive events and fatigue can be expected under adverse circumstances (i.e., accumulation of negative events, high chronic stressors). Positive events may facilitate coping and accelerate recovery processes and, thus, reduce resource drain due to daily negative events and chronic stressors. Predicting fatigue in a diary study with 76 employees, we investigated interactions between daily positive events and (a) daily negative events and (b) chronic social stressors. Multilevel modeling revealed that negative but not positive events were associated with increased end-of-work fatigue. However, positive events interacted with negative events and with chronic social stressors. As expected, positive events were negatively associated with fatigue only on days with many negative events, but not so on days with few negative events. Analogously, positive events were negatively associated with fatigue only among employees with high, compared with low, chronic social stressors. We conclude that the beneficial short-term effects of positive events on energetic resources are largely confined to adverse circumstances.

Young Adults Entering the Workforce in Switzerland: Working Conditions and Well-Being

The ‘JEQJJAS’ study is about young adults entering the workforce after vocational training in five different occupations. Participants reported data on working conditions and well-being in the last year of vocational training and after one, two, and four years of professional experience. Both with respect to well-being and working conditions, the transition and the first years in the job were characterized by considerable stability; where there was change, it was mostly for the better. There were, however, differences between occupations. for instance, nurses reported comparatively high levels of stress, low levels of job control and high social support. Changing employer showed, on average, positive effects. Change of profession, however, often resulted in better working conditions but indicators of well-being remained unchanged. Besides levels of stress, social support, and job control, appreciation received at work emerged as a key factor for occupational health. The overall pattern of results indicates that the Swiss system of vocational training prepares well for the transition into ‘normal’ work.

Work characteristics and well-being of Swiss apprentices entering the labor market 1This article is based on the research project “Work Experience and Quality of Life in Switzerland: Work, Stress, and Personality Development” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation within the Swiss Priority Program “Switzerland: Towards the Future” (Grant No. 5004-047898 to N.K. Semmer [principal investigator] and J.-P. Dauwalder [co-principle investigator]).

Young people in five occupations were investigated before the end of vocational training and again one year later (N = 675). In general, working conditions were within the range found in adult samples, with some values for stressors, however, being on the higher end. Conditions were especially good for electronic technicians, rather good for bank clerks, but comparatively worse for cooks and salespeople. For nurses, a stressful job was combined with good social conditions. Attitudes are positive towards life in general but rather low towards work. Stress symptoms (irritability) are on the high end of the typical range for adults. Where there are changes over time, they are to the better for many working conditions and for work attitudes. Stress symptoms, however, tend to increase. More than 50 per cent of participants change employers. They seem to profit from leaving which is remarkable because many of them did not have a choice. Overall, stability seems more prominent.

Work Experiences and Well-Being in the First Years of Professional Work in Switzerland: A Ten-Year Follow-Up Study

The AEQUAS (a German acronym for “Work Experiences and Quality of Life in Switzerland”) study followed young workers in five occupations over their first ten years in the labor market. Participants of the study reported on working conditions and well-being at five occasions. Overall, resources at work as well as well-being, health and personal resources remained stable or increased. Concurrently, task-related stressors increased as well. This result may reflect career progress (e.g., gaining more responsibilities may be accompanied by increasing time pressure) but development in task-related stressors as well as resources may also be related to specific occupations. Several trajectories had their turning point after the first or second year of being in the labor market, which may reflect a successful professional socialization. Even though a substantial number of participants did change their occupation over these ten years (with benefits for their well-being), development over the first ten years after vocational training implies a successful transition into labor market.

Psychische Beanspruchung durch illegitime Aufgaben

Illegitime Aufgaben sind Bestandteil des „Stress-as-Offense-to-Self“-Konzepts, das an der Universitat Bern entwickelt wurde. Es geht von der Annahme aus, dass viele Situationen vor allem dadurch Stress auslosen, dass sie Ausdruck mangelnder Wertschatzung sind und damit den Selbstwert bedrohen. Illegitime Aufgaben sind definiert als Aufgaben, die man von einer Person eigentlich nicht erwarten kann; das kann daran liegen, dass sie als vermeidbar – und damit als unnotig – empfunden werden, oder daran, dass sie der beruflichen Kernrolle nicht entsprechen und deshalb als unzumutbar empfunden werden. Das Kapitel beschreibt die Merkmale von illegitimen Aufgaben, ordnet sie in die bisherige Forschung ein und grenzt sie von anderen, bereits bestehenden Konzepten ab. Zum anderen wird uber erste Forschungsergebnisse berichtet, die die Tragfahigkeit des Konzepts zeigen. Das Kapitel endet mit der Diskussion weiterer Forschungsnotwendigkeiten (zum Beispiel im Hinblick auf interindividuelle Unterschiede) sowie praktischer Implikationen (zum Beispiel im Hinblick auf die Schulung von Fuhrungskraften im Erkennen von und im Umgang mit illegitimen Aufgaben).

Comparison of pain‐resilient working individuals to population‐based case controls with/without momentary low back pain

Few studies have examined the 20% of individuals who never experience an episode of low back pain (LBP). To date, no investigation has been undertaken that examines a group who claim to have never experienced LBP in their lifetime in comparison to two population‐based case–control groups with and without momentary LBP. This study investigates whether LBP‐resilient workers between 50 and 65 years had better general health, demonstrated more positive health behaviour and were better able to achieve routine activities compared with both case–control groups.

Ten-year trajectories of stressors and resources at work: Cumulative and chronic effects on health and well-being

Employing 5 waves of measurement over a period of 10 years, we explored the effects of exposure to constellations of conditions at work on physical and psychological strain, estimating the history of exposure over time. Specifically, we first tested if the 4 constellations postulated by the job demand–control (JDC) model, extended to include social stressors, could be identified empirically over time through a person-centered analysis. Second, we tested 2 specific effects of the history of exposure on physical and psychological strain: cumulative effects (i.e., history of exposure predicting strain) and chronic effects (i.e., history of exposure being associated with reduced reversibility in strain). Data were collected from 483 respondents who were at the end of their vocational training. The results supported the hypotheses, in that not all JDC constellations could be empirically identified, the majority of participants was in rather favorable constellations, and the differences between constellations, in terms of levels of demands and control, were more subtle than suggested by theoretically predefined constellations. Because the linear and quadratic solutions were largely comparable, we decided to adopt the linear ones. The expected cumulative and chronic effects were mostly confirmed: Unfavorable JDC constellations were associated with poorer health and well-being than favorable ones, when controlling for the initial level of the respective outcome variable, demographic variables, and for cumulative private stressors (cumulative effects). These differences largely remained after further adjustments for current conditions at work (chronic effects).

Do Co-Worker Conflicts Enhance Daily Worries about Job Insecurity: A Diary Study: CO-WORKER CONFLICTS AND JOB INSECURITY

The long‐term negative consequences of job insecurity on employees’ health and well‐being have been demonstrated by several studies, but there is very little evidence on the daily experience of job insecurity and on the factors that may influence it. Therefore, we investigated whether short‐term changes occur in the experience of job insecurity and whether these are influenced by daily co‐worker conflicts. We carried out a diary study, in which 66 employees answered a questionnaire over the course of five working days. We conducted a multilevel analysis in which we included co‐worker conflicts as a predictor, and type of contract, emotional stability, and aggregated job insecurity perceptions as control variables. Our results revealed that job insecurity varies on a daily level, and that 23 per cent of the variance could be explained at a within‐person level. Co‐worker conflicts were a significant positive predictor for perceived job insecurity in subsequent days after controlling for aggregated job insecurity perceptions at person level. Reversed causation was not found. Practical implications for organisations should focus on the promotion of positive social relations in the work environment in order to mitigate or avoid the negative consequences of social stressors in uncertain times.