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This study investigated the effects of working in person during the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived job demands and resources for employees. The job demands-resources (JD-R) model of employee stress indicates that workplace stressors can result in various negative employee outcomes when not adequately buffered by job resources. We extended this model to working in person during the COVID-19 pandemic. We posited that two job demands related to working in person during the pandemic (i.e., the perceived risk of transmitting the disease and job insecurity) would directly influence employee stress. Moreover, we expected that these added job demands would negatively impact employee well-being when organizations do not provide adequate resources to mitigate the risk of disease transmission. Through the lens of pandemic, we contended that any workplace in which employees are susceptible to transmitting the disease may be considered a high-risk environment. Applying previous literature of occupational stress in high-risk workplaces, we discussed how the current health crisis in the United States may increase burnout for employees. To this end, we proposed a model of employee well-being, on which we conducted a path analysis to determine how working in person during the COVID-19 pandemic impacts one's occupational stress and burnout. Analyses indicated that our proposed model did not possess good fit. However, results supported the overall notion that job demands resulting from an increase in perceived risk of the pandemic does indeed increase general work stress, which in turn, increases employee burnout. Implications for reducing the harmful effects of job demands by providing resources which mitigate risk are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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IMPACTThis article's conceptual model provides a holistic lens for exploring the work environment of emotional labour (EL). Research has demonstrated high levels of burnout and mental health issues among EL workers. The negative outcomes associated with EL work are even more pronounced in the present Covid-19 landscape. By understanding EL workers' cognitive processes, organizations stand a better chance of promoting work engagement, well-being, and effective organizational functioning. Practically, organizations may have to provide training and support to line managers to enable them to evolve within the same mindset as EL workers. Senior managers also have to exhibit visible support to workplace initiatives to allow for consistent implementation of job resources.
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AIMS: To explore how nursing home staff perceived their work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this impacted their well-being. DESIGN: A qualitative interview study. METHODS: Interviews were held with twenty-two registered nurses and assistant nurses from five nursing homes in the Netherlands between April 2021 and July 2021. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) were followed. RESULTS: Five themes emerged from the interviews and indicated that working during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted perceived well-being of nursing home staff. Three themes concerned experiences at work: eroding care, additional roles and workplace support. Specifically, the increased workload with additional tasks, the constant stream of new guidelines and constrictive personal protective equipment caused discomfort and anxiety. Two other themes concerned experiences outside of work: work-life interference and social interactions and status. The nurses reported that when they returned home after work, they were tired and worried about spreading the virus while facing limited social interactions and support. CONCLUSION: The social distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted nursing home staff well-being by increasing demands in the absence of adequate resources. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: The well-being needs of nurses should receive continued attention to ensure the sustainability of healthcare during future crises. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The nursing home managers participated in recommending the topics to be covered during interviews. IMPACT: What problem did the study address? The pressure of stressful working conditions on the well-being of nurses during the pandemic. What were the main findings? Nurses created strategies to cope with declining well-being. However, the available resources did not alleviate the increased demands caused by the pandemic. Where and on whom will the research have an impact? This study is important for healthcare organizations to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected nurses so that they may better prepare for future crises.
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The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought about employment uncertainty and various unique stressors for workers, underlining the critical need to understand the implications of the pandemic on workers. Prior research documented the adverse effects of job insecurity and job demands on the well-being, work attitudes, and behavioral outcomes of workers;however, less is known about the effects of these factors on older workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we surveyed 330 workers over the age of 55 in a U.S. Midwestern state. Results of partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis showed that the COVID-19-related stressors (i.e., job insecurity, job demands) are related to lower work engagement, increased turnover intent, and presenteeism behavior. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
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Anchored in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study investigated the remote and hybrid teaching experiences of seven early childhood teachers (teaching preschool-1st grade) during the 2020-2021 school year amidst COVID-19 in the United States. They were all female (Age = 33-54 years, M = 44 years). Each teacher was interviewed for 30-60 min (M = 40 min) virtually via Zoom. Thematic analysis of the data revealed three main themes linked to teaching demands: (1) the challenge of implementing developmentally appropriate practice effectively, (2) the difficulty of managing the increased teaching workload, and (3) the barriers to promoting student engagement. It also highlighted two salient themes related to teaching resources: (1) institutional support, and (2) emotional support from the students' parents. Embedded within institutional support, there were two distinct types: (1) vertical support, referring to the professional and emotional support from education leaders, and (2) horizontal support, referring to the instrumental and emotional support from fellow teachers.
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This research takes insights from the job demand resource model to examine the teleworking job satisfaction of teachers for the period of COVID-19 pandemic. This study evidenced that teachers' satisfaction with teleworking has been reduced as a consequence of the job demand increase. In contrast, access to adequate resources has allowed them to confront the challenges of teleworking, thus increasing their job satisfaction. The adverse effect of job demands on teleworking job satisfaction is buffered by job resources as teachers' required extra means to confront unexpected and increased job demands. The technological gap between younger and older teachers was uncovered.
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The responsibilities of nurse managers are complex. Their actions are crucial to providing the best possible care to patients and to the success of health care organizations. Thus, nurse managers' work engagement is essential. However, understanding of the antecedents of nurse managers' work engagement is lacking. The job demands-resources theory posits that work engagement is contingent upon job resources and demands. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore which job demands and resources exert a major influence on nurse managers' work engagement. Considering the literature, job resources and demands potentially relevant to nurse managers' work engagement were identified. To investigate the associations between these potential antecedents and nurse managers' work engagement, the study employed a cross-sectional survey. The dataset for analyses comprised 408 nurse managers in Germany and was analyzed by multiple linear regression. The study variables accounted for 26% of the variance in nurse managers' work engagement. Positive associations were detected between the job resource of empowering leadership and nurse managers' work engagement. Regarding job demands, lack of formal rewards and work-life interferences had negative effects on work engagement. The findings suggest that the job demands-resources theory can explain nurse managers' work engagement. However, not all job resources and demands considered were determined to be influential. In conclusion, empowering leadership should be promoted in the work environment of nurse managers. Nurse managers should be provided engaging financial and nonfinancial rewards. Work-life interferences should be systematically mitigated.
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Work is a fundamental condition of human life, but it can become dysfunctional because in certain situations it may lead to undesirable and harmful consequences. In this context, recovery from work (recovery) is conceived as a counterpoint to the straining processes to which the employee is exposed in the workplace. Among the different recovery strategies adopted by workers, those carried out outside working hours are especially relevant. Scientific interest in this filed is evidenced by the publication of numerous systematic reviews in recent years. The aim of this study is to shed light and provide evidence on the results of the systematic reviews carried out to date. Thus, it was conducted an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on work recovery outside working hours. To this end, a systematic search of potentially relevant documents was implemented in six databases, both thematic and multidisciplinary. Eight systematic reviews and meta-analyses that met the established inclusion criteria were retrieved. The content analysis of the selected papers enabled us to identify different approaches to the study of external work recovery: (a) time period;(b) work characteristics;(c) recovery experiences;(d) recovery activities;(e) processes that hinder effective recovery;and (f) variables proxy to the recovery process. Likewise, the main considered substantive occupational and psychosocial variables were systematized. It is discussed the scarce attention paid in the reviewed studies to possible cultural differences that could potentially influence the recovery process. Furthermore, no research has made special reference to the COVID-19 pandemic in work recovery, nor to the potential influence of new emerging work realities such as teleworking or co-working.
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Teaching innovations can improve the quality of education and facilitate adaptation to environmental shifts caused by global shocks such as the COVID pandemic. However, the pressure to innovate and change may also cause erosion of teachers' life satisfaction, especially when job resources are insufficient and support for the changes is inadequate, or when teachers lack confidence in mastering new teaching technology. In the present research, we showed that compared to those who did not, teachers who presented a growth mindset-the belief that one's abilities can grow by mobilizing effective effort-had a greater tendency to accept a new initiative in teaching and had higher life satisfaction, particularly when they perceived resources and support for the change were insufficient (Study 1). In addition, when schools needed to switch to online teaching because of school closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers who presented a growth mindset, compared to those who did not, felt more self-efficacious in mastering online teaching and had higher life satisfaction (Study 2). We discuss these findings in terms of their implications on the management of teacher well-being and teachers' professional development during significant environmental shifts.
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Doctor's effort of active stress coping is a key factor for keeping stability of healthcare system in the COVID pandemic. The Internet hospital breaks through the boundaries and expands external resources of the physical hospital, but brings doctors stress and challenges. However, it is not clear how Internet hospital innovation affects doctors' active stress coping effort. To address this question, based on conservation of resource theory (COR), we explore the issue and examine the model through a face-to-face situational investigation of 174 doctors from 66 Internet hospitals with complete online service functions in China. The results show that the personal characteristics and energy resources provided by platform-based hospital will promote doctors to actively respond to stress. The increase in object and condition resources will lead to doctors' avoidance of coping with stress in the short term, but help doctors to actively cope with stress in the long term. We extend the COR theory by considering platform-based feature of Internet hospital and suggest that hospital should continue to promote technological innovation for its long-term benefits. This study contributes to the growing literature on platform-based healthcare innovation and its non-economic benefits for healthcare professionals.
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Workplace loneliness is becoming increasingly prevalent in the fast-growing remote work environment. Remote work exposes employees to different demands and support not only at work but also at home—yet, the influences of demands and support from both work and home have not yet been investigated simultaneously in the workplace loneliness literature. In this study, we examine the role of job and home demands as antecedents of workplace loneliness. Based on employee wellbeing theories and social exchange theory, we predict that work/home demands will create work and home interference, with both mediators then increasing workplace loneliness. Moreover, we assume that both job and home support act as potential moderators to mitigate the negative effects of workplace loneliness. Using a two-wave survey of 232 remote-working employees during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, we found that job demands increased workplace loneliness through heightened work-to-home interference and that this relationship was buffered by job support. Home demands increased workplace loneliness through heightened home-to-work interference, but this relationship was not buffered by home support. Our findings contribute to research and practice by identifying important drivers and remedies for loneliness in the remote workplace during the pandemic and beyond.
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The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of healthcare staff and as a result, there is renewed interest in the management of healthcare staff. One concept which can perform a central role in managing healthcare staff is psychological ownership which is investigated in the current study. The study is based on three literature gaps including foci of psychological ownership, its measurement level, and the process approach of understanding antecedents of psychological ownership. Based on these literature gaps, the objectives of the study were to measure the effects of the work environment on nursing staff collective-psychological ownership and test the mediating role of self-efficacy. Data was collected through a survey from nursing teams from selected private hospitals in the Sultanate of Oman. The result indicates that work environment dimensions have a significant influence on nursing staff collective-psychological ownership. Additionally, we found support for self-efficacy as a mediator in this relationship.
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The labor force in Pakistan comprises 59.8 million individuals. The employees have faced major changes in work dynamics and psychosocial safety climate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the current study is to find the relationship between psychosocial safety climate, self-efficacy, and job-related expectations. It explores the moderating role of job-related expectations on the relationship between psychosocial safety climate and self-efficacy. It was hypothesized that there is likely to be a significant relationship between psychosocial safety climate, self-efficacy, and job-related expectations, job-related expectations are likely to moderate the relationship between psychosocial safety climate and self-efficacy, and there are likely to be differences between married and unmarried employees; men and women; satisfied and unsatisfied employees with respect to psychosocial safety, self-efficacy, and job-related expectations. A correlational research design and a convenience sampling strategy were used. A total of 281 employees (M = 30.74 years, SD = 10.99) of the private-sector (including educational, industrial, and IT) organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic were part of the study. Results show that psychosocial safety climate had a positive significant relationship with job-related expectations and self-efficacy. Job expectations also significantly correlated with self-efficacy. There were significant differences in measures of study variables with respect to gender, marital status, and employee satisfaction. This research has implications for administration, managers, policymakers, and organizational psychologists.
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This research began with my tearful reflections as an exasperated mother unsure how to mother and lead in the volatility and fear of a global health crisis. Overwhelmed with the uncertainty of constantly shifting leadership demands, designing new learning systems, and the burden of caring for students and teachers, I spent countless hours planning, collaborating, communicating, acting, and reacting. As intensive leadership consumed my days, I neglected all but the most basic care of my own young children. I toiled in isolation 15 feet away from them, yet unreachable, sequestered behind my home office door. My two daughters were left to fend for themselves in a lonely house, and they suffered. The early abuse and neglect from their biological parents changed their developing brains, so now felt safety is a constant negotiation. Consumed by the fear of failing at work, and failing the teachers, staff, and children for whom I felt responsible, I was completely unaware that I had failed my children during those intense months. I felt forced to choose my job over my girls, a "no choice choice" (Borda, 2021).As I wrestled with both roles, I wondered how other mother/leaders were managing the cataclysmic changes to their mothering and leading roles. I invited 16 other mother/leaders to share their pandemic accounts, and as their stories encountered mine, our collective navigations coalesced to reveal themes about the cultures of mothering and leading that permeated our lives. Using narratives, images, photographs, collages, written, aural, and sensory data, this study interrogated the social norms of intensive mothering (Hays, 1996) and intensive leadership (Baker, 2016) that mother/leaders encountered, reframed, and resisted during the precarity of COVID-19 (Dolman, 2018). This study created a space where the norms that constrain mother/leaders during crises can be assessed critically with the hopes that they can be dislodged and replaced with more matricentric sensitive policies and practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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Globally, employees are experiencing many challenges to their sense of well-being. The COVID-19 crisis, as well as the enormous technological development we are experiencing, has contributed to employees' poor mental health. This chapter offers a synopsis of different theoretical frameworks that support our understanding of well-being from a positive psychological perspective. The theoretical frameworks presented include the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), the PERMA theory and the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory. Some interventions that could be introduced to support employee well-being in the future are also recommended. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
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Once the major threat of the COVID-19 pandemic diminished, schools reopened, and teachers once again had to cope with unprecedented challenges. The impact of these challenges on the emotional well-being of Arab teachers, who have a unique set of challenges within the Israeli school educational system, has received little attention in the recent literature. In this cross-sectional study, we examined 300 Arab teachers' well-being in Israel in May 2021, three months after schools were reopened. All study hypotheses were confirmed. Findings indicate the need to promote a sense of well-being among Arab teachers in stressful conditions and to design solutions specifically tailored to support them in accordance with their cultural and social characteristics. Israel's Ministry of Education should encourage school administrators to seek ways to provide a supportive environment for Arab teachers in school environments in order to improve their performance and retention, and maintain their well-being.
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PurposeWith the emergence of COVID-19 and increased infections, organizations urged their employees to work from home. Furthermore, with the on-going pandemic, employees take measures to ensure individual safety and their families. Hence, work from home culture can result in long-term employee satisfaction. However, no study addresses the development of work from the home culture in an integrated framework. Therefore, the current research explores the role of safety during the pandemic, organizational commitment and employee motivation on work from home culture, which may influence employee satisfaction. Furthermore, job demands and home demands were also evaluated for employee satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe study used existing scales of the factors to develop the measures and collect perceptual responses from employees working from home, supported with a pre-test. The study executed a survey with effective responses from 132 individuals spread across different sectors to validate the hypotheses. The responses were analysed using partial least squares in ADANCO 2.2.FindingsFindings suggest safety concerns along with organization commitment enhances work from home culture. Such work from home culture enhances employee motivation and employee satisfaction. Furthermore, job demands and home demands also influence employee satisfaction.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors knowledge, the study is the foremost to develop an integrated empirical framework for work from home culture and its antecedents and consequences. The study has several important implications for managers.
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PurposeDue to the fact that most employees have been forced to work remotely during the lockdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is great concern about how to alleviate increased stress among employees through human resource (HR) practices. Drawing upon the job demands-control (JDC) model and the job demands-resources (JDR) model, this study empirically investigated the direct effect of HR practices on employee stress in enforced remote work and the mediating role of sources of stress (SoS) and sense of control (SoC).Design/methodology/approachData were collected through an online survey platform called Wenjuanxing from March 15 to 22, 2020 in Hubei, China and from April 22 to 29, 2022 in Shanghai, China. Respondents scanned the QR code on WeChat to enter the platform. A total of 511 valid questionnaires were received with a response rate of 75.4%. After controlling demographic variables, the authors used the mediation modeling and PROCESS tool to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsHR practices negatively affect stress in enforced remote work among employees. Both SoS and SoC partially mediate the relationship between HR practices and stress. HR practices can alleviate stress via decreasing SoS and enhancing SoC, respectively. Moreover, employee care and training are found to be two key factors of HR practices to help employees alleviate stress in enforced remote work.Originality/valueLockdown as an extreme external condition has brought great challenges in employee work arrangement as well as HR practices. Although the relationship between HR practices and job stress was studied previously, there is a lack of research on the effects of HR practices on stress in enforced remote work due to lockdown. It advances knowledge on HR practices' stress-reducing effect in the context of remote work and provides suggestions for HR practitioners on ways of alleviating employee stress in remote work.
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Purpose: Working remotely in a COVID-19-induced lockdown has been challenging for both organisations and their employees;studies report that job demands changed, and teleworkers experienced increased burnout. This paper explores the negative employee outcomes that this work arrangement brings along and offers possible solutions to counter such negative outcomes since they could be detrimental to the much-touted future of work. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a time-lagged longitudinal design and collected two-waved data from 403 quaternary sector employees. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling and model-21 in PROCESS macro for SPSS. Findings: Findings affirm that employees experienced increased job demands during this crisis. Employees reported an increase in turnover intention because of burnout caused by increased job demands. However, increased task interdependence alone did not have any effect on turnover intention. The perceived organisational task support (POTS) was found to forestall the negative effect of job demands on burnout, and employee resilience (ER) buffered the burnout and turnover intention relationship. Practical implications: Providing remote work task support and boosting resilience among employees will help in doing away with the negative effects of teleworking. However, managers shall prioritise reducing job demands for teleworkers. Originality/value: The linkage between work factors and turnover intention is well established. Drawing on the event system theory and using the COVID-19 context, the present study added to the existing knowledge by studying the role of job demands (workload pressure and task interdependence) on turnover intention through the mediation of burnout. The study goes beyond the existing literature by accounting for POTS as a first-level moderator between job demands and burnout relationship, and ER as a second-level moderator between burnout and turnover intention relationship. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The present research applied a triangulation approach in order to examine the mediating effect of job insecurity and the moderating effect of perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 (PSC) in the Job demands and resources model (JD-R model). Questionnaire and follow-up interview data were collected at two points in time from 292 hotel front-line employees and 15 hotel senior and department managers in Phuket, Thailand. Quantitative results indicated that job insecurity fully mediated the relationship between job demands and job burnout, as well as the relationship between job demands and work engagement. In addition, PSC partially moderated the research model. More specifically, the impact of job insecurity on work engagement is reduced when PSC is low and increased when PSC is high; the impact of job insecurity on job burnout is reduced when PSC is high and increased when PSC is low. Qualitative results further verified the findings of the quantitative study.