The Bright and the Dark Side of Work

Duncan Gallie

Nuffield College, Oxford

The Bright and the Dark Side of Work

Wilmar Schaufeli :

• Engagement is the bright side

• Work is changing in ways likely to enhance engagement (eg greater self-control and empowerment)

Agnes Parent-Thirion :

• Presentation situated in psycho-social risks tradition, which has emphasized dangers to health of changes in work conditions

• Work intensity rising but not job control

2

The Bright Side ?

3

What is ‘Work Engagement’?

• ‘Work engagement is a positive, affective-motivational state that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption’ (Schaufeli et al. 2002).

• ‘mounting evidence suggests that absorption – which is akin to the concept of flow – should be considered a consequence of engagement, rather than one of its components. In contrast, vigour and dedication are considered the core dimensions of engagement…’

(Salanova and Schaufeli, ‘A cross-national study of work engagement as a mediator.’ International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2008)

4

Non-Financial Employment Commitment

• If you were to get enough money to live as comfortably as you would like for the rest of your life, would you continue to work or would you stop working?

• British Skills and Employment Surveys 1992-2012 (representative national samples of people in employment)

5

Non-Financial Employment Commitment

6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1992 2000 2006 2012

All

Men

Women

Job-Related Anxiety and Depression Mean Scores 2001-2006

7

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2001 2006 2012 2001 2006 2012

Anxiety Depression

All

Men

Women

Why is Work Engagement Rising ?

• Job resources (Positively valued job characteristics) :

Job control & participation in decision making increase work engagement

• Demands (Negatively valued job characteristics) :

Work intensity increases risk of burnout

• But Agnes : job control generally stable and work intensity rising

8

Other Possibilities

• Rising trend in skills accelerated by the crisis, partly through selective displacement

• Those in higher skilled jobs, or who have seen an increase in their job skills, more committed – perhaps because jobs more interesting

• But job-related anxiety stronger in higher occupational classes and in those who have experienced skill upgrading.

• So some of the factors that increase work engagement may also increase job-related anxiety

9

The Dark Side?

10

• Intrinsic job quality is the most important factor for health (emphasis on job demands & task discretion)

• Relatively little difference across the life cycle, except that 18-35 year olds living with their parents do badly (? a Southern effect) and 60+ couples do well (good news !)

• But overall empirical trends worrying….

11

Capacity to change : Job quality indices in EU-15 countries, 1995 – 2010

12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Skills and Discretion(T)

Work Intensity(T) Good PhysicalEnvironment(T)

Working TimeQuality(T)

1995

2000

2005

2010

Source : trends in job quality, eurofound 2012 12

Employees Task Discretion : 2004-2010

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0U

K

Irel

and

Den

mar

k

Fin

land

Norw

ay

Sw

eden

Bel

giu

m

Ger

man

y

Net

her

lands

Fra

nce

Gre

ece

Spai

n

Port

ugal

Cze

ch

Est

onia

Hungar

y

Pola

nd

Slo

vak

ia

Slo

ven

ia

2004

2010

Data from European Social Survey 13

Change in Work Intensity 2004-2010

3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

2004

2010

14

Workplace Voice and the Quality of Work

• Intrinsically important since responds to needs/values for self-determination

• Associated with higher task discretion

• Stronger learning environment

• Lower incidence of physical risks

• Reduces job insecurity at times of organisational change

15

Influence of Employee Representatives (ESS 2010)

16

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

Nordic Liberal Continental France Southern Transitiion

Conclusions

• Current developments ambivalent with respect to well-being

at work: trends to both higher commitment and higher job-related anxiety

• But country differences show that institutions and policies can make a significant difference to the balance between positive and negative developments in key factors that affect well-being

• Workplace voice likely to be particularly important and should be included in the OECD indicators

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