Background
Theoretical framework
Study aims and research question
Materials and methods
Study design
Participant selection
Data collection
Job resources | |
• What do you like most about your job? | |
• Who or what supports you at work? | |
• What helps you to get the job done? | |
Job demands | |
• What is particularly difficult/exhausting/annoying at work? | |
• What makes you feel uncomfortable at work? | |
• What makes work difficult for you? | |
• Is there anything that annoys/frustrates you at work? | |
• What is particularly stressful at work? |
Data analysis
Ethical considerations
Results
Participants
Characteristics | n | % |
---|---|---|
Gender | ||
Male | 7 | 50.0 |
Female | 7 | 50.0 |
Age group (years) | ||
18–29 | 5 | 35.1 |
30–39 | 1 | 7.1 |
40–49 | 6 | 42.9 |
50–59 | 1 | 7.1 |
60 + | 1 | 7.1 |
Period of employment | ||
< 1 year | 2 | 14.3 |
1–3 years | 1 | 7.1 |
> 3 years | 11 | 78.6 |
Sector | ||
Catering | 11 | 78.6 |
Cleaning | 3 | 21.4 |
Job demands of employees working in social firms
Work content
“You’re an absolute lone wolf. There is no staff there.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“It’s all just a circle, so to speak. The constant cleaning […]. The up and down, again, and everything again, and again, again. These are negative things.” (Employee #2, female, cleaning sector)
“Yes, we also threw away everything from over there, it just had to go. Even in the refrigerator, such old things, me and [name of colleague] did it together. But that was just disgusting to see.” (Employee #3, female, cleaning sector)
Work organisation
“But I’m overwhelmed at work. I have so much/ I can’t do it alone.” (Employee #8, male, catering sector)
“I mean, there’s so much stress in the kitchen. We work against the clock like that, don’t we?” (Employee #11, male, catering sector)
“So to speak, to work on time and to make sure that you work as little overtime as possible. But I’d also like to get everything done, and especially if you’re a little slower, right?” (Employee #2, female, cleaning sector)
“Yes, we also have such a risk analysis, but also/ yes, you just have to bear it in mind when you’re under stress, right?” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“There are also other problems. He’s slow, he does everything slowly. Not just smoking!” (Employee #9, female, catering sector)
“Yes, I know the people. I don’t name them, but they can work well. But they don’t work. They’d rather hang out somewhere and go to the bathroom or something, they’re wasting time. Or go smoke.” (Employee #14, male, catering sector)
“It’s not as bad as it was before. At first, I actually could understand it, where I came here, I also used to think, ‘What’s going on here?’ First of all, calm down.” (Employee #1, female, cleaning sector)
“There are two employed, [...] they also sometimes say, ‘I don’t feel like it.’ [...] I witness that. They just say, ‘Let [name of colleague] do it alone’, and I find that a bit irritating, too.” (Employee #14, male, catering sector)
“I’m always dependent on others help [...] and that sometimes […] doesn’t work so well.” (Employee #8, male, catering sector)
“I started at 4:45 in the morning. I get up at three o’clock. Then I am slightly exhausted.” (Employee #9, female, catering sector)
“Oversleeping gets me upset [laughing]. Yes, when you can’t sleep through the night, it always happens. Or when you don’t hear the alarm clock.” (Employee #13, female, catering sector)
“We always start at 6 o’clock, 7 o’clock. [...] We got used to it already.” (Employee #11, male, catering sector)
“I wish they paid a little better. Well, I only get the minimum wage here and that’s exhausting work and that could be praised. Especially when you’ve been here for 10 years.” (Employee #8, male, catering sector)
“Or, for example, that something else is being paid for. Sport or something. That also serves one’s health. [...] If it’s not a lot of money, then at least some other kind of loan.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
Social relations
“That’s not our team, but [...] some of them always try to boss us around the way our work is to be done sometimes, and we don’t need that.” (Employee #3, female, cleaning sector)
„Sometimes there are situations where [...] sometimes people interfere a bit and [...] think they are better, know something better, although they do not even belong to this area.” (Employee #1, female, cleaning sector)
“There [...] you also have to know that anything you say to your supervisor doesn’t somehow get to other people, so that’s/ sometimes there’s a lot of gossip and then you don’t know who was talking or something like that. And then/ I personally just withdraw from it.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“So I had a/ a very intense conversation that was a bit (...) not so nice. [...] That was already/ for me, that was already heavy [...]. The situation, that really tore the ground from under my feet for that day.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“When the boss puts so much pressure on me, I’m loud too. I also say what’s inside me.” (Employee #14, male, catering sector)
“Especially when the boss is stressed, I think it spills over.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
Work environment
“I just walk all day long around, around, around.” (Employee #14, male, catering sector)
“I don’t know how many litters fit in there. But I think it was already forty, fifty kilos that we lifted. That was quite a lot.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“Yes, people often talk there [...] and then the machines are loud, the ventilation is loud. It’s annoying. You notice that in the evening, when you come to rest, that it echoes.” (Employee #8, male, catering sector)
“I’m a person who needs to rest, yes. It annoys me. But maybe that’s just me, I don’t know. Others deal with noise differently. [...] Yes, during the week it is somehow a stress factor that affects one’s health.” (Employee #8, male, catering sector)
“I mean, the kitchen is loud. [...] I mean, even when the music isn’t playing and when we’re under stress/ our voices are also loud so that we can understand each other better and no misunderstandings arise. [...] But we’re so used to it, we/ it all seems so normal.” (Employee #11, male, catering sector)
Job resources of employees working in social firms
Work content
“That’s the ultimate gratification. So when they say that it was delicious.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“That’s just what I enjoy. Being there for people.” (Employee #5, female, catering sector)
“I’m glad I can do it/ have done it.” (Employee #2, female, cleaning sector)
“Yes [it bothers me that it’s often the same]. [...] That I also have to do the office work in addition to the cleaning, because others can’t, won’t do it.” (Employee #2, female, cleaning sector)
Work organisation
“I am now working full-time again. [...] And then the change to working full-time again with no relief [...]. That was quite an adjustment.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“Less work. Now we are more people, before we were really few people, less workers and then I had to work a lot.” (Employee #9, female, catering sector)
“That’s when she was stressed because she knew what to do. She knew everything. But here she doesn’t know, here she always has to ask [supervisor] or [other supervisor]: ‘What should I do, what should I do?’.” (Employee #14, male, catering sector)
“We also work together for a long time. We know what makes the young man go. And this helps too, right?” (Employee #14, male, catering sector)
“I made sure that each department has several ones [safety displays] [...] so that we could have our peace and quiet. That there’s no longer such a fuss, because we don’t always have to wait.” (Employee #1, female, cleaning sector)
“Actually, we usually [...] sit down together for ten minutes on Friday and then any problems [...] that really don’t work anymore, we talk about it and then it’s already solved on Monday. [...] Then we just talk to the boss, then it gets cleared up and then everything is good again.” (Employee #11, male, catering sector)
“That it doesn’t spill over somewhere else. First talk, then as a team with one another, even if it doesn’t affect you. Nevertheless, one simply tries to listen. That you just talk about it honestly from time to time.” (Employee #1, female, cleaning sector)
“Today I’m not taking a break, I’m just cleaning through here. No break today, so I can just leave a little earlier.” (Employee #3, female, cleaning sector)
“That you get paid on time. That’s always good. You know you’ll get your money.” (Employee #8, male, catering sector)
Social relations
“To have the courage when you’re not in a good mood or to somehow say, ‘Hey, I’m not feeling well today.’ (...) And then there’s already support from the others.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“So I really have to admit, our team is truly just like a family.” (Employee #11, male, catering sector)
“Of course, I also protect my colleagues, because we work together as a team.” (Employee #3, female, cleaning sector)
“Here it’s positive, here’s everyone nice.” (Employee #3, female, cleaning sector)
“So just before work ends, actually starting at three o’clock, when we are cleaning the kitchen, we turn on the music full blast and then/ Then we really dance and work, like that. So that’s just how it is at our place.” (Employee #11, male, catering sector)
“There’s usually a free trolley there, so we take it with us. But under stress you can forget that sometimes/ but we already pay attention to it. We say, ‘Why don’t you take a trolley?’.” (Employee #6, male, catering sector)
“Working together. I think that’s really great. Because you can’t manage everything on your own. You always have to work in a team, and then you can accomplish more.” (Employee #14, male, catering sector)
“That one also empowers the people with disabilities and that one is there for them and accepts them, because they also do good work.” (Employee #7, male, catering sector)
“There is someone I can talk to about it.” (Employee #5, female, catering sector)
“Great place here to be praised.” (Employee #3, female, cleaning sector)
“Years ago I also worked in different companies [...]. There was always pressure and I became a bit confused and then (...) I had a problem and then I got a disabled persons pass. Then I started here. [...] In our company it’s not like that. [...] Quite seldom. Yes, that was just/ because I experienced that before. But [...] here, I haven’t experienced anything like that a lot.” (Employee #14, male, catering sector)
Work environment
“Always lifting with two men, then nothing will happen. No lumbago.” (Employee #4, male, catering sector)
Job criteria | Job demands | Job resources |
---|---|---|
Work content | Stressful work tasks: • Self-responsibility, working alone • Repetitive work tasks • Feelings of disgust | Fulfilling work tasks: • Meaningful tasks • Customer contact • Being proud of accomplished work • Task variance |
Work organisation | High workload and time pressure: • Overload due to staff shortage • Need for recovery from stressful working days | Moderate workload: • Adjusted workload to individual capacities • Adequately assigned work packages • Alternating tension and relaxation phases |
Unfair distribution of work and challenges in collaboration: • Unequal allocation of workload • Unestablished working processes, unclear responsibilities • Perceived lack of motivation, inadequate quality of work of certain colleagues | Established work processes: • Clear allocation of tasks and responsibilities • Participation | |
Communication: • Regular, scheduled team meetings • Solving problems within the team • Collegial agreements • Informal conversations | ||
Working hours: • Early working times | Flexibility and autonomy in organizing break times | |
Insufficient reward: • Minimum wage too low for job performance | Reliable payment | |
Social relations | Interfering or gossiping colleagues: • Complaints • Orders given by colleagues • Unrequested interference into team issues | Team cohesion: • Social support from colleagues • Integrity and trust • Private meetings in leisure time |
Pressure from supervisors: • Verbal communication • Stress of supervisor can be spilled over to employees | Relationship with the supervisor: • Supervisor support • Mediator for work or team conflicts • Appreciative, respectful interaction, verbal rewards, feedback | |
Working atmosphere: • Harmonious collaboration • Having fun at work (together) • Motivating teamwork • Respect • Appreciative, non-discriminatory interaction • Mutual acceptance of weaknesses • Patience in dealing with mistakes | ||
Work environment | Physical effort: • Walking around a lot • Carrying heavy weights | Occupational safety: • Appropriate equipment and guidelines |
Noise • High noise level in the kitchen | Snacks and drinks for team meetings |
Discussion
Job demands
Job resources
Strengths and limitations
Implications for future research
Practical implications
Behavioural-related implications | Structural-related implications |
---|---|
Employees: • Training to strengthen own resources in self-care (mindfulness, self-reflection, coping strategies) • Training for communication and conflict resolution • Team-building measures to promote healthy cooperation (raising awareness of different needs, commonalities and values) | Supervisors: • Building trusting, collegial relationships with employees • Training for appreciative, respectful communication, feedback and conflict resolution • Mediation / social support for conflicts among colleagues or problems at work • Fostering collegial teamwork (regular team meetings, structured work processes, harmonious work atmosphere) • Flexible adaptation of working conditions to the individual needs of employees (concerning work content, work organisation, work environment) |
Management: • Long-term personnel planning (low staff turnover, staff shortage) • Fair remuneration system • Value-oriented corporate culture, open culture of discussion and feedback • Opportunities for staff participation • Provide support opportunities for employees and supervisors (training and development, promotion and career trajectories) • Follow a comprehensive occupational health and safety approach |