With South Africa currently experiencing a skills shortage, companies need to take job insecurity, job satisfaction and social support into consideration as part of their retention strategy. There is also tremendous pressure being placed on organisations to improve their performance and to become increasingly competitive, which has resulted in job insecurity becoming a reality in South Africa. A petro-chemical company in South Africa was studied to determine the possible relationships between job insecurity, job satisfaction, social support, tenure, intention to leave and qualifications. The participants (N=l 84) included process controllers, senior process controllers, group leaders/foremen, section leaders and area leaders of various business units of the petro-chemical company. A quantitative study was conducted using a cross-sectional survey design. Self-administered questionnaires were used which included the Job Insecurity Questionnaire (JIQ), The Turnover Scale, Social Support and the Job Satisfaction Scale. The statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients as well as MANOY A and structural equation modelling. The statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients as well as MANOVA and structural equation modelling. Results indicated there was no correlation between job insecurity and tenure, nor between qualifications and job insecurity. It was concluded that lower job satisfaction resulted in higher job insecurity and that higher job satisfaction resulted in lower levels of intentions to leave. There was a positive correlation between social support and job satisfaction. With these results and the model developed it would be possible for the company to adjust their retention strategy to achieve optimal results. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

The reduction of workplace accidents and improvement of workplace safety is a concern for most mining houses. Pressure from the labour movement and legislative requirements do not make the burden any lighter. There are circumstances directly and indirectly relating to accidents and therefore a need to obtain an in-depth analysis of underlying causes of accidents in order to draw relevant conclusions exists. There are workplace environmental matters as well as individual attitudinal issues that need to be addressed. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship of work stress and job insecurity with safety compliance, job satisfaction and commitment in a mine. A cross-sectional survey design was used with an availability sample (n=158). A survey booklet including a biographical questionnaire, scales on job insecurity, job satisfaction, affective organisational commitment, workplace accidents and safety compliance as well as a work stress measure comprising dimensions of role clarity, conflict and overload was administered. The results indicated that when miners experience work stress and job insecurity, their safety compliance is low. Job satisfaction was found to be a positive predictor of safety compliance among miners. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Tidsbegränsade anställningar har ökat i Sverige sedan 90-talet och fortsätter ännu att öka. Dessa anställningar diskuteras flitigt i media och den negativa påverkan på de anställda är mest framträdande. De som i högst utsträckning är tidsbegränsat anställda är unga personer i åldrarna 16–24 år, där hälften har den typen av anställning. Pajala är en kommun i Norrbotten som varit väldigt aktuell i media i och med gruvan som startade och sen kort därefter gick i konkurs. Enligt statistik från SCB har Pajala en markant högre ungdomsarbetslöshet än i riket och länet med 15 procent mot rikets 8 procent. Föreliggande studie har utförts i Pajala kommun med syftet att undersöka vad unga Pajalabor har för upplevelser av otrygga anställningar och vilka strategier som används för att hantera situationen. Samt hur detta påverkas av den varierande tillgången på arbete som kommunen erfarit. Sju semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med kvinnor i åldrarna 20–31 år. I analysen av materialet har Standings teori om prekariatet och Jahodas deprivationsteori används. Resultatet av studien visar att otrygghet och oro är centralt i respondenternas upplevelser framförallt oro för sin ekonomi. Även stress över att alltid behöva vara tillgänglig och hur anställningen gör det svårt att planera återkommer. Respondenterna har även upplevt bristande arbetsmiljö, kompetensutveckling och möjligheter att utvecklas i arbetet. De strategier som främst används för att hantera situationen är att anpassa sin livsstil efter den varierande inkomsten samt att planera för hur de ska hantera en eventuell uppsägning. Samtliga respondenter har påverkats på ett eller annat sätt av arbetsmarknaden i kommunen och turerna med gruvan. Resultatet visar även på ett upplevt tvång att studera för att komma ur de otrygga anställningarna, annars får man nöja sig med det man får eller flytta. / Precarious employment has increased in Sweden since the 90's and continues to increase. These jobs are widely discussed in the media and the negative impact on employees is most prominent. Those who to a large extent are temporary employees are young people aged 16-24, where half have this type of employment. Pajala is a municipality in the north of Sweden that has been very relevant in the media, with the mine that started and soon became bankrupt. According to statistics from SCB, Pajala has a significantly higher youth unemployment than in the country and the county with 15 percent against the country's 8 percent. This study has been conducted in Pajala municipality with the purpose of investigating how young residents in Pajala has experienced insecure employment and what strategies are used to handle the situation. And how this is affected by the varied supply of work that the municipality has experienced. Seven semi- structured interviews have been conducted with women between the ages of 20 and 31 years. In the analysis of the material, Standing's theory of precariat and Jahoda's deprivation theory has been used. The result of the study shows that insecurity and concern are central to the respondents' experiences, especially concern for their finances. Also stress about always having to be available and how the job makes it difficult to plan returns. The respondents have also experienced insufficient work environment, skills development and opportunities to develop at work. The strategies used primarily to deal with the situation are to adjust their lifestyles according to the varying income and to plan how to deal with a possible termination. All respondents have been affected in one way or another by the labor market in the municipality and the bankruptcy of the mine. The result also shows an experienced compulsion to study to get out of the precarious jobs, otherwise you will have to settle for what you get or move.

This thesis considers how work has changed in post-industrial society. It shows that while insecure or stressful work can be reliably linked with poor health, individual outcomes depend upon a range of micro- and macro-level moderators. Bad jobs are invariably harmful, but context matters. It begins by charting the shift in advanced economic nations from industry and agriculture to service sector and knowledge-based employment. Most accounts of post-industrialisation share common flaws. Namely, the tendency for technological determinism; the depiction of discontinuous, all-encompassing social transformation; and the dislocation from individual experience. Such failings, however, do not negate the micro-level impact of these changes. This thesis focuses on two: job insecurity and work intensity. Recent decades have witnessed a destandardisation of employment relations and an intensification of working conditions. These changes have important consequences for well-being, whether or not they collectively constitute a new form of society. The methodological theme is one of moderation. Successive analytical chapters show how the consequences of insecure or stressful work depends upon (a) family arrangements, (b) economic climate, (c) labour market policies, (d) job resources and (e) national characteristics such as culture or trade union density. The analyses combine European survey data and contextual information using a range of quantitative methods, including multilevel modelling, structural equation modelling and latent class analysis. While the empirical chapters contribute to their respective literatures, they also feed into broader arguments regarding the synthesis of micro- and macro-level perspectives. Work invariably impacts upon health, but a simultaneity of moderating influences results in a diversity of outcomes. These findings underline the contextual sensitivity of work-related policy.

Perceived job insecurity (JI) among employees is a common problem in our globalized economy that is characterized by competition and demands flexibility from both employees and employers. The existing literature presents a lot of evidence for the impact of JI on general physical health and psychological well-being outcomes, but asks for more longitudinal research on the impact of JI on specific outcomes, controlled for their baseline levels. The current study addresses this gap in existing research and investigates the associations between JI and diagnosed major depression, diagnosed acute stress, sleep quality, and the health-related behaviors of smoking and snussing in two Swedish samples from Stockholm and Norrland, over long time spans (up to 17 years for the Stockholm sub-sample). Data was obtained from the WOLF study. Results are mixed. For the Stockholm sub-sample, job insecurity correlates with most outcome measures except diagnosed stress, and predicts small shares of variance of sleep quality, the number of cigarettes participants smoke, and if participants use snus. The Norrland sub-sample replicates the impact of JI on general health and hints at a relationship between JI and sleep quality, but no other correlations with health-related behaviors or diagnoses were significant. Reasons for the differences among the sub-samples and limitations of the study are discussed.

The construction industry is an important player in the economy of South Africa and therefore job satisfaction and existence of job insecurity of employees in this sector needs to be researched (Thwala & Monese 2008:2). This study comprises a literature review and an empirical study on job satisfaction and job insecurity and its prevalence in an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company in South Africa. This study provides insight on whether employment status, that is, contract versus permanent, has any impact on levels of job satisfaction and job insecurity of construction employees. Quantitative research, using the survey method, was used for the empirical portion of the study. All employees of the EPC company were surveyed and included workers permanently employed as well as employees employed through labour brokers, that is those on contract. The EPC company in this study employs staff in various categories, such as section managers, engineers, project managers and site employees. The total population included 145 employees of whom 41 were permanent employees and 104 were employed through labour brokers. The response rate was 39 per cent. Conclusions emanating from the research questions identified marginal differences in the reported levels of job satisfaction and job insecurity for both permanent and contract employees. Contract employees reported slightly higher job satisfaction and job insecurity levels when compared to permanently employed counterparts. The value of this study lies in the fact that no research has been conducted on job satisfaction and job insecurity and its prevalence in the EPC sector in South Africa. This study provided insight into whether employment status - contract versus permanent - had an impact on the reported levels of job satisfaction and job insecurity of employees at an EPC company.

Syftet med vår studie var att ta reda på om och på vilket sätt arbetsförmedlare känner stress genom anställningsotrygghet. Vi valde att fokusera på de arbetsförmedlare som fortsatte arbeta på arbetsförmedlingen efter att januariavtalet slöts och omorganiseringen av arbetsförmedlingen startade.    Metoden som vi använde var kvalitativ metod och vi använde oss av semistrukturerade intervjuer för att samla in vårt empiriska material. Det var sju arbetsförmedlare som deltog i studien och vi genomförde två fysiska intervjuer och fem telefonintervjuer.    Det huvudsakliga resultatet i studien är att de flesta av våra respondenter känner av både stress och anställningsotrygghet, framför allt i förhållande till att politiska beslut kan förändra både anställning samt arbetsuppgifter / The purpose of our study was to find out if and in what way employment agents feel stress through job insecurity. We chose to focus on the employment agents who continued to work at the employment services after the january agreement was concluded and the reorganization of the employment services started.   The method we used was a qualitative method and we used semi-structured interviews to collect our empirical material. Seven employment agents participated in the study and we conducted two physical interviews and five telephone interviews.   The main result in the study is that most of our respondents do feel stressed and have a feeling of job insecurity mainly to the fact that political decisions have the power to change both the employment and the assignments of the work.

The newspaper industry, among other forms of journalism and media, has changed rapidly and fundamentally in the last 15-20 years due to technological and economical transformations as well as a shift in media consumption among the general public. The aim of this study is therefore to examine to what degree and how these changes and developments have affected journalists, to the extent that they exit the profession, as well as whether or not the ex-journalists still identify with the profession's ideals and democratic role in a society. The analysis is based on qualitative, semi structured interviews with eight Swedish ex-journalists, all who at some point in their journalistic careers have worked for a daily newspaper. To analyze the results, a theoretical framework consisting of parts of the role exit theory, push-pull-factors, theories of the professionalization of the journalism profession and theories of the democratic role of journalism, has been applied.    One main finding in this thesis is that the main driving force in leaving journalism, for the majority of the interviewees, was based on the economy of the newspapers they were working for and that some of the newspapers were forced to shut down or slim their production. This led to job insecurity for the journalists, less employees having to do more work and, for some, even being laid off. One other finding is that all of the interviewed ex-journalists state that they still identify with the way of working and the democratic ideals in the journalism profession to a high degree, despite working in other professions outside of journalism. This result indicates that the journalism profession, at least for the interviewed ex-newspaper-journalists, consists of shared ideals, behavior and ways of conducting the work.

Arbetsrelaterad stress är ett utbrett samhällsproblem. Som en konsekvens av den flexibla arbetsmarknaden ökar tidsbegränsade anställningar, vilket kan orsaka arbetsrelaterad stress. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad som kan predicera att människor upplever generell arbetsstress, och om stressen skiljer sig utifrån anställningsform. Arbetsrelaterad stress mättes flerdimensionellt genom generell arbetsstress, krav-kontroll-stöd-modellen och anställningsotrygghet. Enkäten besvarades av 181 deltagare varav 69% var kvinnor och 31% män, 76% hade en visstidsanställning och 27% hade en tidsbegränsad anställning. Resultatet visade att de med tidsbegränsade anställningar hade högre anställningsotrygghet än tillsvidareanställda. Vidare framkom att anställningsotrygghet, krav, stöd, och kön kan predicera generell arbetsstress, men inte anställningsform, kontroll och ålder. Krav förklarade störst andel variation i generell arbetsstress, därefter stöd, anställningsotrygghet och kön. Totalt förklarades 44% av variansen av generell arbetsstress. På grund av högre anställninsgotrygghet riskerar anställda med tidsbegränsad anställning mer negativa hälsoeffekter än tillsvidareanställda. Eftersom stöd har en dämpande effekt mot stress, kan det vara anledningen till att resultatet inte visade en skillnad mellan anställningsformerna gällande generell arbetsstress.