This thesis deals with the lifestyles of mothers on parental leave, living in small municipalities in the Třeboň region. It maps various aspects of their lives such as leisure time, personal hobbies, activities with children, social contacts, the options for various activities at the place of residence, personal development, social support, and satisfaction with the current period of life. The thesis is divided into two parts a theoretical one and an empirical one. The theoretical part is divided into six areas the first one deals with the definition of the concept of family, with the ways families have evolved to their current form, and with its function. The second area defines parenting; it deals with the changes that childbirth brings to the family, with the needs of the child, with maternity and parental leave. The third area describes the ways of combining childcare and work; it focuses on the options of institutional care for children; it deals with gender stereotypes and division of work in the family. The fourth area defines the lifestyle and related concepts such as leisure time, ways of spending it and the lifestyles of mothers on parental leave. The fifth one defines a village, the Třeboň region; it deals with the social isolation of mothers living at villages. The sixth area describes the theoretical background; it focuses on the social support for mothers on parental leave and a socio-ecological model. At the beginning of the empirical part, the objectives of the thesis are defined. The cognitive objective is to find out how parenting affects the lifestyles of contemporary mothers on parental leave, living in small municipalities and what factors have an impact on spending their leisure time. The data was collected using the qualitative research strategy and the chosen technique was semi-structured interviews. The basic group consisted of mothers on parental leave, living in small municipalities boroughs Třeboň: Břilice, Přeseka, Stará Hlína, Nová Hlína, Holičky, and Branná. The research group members were selected using the 'snowball' method when the researcher selected one respondent and she recommended the others. A total of 15 women participated in the research. The records of the interviews were transcribed into text. In accordance with the research questions, ten categories were established: leisure time, hobbies before childbirth, hobbies after childbirth, social contacts, activities with children, options for activities in municipalities, deficiencies in municipalities, personal development, social support and satisfaction. The discussion compares the research results with the views of other authors dealing with the issue. The research showed that parenting affects fundamentally the lifestyles of mothers, especially in terms of leisure time, personal hobbies, self-fulfilment and personal development. In general, the conducted research makes it possible to put together a picture of ways mothers on parental leave live in small municipalities in the Třeboň region. It outlines the ways these women spend their leisure time and days with their families, what their needs, possibilities, wishes and relationships with the others are. Therefore, the objective of the thesis has been met. The thesis can be used as informative material for mothers-to-be, parents of small children, for students and, last but not least, for the staff at the public administrations of the municipalities concerned.

In Brazil, much has been published on the nature of sickness absence of civil servants employed in federal institutions of higher education, but so far, there are few researches that used for such purposes the data base of the Integrated Administration System of Human resources-SIAPE. This study aimed to identify possible diferences between sickness absence of civil servants employed in the health sector and those working in other sectors of a federal institution of higher education located in Minas Gerais, with a corresponding population to 4011 servers.This cross-sectional study, with data collected from the webpage Siapnet health module, includes 1.860 sickness absence for treatment of the server and for sick family care; 1.318 of these sickness absence referred to servants of the health sector (group I) and 542 to servants of other sectors (group II), all of both sexes and holding positions compatible with 2nd and 3rd degree education. These sickness absence were granted between January and June 2012.We classified the diagnosis of the cause of morbidity in accordance with ICD 10. The statistical evaluation included descriptive analysis of the sample. We used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to ensure the normality of data. We employed the Mann-Whitney U-test to evaluate the difference between medians, and to verify the associations between variables statistical Pearson s chi-square test or the Binomial test were used. We adopted a significance level of 5% (p ≤ 0,05) for the analyses. In the two groups we investigated, the highest sickness absence rates occured in Group I, among females, and in the 40 to 50 age group. In both groups, were characterized days away with short duration (1 to 14 days). Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders are the most frequent causes of sickness absence in the Group I; the factors that are determinants of health, the contact with health services and the respiratory diseases were the main causes of sickness absence in Grupo II. The results presented in this study confirm the health sector, female, aged between 40 and 50 years as predictors of risk of sickness absenteeism factors, as well as increased frequency of musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases on servers in the health area, tendency corroborated in other studies. / No Brasil, muito tem sido publicado sobre o perfil dos afastamentos de servidores públicos lotados em instituições federais de ensino superior entretanto, até o momento, são escassos as pesquisas que utilizaram para tais fins a base de dados do Sistema Integrado de Administração de Recursos Humanos-SIAPE. Este estudo teve como objetivo conhecer possíveis diferenças entre as licenças médicas para tratamento de saúde de servidores lotadas na área saúde e outras áreas em uma instituição federal de ensino superior em Minas Gerais com uma população correspondente a 4011 servidores. Trata-se de um estudo de corte transversal sendo os dados colhidos através da página Siapnet módulo saúde, referentes à 1860 licenças médicas para tratamento do servidor e para o acompanhamento de familiar doente; destas, 1318 licenças médicas foram referentes a servidores lotados na área saúde (grupo I) e 542 licenças referentes a servidores de outras áreas (grupo II), de ambos os sexos, cargo compatível ao 2º e 3º grau de escolaridade, durante o período de janeiro a junho de 2012. O diagnóstico da causa mórbida foi classificado segundo a CID 10. A avaliação estatística compreendeu a realização da análise descritiva da amostra. Para avaliar a normalidade dos dados utilizou-se o teste de Kolmogorov-Smirnov. As diferenças entre as medianas foram avaliadas por meio dos testes não paramétricos de Mann-Whitney; para verificar as associações entre as variáveis foram utilizados os testes estatísticos do Qui-quadrado de Pearson ou o teste Binomial. O nível de significância nas análises foi de 5% (p ≤ 0,05). A maior frequências das licenças médicas ocorreu no Grupo I, bem como entre as mulheres, e na faixa etária de 40 a 50 anos, para os dois grupos estudados. Os dias afastados para ambos os grupos, correspondeu a curta duração (entre 1 a 14 dias). As doenças osteomuscular e do tecido conjuntivo foram às causas motivadoras mais frequentes das licenças no Grupo I; os fatores que influenciam o estado de saúde e o contato com serviços de saúde e as doenças respiratórias foram as principais causas das licenças entre os servidores do Grupo II. Os resultados apresentados neste estudo confirmam a área da saúde, sexo feminino e idade entre 40 e 50 anos, como fatores de risco preditores de absenteísmo por doença, bem como a maior frequência das doenças osteomuscular e do tecido conjuntivo em servidores lotados na área saúde, tendência corroborada por outros estudos. / Mestre em Ciências da Saúde

Background: For indeterminate reasons, there have been major variations in sick leave in Sweden, and many physicians have perceived sick leave assignments as burdensome. Aim: To gain more knowledge and understanding, from a perspective of primary health care, about factors in health care and patients that affect sick leave. Thereby help patients in the best way, facilitate the work of physicians and other health professionals involved in the rehabilitation process, and use the health care resources optimally. Methods: This thesis is based on a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in a primary health care centre with participants on short-term sick leave, due to pain and/or mental illness, who received a multidisciplinary assessment. Qualitative focus-group discussions with physicians in primary health care centres. A cohort of women on very long-term sick leave due to pain and/or mental illness, who lost sickness benefits due to a new time limit on sickness insurance, were randomised to multidisciplinary assessment and multimodal intervention (TEAM), or to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In an extended cohort, including some men on very long-term sick leave due to pain and/or mental illness, the importance of the motivation for return to work (RTW) was investigated. Results. Very early multidisciplinary assessment increased days on sick leave in the first three month period. Physicians at primary health care centres perceived sick leave assignments as burdensome, but clearer rules and cooperation with other professionals have made sick leave assignments less burdensome. TEAM intervention resulted in an increase in working hours per week as well as an increase in work-related engagements, compared to control in the RCT. Motivation for RTW was associated with RTW or increased employability in the rehabilitation of patients Conclusions: Continued studies are needed to find those who are at risk of long-term sick leave, the time when rehabilitation efforts should be started, and the content of rehabilitation. Collaboration in teams facilitates sick leave assignments for physicians at primary care health centres. Motivation for RTW might be a factor of importance for the effect of rehabilitation and needs to be studied further.

Notre recherche répond à une volonté d’explorer une méthode d’humanisation de l’implantation des principes du NPM pour rendre le changement à l’hôpital socialement plus acceptable. Compatible avec un management polyphonique propice aux changements lorsque des individus aux valeurs et aux intérêts divergents doivent coopérer autour d’une problématique, la sociologie de la traduction s’est donc imposée comme grille d’analyse d’un processus de changement que nous observons et que nous conduisons à travers deux projets visant la fidélisation du personnel. Dans une posture transformative, notre recherche-intervention repose sur deux études de cas similaires dans des hôpitaux publics. Le rapport ethnographique au terrain a été favorisé par une CIFRE et nous a permis un recueil de données riches et variées. Nous avons ainsi contribué à l’identification des déterminants de l’intention de départ des infirmiers de psychiatrie en France grâce à la mise en place de groupes de travail multidisciplinaires. Puis dans une seconde période de mise en œuvre des projets co-construits avec les acteurs de terrain, nous avons identifié les freins et les facilitateurs du changement. / We initialised this piece of research in order to explore methods that could humanise the implementation of NPM principles and make changes in hospital environments socially more acceptable. Compatible with a polyphonic management, favourable to change when people with different values and opposing interests have to co-operate around one same issue, Actor Network sociology became an obvious assessment matrix for a change process that we have been observing and conducting via two projects that aim to retain staff. .Lead in a transformative approach, our research and intervention is based on two similar case-studies undertaken in public hospitals that have to face chronic shortages in nursing staff in psychiatric wards. Our ethnographic connection with the field was possible thanks to a CIFRE. It enabled us to obtain all kinds of rich and diversified data. We thereby brought our contribution to identifying what determines the initial intentions of psychiatric nursing staff in France, thanks to the organisation of multi-disciplinary workshops. During the second part of the implementation of our projects, thought-out in total collaboration with the actors on the field, we determined the actual obstacles to change as well as change-facilitators.

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Sjukfrånvaro innebär en kostnad för både arbetsgivare och arbetstagare. För en anonym fullgrossist är detta ett problem på en av deras lagerlokaler, där sjukfrånvaron är hög. Uppsatsen syftar till att identifiera intressanta mönster över tid som leder till sjukfrånvaro genom att analysera data från företagets lönesystem och tidssystem. Datamaterialet är longitudinellt och för att upptäcka mönster som leder till sjukfrånvaro används sekvensanalys. För att generera de sekventiella mönstren används algoritmen cSPADE då den möjliggör att tidsbegränsningar kan anges för sekvenserna. Relevansen hos de genererade sekvenserna utvärderas med tre intressemått: support, konfidens och lift. Tre separata analyser genomförs där olika antal variabler används, beroende på om de förändras över tid eller har ett konstant värde, och för dessa analyser aggregeras data veckovis. De vanligaste händelserna som leder till sjukfrånvaro hos expeditörer är olika anställningstider, kön och födelseår. Några dagars sjukfrånvaro under en vecka, det vill säga mellan 8 och 40 timmar, är mer förekommande bland expeditörerna jämfört med kortare respektive längre sjukfrånvaro. Det går att konstatera att mönster med tidigare sjukfrånvaro ofta leder till fortsatt sjukfrånvaro. Uppsatsen belyser även de problem som uppstår inom sekvensanalys, till exempel att konstanta variabler överskuggar de icke-konstanta variablerna i de genererade sekvenserna. Detta händer när variabler som förändras över tiden används i kombination med variabler som har konstanta värden, något som kan förekomma i longitudinella datamaterial. / Absence due to sickness results in a cost to both employers and employees. For an unnamed wholesaler this is a problem at one of their warehouses, where the rate of sick leave is high. The aim of this thesis is to identify interesting patterns over time that lead to sick leave by analyzing data from the company's payroll system and their attendance system. The data is longitudinal and to detect the patterns that lead to sick leave, sequence analysis is used. To generate the sequential patterns the algorithm cSPADE is used since it allows time constraints to be specified for the sequences. The relevance of the generated sequences is evaluated with three interest measures: support, confidence and lift. Three separate analyses are performed where different variables are used, depending on whether they change over time or have a constant value, and for these analyses the data is aggregated weekly. The most common events that lead to sick leave for the employees are different duration of employment, gender and birth year. A few days sick leave during a week, namely between 8 and 40 hours, is more common among the employees compared to shorter and longer sick leave. It can be noted that the pattern of previous sick leave usually leads to continued sick leave. The thesis also highlights the problems that arise in sequence analysis, for example that the constant variables overshadow the non-constant variables in the resulting sequences. This happens when variables that change over time are used in combination with variables that have a constant value, which may occur in longitudinal data.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The increasing demand for client-centred services in a highly competitive business environment has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of call centres world wide (Knight 2004 cited in Carrim, Basson & Coetzee, 2006; Nel & De Villiers 2004 cited in Carrim et al., 2006; Williams, 2000 cited in Carrim et al., 2006). According to Holdsworth and Cartwright (2003); Malhotra and Mukherjee (2004); Singh and Goolsby (1994), the work of a customer service representative is seen as one of the ten most stressful jobs in the present-day world economy. Customer service representatives are highly susceptible to elevated levels of stress and burnout, more so than in any other work environment. Within the call centre environment specifically, turnover has been identified as one of the most pressing problems in terms of scope (levels or percentages of turnover), cost and productivity (O’Herron, 2003 cited in Spies, 2006). Factors that lead to unhappiness in call centres are, inter alia, the monotony and repetitiveness of the job content. This situation is aggravated by lack of opportunities for promotion and by stress (Worldroom Digest, 2004 cited in Carrim et al., 2006). In addition, Hochschild (1983) posits that organisations in the service industry do not hesitate to “commercialize” employees’ emotions as a means to attract and retain customers. Research suggests that service providers are under implicit and explicit pressure to regulate their emotions as a tool to lure customers into patronizing the organisation. In recent studies, several key factors were identified that are commonly associated with turnover intention among customer service representatives, namely, work overload, monitoring and surveillance of employees, competing management goals, upward career movement, lack of skill variety, and emotional labour (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993; Deery et al., 2002; Deery & Kinnie, 2004; Holman, 2004; Singh, 2000; Zapf, Isic, Bechtoldt & Blau, 2003). If not dealt with appropriately, stress, burnout and emotional labour can increase the turnover rate, which accordingly can be damaging to the organisation. The current research was conducted at an outbound call centre in a retail organisation in the Western Cape. The sample comprised of a hundred and sixty three call centre employees who are employed in the collections/outbound department. Convenience sampling was utilised. A self-developed Biographical Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981), the Emotional Labour Scale (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003), the Experience of Work and Life Circumstances Questionnaire (Van Zyl &Van der walt, 1994), and the Turnover Intentions Questionnaire (Roodt, 2004) were used to collect the data. The data was analysed using SPSS and the results were interpreted by means of descriptive and inferential statistics (the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, T-Test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Multiple Regression Analysis. The results indicate that there is a moderate relationship between stress and intention to leave the organisation amongst the sample of employees. There was also a significant relationship between burnout and intention to leave the organisation. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between emotional labour and intention to leave the organisation. Further findings of the current study are: there are significant differences in stress based on employees’ gender and tenure, a significant difference in burnout with regards to gender and employment type, and significant differences between emotional labour based on gender and tenure. However, no significant difference was found between burnout and tenure, nor was there a significant difference between emotional labour and employment type. Recommendations are made to alleviate the effects of stress on call centre employees which in turn, will minimise the effects of burnout and emotional labour. Recommendations included the development of wellness programmes, stress management programmes, coping programmes and effective communications as a mean to shape employee perceptions regarding their interpretation of organisational demands, threats or opportunities and to enhance call centre employees’ performance within their work. / South Africa

This thesis is focused on women - mothers in the labour market. The aim of the thesis is to acquaint current situation in the labour market for women who wish to return to employment after maternity or parental leave. This thesis examines the posibility for women to harmonize employment with childcare. Theoretical knowledges are supported by research findings and my questionnaire survey, where women express their opinion on the situation in the Czech Republic and the attitude of employers of these women.

This diploma thesis is focused on the harmonization of work and family life. Specifically focused to the return of women with completed secondary education without leaving exam to the labor market after the maternity leave. The aim of this work is to find the unique determinants that affect transition between maternity leave and labor market. Next step is to compare unique factors with those that can be seen in the literature and specific determinants that can be seen in the financical sector. Adopted research strategy is qualitative approach, specifically semi-structured interview and questionnaire, which is conducted on nine preselected respondents. Collected data are analyzed by using open coding method, which brings us following details and conclusions. The respondents with completed secondary education without leaving exam are not interested in harmonization of work and family life, they would rather separate both spheres.The biggest barrier of return to the labour market is low education, the lack of kindegartens, night shifts and the lack of work experience. On the other hand there is an advantage on labor market if the mother have enough work experiences. Newly identified determinants are: poor financial situation of the family, the lack of information and sick child as a barrier of the transition between maternity leave and labor market. Vice versa contacts in the work field makes huge advantage when the mother has them. The results of this study provide hypotheses for further research. The contribution of this work is an insight to the return of a particular group of women to the labor market. It is possible that these women could experience different barriers than better educated mothers.

The Master's Thesis deals with women's rights in the Czech Republic and in the United States of America. The aim of the study is to compare women's rights and opportunities in education, labour market and family life. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with the role of women in society in terms of education, voting rights and employment on labour market. Special attention is focused on family law, mainly on benefits for mothers in different life situations. The practical part of the thesis consists of two parts, a primary empirical research in the form of individual personal interviews and an interpretation of secondary statistical data. In the end of the thesis there is a comparison of both countries based on the theoretical information and the results of the empirical research.