The purpose of this thesis was to investigate young adult workers' experience of having an insecure employment and whether it affects the employee's ability to establish themselves in society. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with young adults between the age of 20–30 years old. The young adult had a part time or temporary employment. These types of employment are classified as insecure employment in this study. The employee´s have harder to plan their future, privacy, working life and economics. The data material has been analyzed using different theoretical perspectives. These are flexible labor markets, precarious employment, shame model and self-identity theory. The results of the study show that insecure employment affects young adult workers in their daily lives and working life. The form of employment has shown in the interviewees that it affects the mental health by experience stress and concern for the future. The stress is primarily based on the planning of everyday life. We could see that well-being at the workplace was an important part of the interviewer's experience of good working conditions. Other consequences of insecure employment is that the economy becomes unpredictable as the workings days are in many case only short term planned without a promise of extended employment. There were also some positive effects of having an insecure employment. These positive consequences are not as obvious as the negative ones. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka unga vuxna arbetstagares upplevelser av att inneha en osäker anställning och om det påverkar arbetstagarens möjligheter att etablera sig i samhället. Studien är kvalitativ och det har gjorts sex intervjuer med unga vuxna arbetstagare i åldern 20-30 år. De unga vuxna arbetstagarna ska ha en tidsbegränsad anställning i form av vikariatsanställning, deltidsanställning eller tidsbegränsad anställning. I denna studie har vi utgått ifrån att dessa anställningsformer är osäkra anställningar eftersom arbetstagarna har svårare att planera sin framtid och ekonomi samt sitt privatliv och arbetsliv. Datamaterialet har analyserats med hjälp av olika teoretiska perspektiv. Dessa är flexibel arbetsmarknad, prekär anställning, skam-modellen samt självidentitetsteori. Studiens slutsats är att osäkra anställningar påverkar unga vuxna arbetstagare i deras vardagsliv samt arbetsliv. Anställningsformen har visat sig påverka intervjupersonernas psykiska hälsa där de upplever stress och oro inför framtiden. Stressen grundar sig främst i svårigheten att planera vardagslivet. Vi kunde se att trivsel på arbetsplatsen var en viktig del för att intervjupersonen skulle må väl och vilja stanna kvar längre trots anställningsformen. Andra konsekvenser av att ha en osäker anställning är att ekonomin blir oförutsägbar eftersom arbetstagaren inte vet hur många timmar hen får ihop eller om anställningen kommer att förnyas. Det fanns även spår av positiva effekter av att inneha en osäker anställning. Dessa positiva konsekvenser framkommer dock inte lika tydligt som de negativa.

This volume, developed from the public forum What Do Mothers Need? and hosted by the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (mirci) in 2011, examines what mothers need in twenty-first century North American society in order to adequately care for their children while living full and purposeful lives. The contributors to the volume include representatives from various motherhood organizations Ontario/Canadian Native Women s Association, Hip Mama, National Excerpt: Association of Mother Centres, Mothers & More, Mocha Moms, Welfare Warriors as well as the leading motherhood scholars including Paula Caplan, Amber Kinser, Barbara Katz Rothman, Pamela Stone, and Judith Warner. The twenty-six chapters, organized into six sections Redefining Motherhood, Empowering Mothers, Mothers, Children and Families: Health and Well-Being, Mothers, Education and Social Change, Mothers, Partners and Parenting, and Mothers and Work explore what changes are needed in public/social policy, health, education, the workplace, maternal support/advocacy, and the family in order to afford full and lasting gender equity for mothers in the twenty-first century.

Autonomy is one of the most commonly studied job characteristics in the work design literature and is commonly associated with large and positive effects on job satisfaction. There is reason to believe that autonomy may interact with personality characteristics to affect attitudinal outcomes, but prior research has tended to focus on the original growth-need-strength construct as a potential moderator with mixed results. One glaring gap in the literature is the lack of research that examines the Big Five constructs of personality as a potential class of moderators. Grant, Fried, and Juillerat (2010) have suggested additional research into the Big Five as moderators of individuals' attitudinal reactions to job characteristics. Moreover, several researchers (e.g., Dudley, Orvis, Lebiecki, & Cortina, 2006; Judge, Heller, & Mount, 2002; Major, Turner, & Fletcher, 2006) have called for increased attention to the facets of the Big Five in conducting such research. This dissertation addressed these two gaps in the research literature. First, the study examined conscientiousness as a potential moderator of the relationship between the job design characteristic of autonomy and the outcomes of job satisfaction and person-job fit. Second, the study tested specific hypotheses regarding these interactions using both the global construct of conscientiousness and the narrower sub-traits--or facets--that exist underneath the broader trait. This dissertation also contributes to the research literature by creating a new measure of person autonomy fit adapted from an existing person job fit measure (Cable & DeRue, 2002) and by showing that person autonomy fit mediates the effect of autonomy and job satisfaction and person job fit. Data were collected at two time points from 181 employees at a national wholesale distribution cooperative. Participants came from the corporate office and 10 independently owned locations across the United States, and held a wide variety of jobs. The results indicated strong main effects for autonomy and conscientiousness and its facets on job satisfaction, and a strong effect of autonomy on person-job fit, but did not find evidence of interactions between autonomy and conscientiousness or any of its facets. Moreover, the results indicate that person autonomy fit mediates the effect of autonomy on these two attitudinal outcomes. Based on these results, I suggest that organizations interested in creating work environments that foster high levels of job satisfaction can do so using at least two mechanisms: 1) by selecting individuals with higher levels of conscientiousness and 2) by providing high levels of autonomy in the workplace. I also argue that the potential payoff of providing autonomous work environments is far higher than for selecting workers predisposed to be more satisfied with their jobs. Finally, I suggest that more research is needed to understand the complex interaction between individual differences and workplace environments.

Demand for healthcare services is rising dramatically as the proportion of older adults in the United States increases, and the success of these healthcare organizations depends on cooperation among patients, doctors, and nurses. These interpersonal interactions come with costs associated with managing one's emotions in ways that are in line with completing job tasks effectively, especially as past research has demonstrated that nurses are likely to experience and respond to incivility, and nurses of minority backgrounds even moreso. This study examines the effect of experiencing incivility on engaging in surface acting, or simulating emotions that are not actually felt; how these two factors influence well-being outcomes; and the impact of racial differences in these relationships. A sample of 100 Black and White nurses participated in this research. Results indicate that experiencing incivility increases emotional exhaustion both directly and indirectly through engaging in surface acting in response to incivility. Additionally, findings suggest that Black nurses are more likely than White nurses to experience incivility from other nurses. These results highlight how incivility can contribute to burnout and negative health outcomes and that this effect may be particularly salient among Black nurses.

Women in the U.S. workforce have been a focus of scholars since the onset of the 21st century, when work-life balance skewed in favor of the term work-life integration because professional working mothers found that balance was an unachievable ideal in the fast pace of the contemporary world. Accordingly, this research study examined the work-life challenges and career choices of women working in the public sector through the framework of the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM). While research has been conducted on women in corporate America, there have been limited studies exploring the work-life challenges and career decisions of women working in government. The study design was phenomenological with convenience sampling of women working for state government agencies. Data were collected through a structured interview and demographic questionnaire. Data from the 7 participants were analyzed using the KCM theory and considering Mainiero and Sullivan's A-authenticity, B-balance, C-challenge parameters. Overall, findings indicated that women working in state government chose and remained in their jobs because of stability, security, and benefits. These women did not opt-out, as is common for corporate workers, because they received the flexibility and benefits required to integrate work-life balance. Corporate human resources might explore needs of their own workers using the KCM framework. Policies to retain workers might include more flexibility in scheduling and benefits for workers. This work extends applicability of the KCM to a population of which it has not been used.

Employers' reliance on asynchronous electronic communications, connective technology devices, and remote work arrangements has led employees to feel preoccupied with staying connected after-hours to be responsive to work-related demands. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of professional workers who coped with constant pressure to monitor and immediately respond to work-related electronic communications during nonwork hours. The conceptual framework was supported by boundary and border theory and the constructs of work-life balance, flexible work arrangements, information and communication technology. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 16 professional workers near Washington, DC. Moustakas's modified van Kaam method was used to analyze, code, and organize data. Six themes emerged: mobilize or immobilize, manage expectations, safeguard personal time, work-life fusion, work engagement, and psychological outcomes. Findings revealed that professional workers felt a sense of urgency to reply to work-related e-mails and text messages outside of their regularly scheduled work hours and felt a sense of professional obligation to be available after-hours. Results may be used to shape and support positive social change through effective organizational change programs for technology-related work-life imbalances, thereby benefiting employers and employees.

Workplace stress costs -£3.7 billion per annum in the United Kingdom and in excess of $300 billion per annum in the United States. However, little research exists on the relationships between perceptions of social support, work-life conflict, job performance, and workplace stress. The purpose of this correlational study was to provide educational leaders with the information they need to examine the existence, strength, and direction of relationships between perceptions of social support, work-life conflict, job performance, and workplace stress in an Irish higher education institution. The theoretical framework for this study consisted of a combination of reward imbalance theory, expectancy theory, and equity theory. The study included an organizational stress screening survey instrument to survey the population (N = 1,420) of academic, research, and support staff. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationships between the independent variables (social support, work-life conflict, job performance), the covariates (staff category, direct reports, age, gender), and the dependent variable (workplace stress). The results showed a negative correlation between social support and workplace stress, a positive correlation between work-life conflict and workplace stress, and a negative correlation between job performance and workplace stress (p < .05). The results also revealed significant relationships between the covariates direct reports and gender and the dependent variable workplace stress. By reviewing the findings of this study, educational leaders can enable social change by developing and implementing social support, work-life strategies, and potential pathways to reduce levels of workplace stress and improve quality of life for employees and their families.

<p>Kan kulturaktiviteter vilka erbjuds genom arbetet, resultera i ett ökat välmående för den anställde och eventuellt även en ökad känsla av sammanhang? Detta är utgångspunkten för uppsatsen, som tar sin början i Antonovskys salutogena perspektiv och KASAM, vilket mäts kvantitativt på två grupper där Grupp 1 utgjordes av anställda på arbetsplatser där kulturaktiviteter regelbundet erbjöds och Grupp 2 av anställda på en arbetsplats utan kulturaktiviteter. Genom deltagarnas resultat på KASAM formuläret, utlästes att kulturaktiviteter och ett deltagande i dessa visar ett samband med en ökad KASAM hos individen. Uppsatsen diskuterar sedermera hur kulturkonsumtion kan vara en bidragande mental hälsofaktor av lika vikt som den av arbetsplatser mer erkända uppbyggnaden av fysisk hälsa, genom träning för förebyggande av sjukdom och ohälsa.</p>

Möjligheten till att uppnå balans mellan arbete och privatliv antas i framtiden bli en allt viktigare fråga och i allt högre grad påverka individen i hennes val av arbetsgivare. Studiens syfte utformade författarna tillsammans med Halmstad kommun vilka har märkt av en svårighet att rekrytera yngre kompetenta chefer och därför önskar bli mer attraktiv som arbetsgivare. Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för hur kvinnliga chefer mitt i livet upplever balans i livet och vad arbetsgivaren, Halmstad kommun, kan erbjuda för att de skall uppnå balans. Undersökningen är av kvalitativ karaktär och till grund för studien låg åtta djupintervjuer med kvinnliga mellanchefer. Enbart kvinnor valdes ut till studien eftersom kvinnor utöver sitt lönearbete traditionellt sett även antas utföra det mesta av hushållsarbetet. Resultatet visade att de kvinnliga cheferna ansåg sig ha balans mellan arbete och privatliv. Exempel på faktorer som kan hämma balansen är otillräckligt stöd från chef och en för hög arbetsbelastning utan möjlighet till avlastning. Arbetsgivaren kan i hög grad påverka de anställdas upplevelse och möjlighet till balans genom arbetsvillkoren. Balans i livet kan bland annat främjas av en familjevänlig personalpolitik. / The possibility to obtain a work-life balance will in the future be of greater importance in an individual’s choice of employer. The purpose of the study was drawn up in collaboration with the municipal of Halmstad who, since they have experienced some difficulties in attracting and recruiting younger qualified managers, wants to become more attractive as employer. The purpose decided upon was to enlarge the understanding of how female managers in the middle scene of life experience work-life balance and what their employer, the municipal of Halmstad, can offer their employees to facilitate a work-life balance. It is a qualitative study in which eight deep interviews with female middle managers make up the foundation. Only women were chosen to the study since women, even though they are employed outside of the home, traditionally carry out most the domestic chores. The result showed that the female middle managers felt that they today experienced a work-life balance. Some of the elements that can restrain a positive work-life balance are insufficient support from superior manager and a high degree of workload without relief. It was found that through the working conditions is the employer to a large extent able to influence the employee’s experience of work-life balance. Family-friendly organizational policies, among other factors, can foster work-life balance.

Kan kulturaktiviteter vilka erbjuds genom arbetet, resultera i ett ökat välmående för den anställde och eventuellt även en ökad känsla av sammanhang? Detta är utgångspunkten för uppsatsen, som tar sin början i Antonovskys salutogena perspektiv och KASAM, vilket mäts kvantitativt på två grupper där Grupp 1 utgjordes av anställda på arbetsplatser där kulturaktiviteter regelbundet erbjöds och Grupp 2 av anställda på en arbetsplats utan kulturaktiviteter. Genom deltagarnas resultat på KASAM formuläret, utlästes att kulturaktiviteter och ett deltagande i dessa visar ett samband med en ökad KASAM hos individen. Uppsatsen diskuterar sedermera hur kulturkonsumtion kan vara en bidragande mental hälsofaktor av lika vikt som den av arbetsplatser mer erkända uppbyggnaden av fysisk hälsa, genom träning för förebyggande av sjukdom och ohälsa.