Thesis (DTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / In attempting to contribute to social transformation, South African Higher Education has undergone considerable changes, taking on greater student enrollment, increasing curriculum responsiveness, and prioritising pass- and graduation rates, all of which have put universities’ resources, specifically their human resources, under considerable pressure and stress (Rensburg, 2013: 5). Paradoxically, there has been no meaningful attempt to address the negative effects of these pressures and stress on the wellness of those who are expected to cope with the enormous changes. In addition, Higher Education Institutions’ (HEIs’) mergers, although honourable in intention, have resulted in negative, unintended consequences for staff. Previous research studies have highlighted the growing occupational stressors experienced by HEIs’ staff; however, limited sustainable solutions have been forthcoming. It is on this premise that this research study aimed to develop a holistic employee wellness programme model that would provide a support system for university staff. This model would alleviate the impact of challenges experienced in staff daily work and on their personal lives, and ultimately aid in promoting quality of work life and balance within the institution. The intention was to prevent university staff from experiencing job burnout and health-related problems, thereby promoting their optimal wellness and performance at work. A mixed methods research design was adopted involving a case study and a quasi-experimental research design. Purposive sampling was applied within the case study unit which included both academic and non-academic staff, as they shared similar attributes and wellness experiences within a university. Triangulation mixed methods that was applied combined, with equal importance, both quantitative and qualitative data which were brought together for comparison. This research study identified thirteen employee wellness factors that formed the foundation of a holistic employee wellness programme. Each employee wellness factor was allocated according to three types of interventions, namely primary – prevention, secondary – reduction, and tertiary – treatment, in order to promote employee-organisational health and wellness. The prevention intervention firstly promotes quality of work life and balance through a number of wellness factors, namely, Wellness working environment, Organisational intervention expectations, Organisational wellness support, Organisational culture, Human relations, and Social support; and, secondly, workplace health is promoted through the wellness factors, Physical health and wellness, and Lifestyle. The reduction intervention builds psychological capital through Psychological health and wellness, Resourcefulness, Resilience, and Basic work life skills.

The world has entered the third decade of the HIV and AIDS epidemic under different times in which the epidemic is treatable. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) (2005) declares HIV and AIDS a developmental crisis destroying developmental gains over generations. Since HIV and AIDS affect the most productive segment of the labour force, it is therefore not only a threat to development but also to the world of work without which development will be sacrificed (ILO, 2001). Collaborative response efforts that seek to mitigate the HIV pandemic by government, business and higher education institutions have been fraught with challenges. The main challenge that beset these efforts is that, in the absence of an HIV vaccine, voluntary counselling and testing remains the gateway to access treatment and care. Regrettably, participation in VCT has been confronted by challenges of low utilisation. This precedes the objectives of this study, which were to explore and describe factors that serve as barriers and facilitators of workplace VCT programmes with the objective to improve participation in these programmes. The current study was a product of a qualitative and exploratory-descriptive research design. A nonprobability convenience sampling method was used to sample participants for this study. The targeted population in this study were the non-academic employees of an academic institution in the Eastern Cape. Data was collected by means of focus group discussions and by using semi-structured interviews. The focus group samples comprised of an equal number of men and women with an overall participation of fifty-six participants. Data obtained was transcribed, thematically analysed and coded using Henning, Van Rensburg, and Smit's (2004) qualitative analysis and interpretation method. Findings of this research revealed that factors that facilitate and inhibit voluntary counselling and testing are psychosocial and cultural by nature. At psychosocial level, participants reported factors that facilitate voluntary counselling and testing to include psychological readiness to go for HIV testing, reassurances of confidentiality of HIV test results and normalising HIV testing (making the process more like that for screening and diagnostic testing). Cultural factors included cultural practices and beliefs such as "intonjane" and traditional circumcision - positive cultural nurturers that could facilitate VCT participation. Results of this study showed a lack of basic knowledge about VCT and fear of knowing one's status, fear of breach of confidentiality, fear of being stigmatised and a lack of trust towards health professional as the major psychosocial factors that serve as barriers to VCT participation. The cultural barriers to VCT pointed to hegemonic masculinity as a socially constructed gender identity that encourages gender inequalities and undermines efforts to improve HIV testing. The study suggested that strategies to increase VCT participation should consider leadership support of VCT programmes, incentivisation of VCT programmes, institutionalisation of HIV and AIDS education and the establishment of integrated wellness services for employees.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / A global prospecting and mining leader recognizes HIV/AIDS as a threat to the company and its employees. The management has committed them to have a proactive approach trying to minimize the impact of this killing disease by putting in place effective workplace programmes. However, programmes can only be successful if the employees’ needs regarding knowledge, attitudes and sexual practices have been thoroughly researched identified. The aim of this study was to do an explorative descriptive study of the knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of the employees of a mining company in Namibia on HIV/AIDS. The objectives were: diams; To measure the overall knowledge levels as well as attitudes and sexual practices of DBMN employees on HIV and STD's. diams; To determine whether there was a difference in the knowledge levels, attitudes and sexual practices of employees in different job categories, age groups, marital status, religion and education level. diams; To measure risky sexual behaviours of participants. All employees (550) of this mining company were invited to participate in the survey and 226 employees responded. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect data administered in a group setting. The questionnaire was regarded as having content validity and the SPSS program was be utilized for descriptive statistics. Utilizing the ratio data developed through the indexes, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine significant difference between the means of the groups in comparison. Because multiple comparisons were done, a post hoc test (Fisher LSD) was used to determine significant differences between group means. / South Africa

Workplace violence is a phenomenon which is growing and it has the potential to affect individual performance and organizational productivity. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of employees regarding workplace violence in the National Department of Social Development. The researcher was motivated to choose this subject as a result of her observation working as Employee Health and Wellness Manager in the same Department whereby there were cases reported were related to workplace violence such as poor working relationships, conflict , work related stress and high level of mental health. Furthermore, lack of research and literature studies concerning workplace violence motivated the research. The qualitative approach was utilized and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data about the experiences of employees utilizing interview scheduled, 10 employees who were employees of the National Department of Social Development were interviewed. Purposive sampling method was used to select the suitable participants of the study who met the specific defined criteria. The type of research utilised was applied research to explore the experiences of employees regarding workplace violence and to give meaning to it. A collective case study was used to focus on participants who have experienced workplace violence in order to understand the types of workplace violence that were experienced, the effects it had on individuals as well as factors contributing to workplace violence in the National Department of Social Development. Theoretical overview that was discussed focused on understanding the how the different concepts related to workplace violence is defined in literature as well as looking at the effects of workplace violence on employees and employer as well as highlighting the different types of workplace violence. The research findings indicated that workplace violence is well conceptualised by the employees of Social Development and they understand the meaning of workplace violence. The study has also confirmed that workplace violence exists within the department and most of participants have experienced internal workplace violence. / Mini Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Social Work and Criminology / MSW / Unrestricted

Thesis (M. A.(Nursing Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / In this study, the working conditions of nurses in the public clinics are assessed as the nurses are not satisfied with their working conditions. The dissatisfaction on nurses working conditions by nurses was identified and observed by the researcher at certain clinics in the Sekhukhune District. Strategies are suggested to improve nurses’ working conditions in the selected public clinics of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study aims to develop strategies to improve nurses’ working conditions in selected public clinics of Limpopo Province, South Africa. A qualitative exploratory and descriptive research approach, using a phenomenological design has been used. Data were collected from professional nurses from the selected public clinics, using semi-structured interviews. Data were audiotaped and field notes were taken. The eight Steps of Tesch’s inductive, descriptive open coding technique, described by Creswell was used, followed by independent coding. Purposive sampling recruited 20 professional nurses from seven selected clinics in the Limpopo Province. The Turfloop Research Ethics Committee gave ethical clearance. The Department of Health gave permission for the study to be conducted in the selected clinics. Ethical considerations and measures to ensure trustworthiness have been observed. The results show that nurses’ working conditions are affected by the shortage of human and material resources, poor health clinic structures, unacceptable duty schedules, large numbers of clients which to lead to nurses’ burnout. In addition, there is the challenge of the different roles played by nurses, which impede the provision of quality patients’ care. The nurses suggested that the Department of Health should be transparent regarding any information regarding issues of the health system. Furthermore, strategies to improve patients’ awareness regarding the nurses’ working conditions have been developed from the themes that emerge from this study. The findings of the study cannot be generalized to other clinics of the Limpopo province and of other provinces.

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2023 / Background: Employee Wellness Programmes (EWPs) is a comprehensive health initiative which is a strategy to maintain and improve the well-being of employees. EWPs are profoundly helpful in ensuring that the wellbeing of employees is taken care of. The programme can be assessed by the programme developers to ensure that the programme remains responsive to rapidly changing educational and healthcare settings. The evaluation of EWPs has greater potential to influence its utilisation by employees. This study sought to understand and document employee wellness programme utilisation in the Department of Transport and Community Safety. Objectives: To explore and describe employee wellness programme utilisation in the Department of Transport and Community Safety in Limpopo Province. Methods: The study used the qualitative research approach. Participants of the study were full-time employees at the Department of Transport and Community Safety. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and the sample size was 15 participants which was determined by saturation of data. Data was analysed through Thematic Content Analysis. Results: Lack of wellness programme utilisation among employees and identified cases of chronic illness, insufficient physical activity and those case that are stress related amongst employees which were received at EWP component are associated with lack of understanding for the programme. The study provides a useful qualitative enquiry of employees at Department of Transport and Community Safety about the programme utilisation. Conclusion: Many employees have concluded that Employee Wellness Programmes intent to enhance and maintain the well-being of employees. However, in Department of Transport and Community Safety (DTCS), there is a serious need for strengthening the implementation of EWPs to improve utilisation.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the interactions between organizational effectiveness, quality culture, and employee health. The system dynamics modeling approach is used in order to reveal the complex and dynamic behavior of the system under investigation. Understanding system behavior facilitates policy analysis and management decision-making. The relationships between the three constructs: organizational effectiveness, quality culture and employee health are non linear and during the research a number of dynamic hypotheses were investigated. For example, illness is the main cause for absenteeism, loss of productivity, ineffective learning, which in turn causes even more stress and eventually more illness. As part of the system dynamics approach a conceptual (qualitative) model and a formal (quantitative) model were built. The conclusion from analyzing the dynamic hypotheses of this model was that quality culture had a great impact on the performance of the whole system, especially on employees’ health and on organizational effectiveness. Furthermore, employees’ health and organizational effectiveness concurrently impact each other. However, this research could not show a considerable impact of the employees’ health and organizational effectiveness on the organization’s quality culture. The research contributes to the general understanding of complex production systems, since the three constructs investigated in this research face similar issues, i.e., the trade-off between long-term and short-term goals, consequences of managerial actions that are far apart in time and space, and conflicts between measurable outcomes and subjective outcomes. The research adds to the design of effective social systems, where the products and the services are created in a quality fashion, and individuals experience an environment that is conducive to their well-being. / Ph. D.

The increased pace of life can create difficulties for individuals to manage their time efficiently and sustainably, this in turn could lead to more stress. As a result of this, work- life balance has become a frequently used term to describe the relation between work and life. Since the increased awareness regarding work-life it has also been important for organizations to apply strategies to provide employees with the tools necessary to withhold a balanced lifestyle to become an attractive employer. Factors that can influence work-life balance that an organization can implement are to give the ability to work remotely and have more flexible conditions. The employee attitudes we set out to find if they have relation with work-life balance were: Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, employee engagement and employee health. These were chosen due to the fact that there had been little research connecting work-life balance influence on these topics. Furthermore, these employee attitudes have been found to create a better organizational performance and overall create better employee well-being. As found in earlier studies, work-life balance has shown to increase employees' life and job satisfaction. Furthermore, it also showed that it had some influence on employees' well-being, meaning reduced stress, risk for burnouts, depression and anxiety due to the fast pace of life and work (Haar, 2013, p. 3319). Furthermore, it also indicates that work- life balance is defined as having a balance between professional and personal interests (Kelliher et al., 2019, p. 98; Hall et al., 2013, p. 548). This research set out to answer the following question: “How does work-life balance influence different employee attitudes?”. To be able to answer our research question we conducted qualitative research and gained a deeper understanding of the reality of the subject. Furthermore, our data was gathered using six semi-structured interviews. Furthermore, this study provides practical implications which might be of use to managers and organizations. First, this study showed that work-life balance does in fact have an influence on different employee attitudes. Secondly, the study also provides insights into which attitudes relate to each other and what factors influence work-life balance. This could be taken into consideration of managers and organizations when planning to implement new policies or strategies to better increase organizational performance and retention rates.

<p>A global prospecting and mining leader recognizes HIV/AIDS as a threat to the company and its employees. The management has committed them to have a proactive approach trying to minimize the impact of this killing disease by putting in place effective workplace programmes. However, programmes can only be successful if the employees&rsquo / needs regarding knowledge, attitudes and sexual practices have been thoroughly researched identified. The aim of this study was to do an explorative descriptive study of the knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of the employees of a mining company in Namibia on HIV/AIDS. The objectives were:<br /> &diams / To measure the overall knowledge levels as well as attitudes and sexual practices of DBMN employees on HIV and STD&rsquo / s.<br /> &diams / To determine whether there was a difference in the knowledge levels, attitudes and sexual practices of employees in different job categories, age groups, marital status, religion and education level.<br /> &diams / To measure risky sexual behaviours of participants.</p> <p><br /> All employees (550) of this mining company were invited to participate in the survey and 226 employees responded. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect data administered in a group setting. The questionnaire was regarded as having content validity and the SPSS program was be utilized for descriptive statistics. Utilizing the ratio data developed through the indexes, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine significant difference between the means of the groups in comparison. Because multiple comparisons were done, a post hoc test (Fisher LSD) was used to determine significant differences between group means.</p>

This study examined whether or not it is in the financial best interest of public school districts, as employers, to promote the health of its employees.