OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyse how people who return to the labour market after long-term sickness absenteeism and subsequent job loss differ in employability, work ability, health, educational level, age, and gender, compared to those who do not. PARTICIPANTS: The cohort consisted of 191 individuals, 20 men and 171 women, whose employment was terminated because they had not been able to return to their regular work after taking a long-term sick leave and rehabilitation measures. METHODS: This study is based on a postal questionnaire sent out to a cohort of previous employees in a Swedish municipality in 2008. RESULTS: At the time of the survey, 39% of the respondents had returned to the labour market and the remaining 61% had not. Return to the labour market after a long-term sick leave was positively associated with male gender, young age, and work ability, i.e. the ability to work with respect to health and work-related demands. Employability, educational level, and health were not significantly associated with a return to the labour market. CONCLUSIONS: In the discourse on employability, work ability is often neglected even though it is a central aspect of an individual's ability to obtain new employment.

Bakgrund: Långtidssjukskrivning på grund av stressrelaterad ohälsa har under senaste åren ökat i Sverige. Det medför oftast ett stort lidande för den enskilde och ger även ökade kostnader för samhället. Hur rehabiliteringen genomförs är av vikt för att kunna hjälpa personerna som är långtidssjukskrivna tillbaka till familjeliv och arbetsliv. Därför är det viktigt att få ta del av de sjukskrivnas egna erfarenheter av rehabiliteringen. Syftet: Var att undersöka hur personer som är långtidssjukskrivna > 3 månader på grund av långvarig stress har upplevt sin rehabilitering och vad som har underlättat för återgång till familjeliv och arbetsliv. Metod: Semistrukturerade intervjuer med 4 kvinnor och 1 man (n= 5) har genomförts. Kvalitativ innehållsanalys har använts vid analys av data. Resultat: Följande fem kategorier framkom: Förändringar i arbetslivet, förändringar i det dagliga livet, försäkringskassans, arbetsförmedlingens och arbetsgivarens betydelse, framgångsfaktorer i rehabiliteringen och strategier för att hantera stress. Slutsats: Denna studie visar på betydelsen av att lyssna på personen som är sjukskriven för att kunna upprätta en individuell rehabiliteringsplan. Att ha ett holistiskt perspektiv, för att kunna se helheten och att alla rehabiliteringsaktörer jobbar mot samma mål är viktigt. / Background: Long-term sickness absence due to stress-related illness has increased during recent years in Sweden. Most often the sick-leave entails a great suffering for the individual, as well as increased costs for society. How the rehabilitation is carried out is of importance to help people who are on sick-leave to return to work and family life. Therefore it is importance to listen to these peoples own experience of the rehabilitation. Aim: To examine how people on sick leave > 3 months because of prolonged stress have experience their rehabilitation and what has facilitated for the return to family and work. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4 women and 1 man (n= 5) Data was analyzed by qualitative contens analysis. Results: The following five categories were identified: Changes in work life, changes in daily life, insurance offices, empolyment office and employer’s role, successful factors in the rehabilitation and strategies to cope with stress. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the importance of listening to the person who is on sick leave in order to prepare an individual rehabilitation plan. To have a holistic perspective in order to see the big picture and that all rehabilitation actors are working towards the same goal is important.

The market of performing art is expanding rapidly; the need for volunteer workers is increasing as well. In this research, we want to explore the relationship among volunteer workers¡¦ motivations, job characteristics, job satisfaction and their intentions to leave. Two hundred and twenty questionnaires were sent to the voluntary members of twenty-four performing art organizations. The total valid questionnaires received are 142, with responding rate equal to 70%. The most important findings are as follows. (1) We found that external egolism is the strongest motivation for volunteer workers; altruism is the weakest one. (2) Although the jobs performed by the volunteers are somewhat important, the skill variety is limited. (3) With respect to the overall job satisfaction, volunteer workers are generally satisfied with their jobs; specifically, respondents are particularly satisfied with their social relationship. (4) With respect to intention to leave, most volunteer workers are willing to stay in their organizations, though the intention to leave varies with demographic attributes. (5) In additions, respondents scored high in altruism, overall job satisfaction, and growth satisfactions are less likely to depart, while perceived social obligations is negative related to intention to leave. (6) Self-interest motives are positive related to job satisfaction. (7) Job characteristic has a positive effect on job satisfaction.

No description available.

INTRODUCTION Sick leave absenteeism is a recognized problem in all work sectors. The financial impact of sick leave has been well-documented. A profile of sick leave records can establish the extent of the sick leave problem in a workplace, the associated and predisposing factors for sick leave and the patterns of sick leave amongst workers. A baseline profile of the sick leave patterns in a workplace should be a preliminary step toward developing a programme aimed at the improvement of workers' health and attendance at work. AIM OF THE STUDY The aim of this study was to profile recorded sick leave for 2004 amongst permanent workers at the Consul Factory in Olifantsfontein, Midrand, Johannesburg in order to make recommendations to management. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study using a retrospective review of sick leave records of permanent workers at the Consul Glass factory for 2004. Information gathered included the demographic profile of workers who recorded sick leave, the frequency of sick leave, associated factors for sick leave, health care choices of workers with sick leave and the reasons for sick leave. Descriptive and analytic statistics have been presented. RESULTS • Workers over the age of fifty years had sick leave of longer duration compared to those younger than 50 years old (p<0.05). The median hours taken off for sick leave was higher in the male subgroup compared to the female subgroup of workers in the study population (p<0.05); • Workers from the production areas had more sick leave episodes for the year than workers from the non-production areas (p<0.05). Workers with bronchitis working in the production areas of the factory, had longer duration of sick leave compared to workers with bronchitis working in the nonproduction areas of the factory (p<0.05); • Workers on a variable shift schedule took more sick leave on days of the week that were unlinked to weekends and public holidays (p<0.05).A longer duration of sick leave occurred with certified sick leave compared with self reported sick leave (p<0.05); • In the study population, the majority were not medical aid members. Medical aid members had a longer duration of sick leave per episode compared to non-medical aid members (P<0.05); • Respiratory tract infection was the most common reason for sick leave. Of the ten most common reasons for sick leave, there was a significant difference in the mean number of hours of sick leave taken per episode for dental treatment and backache (p<0.05); • There was a significant difference in the mean number of hours of sick leave recommended by the four different sources of sick notes (p<0.05); • There was a significant association for worker interviews/counselling by the Human Resources' Department official and the worker having had four or more episodes of sick leave for the year (p<0.05). CONCLUSION The profile of sick leave at this company identified important associations with sick leave patterns. These significant findings provide management with baseline information, which can be used for the development of workplace interventions to address the taking of sick leave at the Consul Glass factory. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Work/life balance researchers have documented the low take-up rates of corporate work/life balance policies at the same time as there are reports of persistent work/life pressures. This research aims to provide more comprehensive explanations of the phenomenon of low policy take-up than those currently available in the work/life balance literature which focus on organisational and individual factors. The research project is based on a critical review of the work/life balance literature which focuses on organisational solutions and starts from the assumption that the organisational approach to researching and addressing work/life conflicts is inherently limited, mainly because it does not theorise gender as a social structure and does not take into consideration the social and political context in which work/life arrangements are negotiated but focuses, instead, on individual employees and organisations. I integrated my critical review of the organisational work/life balance literature with concepts in the feminist literature, most importantly the gendered public/private divide, to create an explicit ‘gender lens’ which guides the interpretations of my findings. I applied this gender lens to Habermas’ model of societal evolution to operationalise it as an analytical tool for this research. From this theoretical basis, I designed a comparative research project, using Australia and Sweden as country case studies, which compares the approaches to work/life balance in the two countries. The focus of the analysis is on parental leave as one important example of work/life balance policies. The data for this research includes the parental leave legislation, public documents released by governments and associated bodies as well as national surveys on the take-up of parental leave provisions in both countries. This material is analysed in the light of the conceptual framework. [...] / Doctor of Philosophy

Work/life balance researchers have documented the low take-up rates of corporate work/life balance policies at the same time as there are reports of persistent work/life pressures. This research aims to provide more comprehensive explanations of the phenomenon of low policy take-up than those currently available in the work/life balance literature which focus on organisational and individual factors. The research project is based on a critical review of the work/life balance literature which focuses on organisational solutions and starts from the assumption that the organisational approach to researching and addressing work/life conflicts is inherently limited, mainly because it does not theorise gender as a social structure and does not take into consideration the social and political context in which work/life arrangements are negotiated but focuses, instead, on individual employees and organisations. I integrated my critical review of the organisational work/life balance literature with concepts in the feminist literature, most importantly the gendered public/private divide, to create an explicit ‘gender lens’ which guides the interpretations of my findings. I applied this gender lens to Habermas’ model of societal evolution to operationalise it as an analytical tool for this research. From this theoretical basis, I designed a comparative research project, using Australia and Sweden as country case studies, which compares the approaches to work/life balance in the two countries. The focus of the analysis is on parental leave as one important example of work/life balance policies. The data for this research includes the parental leave legislation, public documents released by governments and associated bodies as well as national surveys on the take-up of parental leave provisions in both countries. This material is analysed in the light of the conceptual framework. [...] / Doctor of Philosophy

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Univ., 2006. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, 2008. / "Committee: Peter Berg, Dale Belman, Mark Roehling, Steven Haider, and Stacy Dickert-Conlin." Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 19, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-192). Also issued in print.