Abstract
Most of the research that has been published in occupational health psychology relates the role of work and working life to the management of chronic ill-health (Cox et al. 2000), which has implications for sickness absence (Collins et al. 2005; Cox et al. 2014); and the impact of working on the quality of life of people at work. From an HRM and Employment Relations perspectives, in the case of public sector employees, there is also the questions of the role that work can play in the quality of their working life, the meaning they give to their jobs and how work experiences have contributed to their well-being at work. This chapter is based on ongoing research into well-being at work with British Local Government, focusing on 27 semi-structured interviews of managerial and non-managerial employees verbal accounts of their own experiences of work, quality of working life, and the meanings of the job perceptions. The data reveals that work and the quality of working life were challenging for both managerial and non-managerial employees and was strongly associated with four super-ordinate themes that impacted the individuals, groups, and the organisation, which include restricted resources and controlled work environment, workplace incivility and mistreatment, relationships, and work-life balance. Furthermore, the findings from the respondents’ account for the meaning of their job are clustered into one super-ordinate theme of identity-work-life integration. The impact of the findings for work, quality of working life, the meaning of the job, and employee well-being and performance are discussed.
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Notes
- 1.
£10,001–£20,000 = 6 respondents; £20,001–£30,000 = 9 respondents; £30,001–£40,000 = 5 respondents; £40,001–£50,000 = 4 respondents; £50,001–£60,000 = 1 respondent.
- 2.
Less than 5 years (11 respondents); 6–10 years (6 respondents); 11–15 years (3 respondents); 16–20 years (4 respondents); and 21–25 years (3 respondents).
- 3.
Multidimensional Nature of Employees’ Working Life Realities are associated with the individual, group, and the organisation, and relates to psychological, mental health, work/family, social, compassionate leadership, stakeholder, humanistic and fair practices, and organisational financial well-being, as well as work/organisation. The meanings employees gave to their jobs are associated with the individual and groups and relate to psychological, physical, career, spiritual, financial, and stakeholder well-being.
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Cvenkel, N. (2020). The Work Environment and Well-Being at Work: Employees’ Experiences in the Public Sector. In: Well-Being in the Workplace: Governance and Sustainability Insights to Promote Workplace Health . Approaches to Global Sustainability, Markets, and Governance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3619-9_12
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