Decent work
focuses on “opportunity for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity”
Why decent work?
EAWOPii Decent Work Strand Lead
Decent Work is a core strand of the EAWOP Impact Incubator’s work, as it underpins and intersects with so many of our other topics and is a key framework for work organisational psychology (WOP) more broadly. Our resources include focused efforts on living wages and precarious work, two key areas where WOP can make (and is making) a difference.
A key component of the decent work stream is its focus on living wages. The EAWOP small group on living wages was formed in 2019, drawing together scholars from across Europe and beyond to discuss critical challenges, and evidence-based insights regarding how to enhance decent work.
Our resources page provide lots of detail about a range of initiatives by EAWOPii members.
Please contact us if you are interested to contribute your own WOP work on decent work, or to get more information.
Are you being flexible enough?
Why resource-oriented interventions for workers with flexible work designs?
How to organize your flexible work arrangements/flexible work designs/hybrid work
Prof Dr Alexandra Michel
Scientific Head of Division 1: Changing Working World
Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
The working world is characterized by constant change. Even before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many professionals worked at different locations and at different times on a temporary or even permanent basis. To some extent, this was also their preference. This trend toward flexibility of location and time in work arrangements and hybrid working was then reinforced by the pandemic.
Even after the pandemic, this trend is continuing: hybrid working with a colourful mix of office and work from home is no longer the exception but the rule.
Location- and time-flexible working entails benefits for both professionals (e.g., better work-life balance, organization of working time according to individual preferences) and organizations (e.g., higher employee satisfaction, increased productivity) as well as challenges.
When boundaries between work and personal life become blurred, it can be difficult to:
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switch off mentally from work,
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separate work and personal life,
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create relaxing breaks in everyday life, and
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effectively organize work from home or work on the go.
© BAuA
Designing good and healthy flexible work:
Strategies for organizations and workers
Organizations and workers need strategies to master these challenges.
Firstly, organizations need to design good working conditions for hybrid working environments because permanent availability, reduced working break times or impaired leisure time may cause recovery losses which in turn can reduce workers’ wellbeing and performance.
Thus, organizations should set up rules for workers when and where to work. In addition, to prevent social isolation it is important to create spaces for social interaction among colleagues and leaders.
Second, workers need to be trained in self-regulating their flexible work in a healthy way. Self-regulation is a core resource which can help to master these challenges and to achieve goals to better organize one’s flexible work.
Self-regulation helps to direct behaviour, thoughts and emotions in a way that flexible work can be better organized and designed in a healthy and resourceful way.
Process models of self-regulation (e.g., Bandura 1991) propose that self-regulation is a sequential process consisting of goal-setting, self-monitoring, self-evaluation and self-rewarding.
How can the FlexAbility self-learning training support workers in mastering flexible work designs’ challenges?
The FlexAbility self-learning training was designed as part of a project of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) aiming to develop and evaluate health-promoting interventions for workers with flexible work designs.
Teaching and practising different self-regulation strategies should support workers in mastering challenges associated with flexible forms of work regarding place and time.
In the training, participants learned to consciously set boundaries between their work and private life, to spend breaks and leisure time in a restful way, and to effectively organize their daily work routine in a healthy way.
© BAuA
How to use the FlexAbility self-learning training
The FlexAbility self-learning is freely available for organizations and workers in English and German. Training participation should enable workers to master the specific challenges of flexible work designs. The intervention is based on well-known psychological theories and empirically validated trainings and was designed as a multicomponent self-regulation toolkit intervention. The training teaches self-regulation strategies and consists of different positive activities (segmentation, mindfulness, self-organization, and recovery exercises).
In the FlexAbility research project participants completed the six 45-minute online modules between Thursdays and Sundays each week for six consecutive weeks. Each module featured a focus topic (Michel et al., 2023; Althammer et al, 2023a).
Modules
Module 1 gave an overview of the FlexAbility training content and introduced goal-setting techniques. Main topic of Modules 2 and 3 was boundary management between work and private life. In Module 4 the sequential self-regulation process was introduced with the strategies self-goal setting, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reward (Bandura,1991; Kanfer, 1977). Recovery was the main topic of Module 5 thereby focussing not only on recovery in leisure time but also during work breaks. In Module 6, participants focussed on their personal and contextual resources and were encouraged savour learned strategies.
All modules contained theoretical background information, self-reflection prompts, as well as practical exercises. At the end of each module participants were encouraged to conduct a five to 10 minute daily task during the following work week. This stimulates not only active learning but also promotes training - practice transfer.
Learning principles of the FlexAbility self-learning training
The FlexAbility self-learning training is based on various learning principles. The use of a variety of sensory modalities and interactive multimedia elements as well as behavioural modelling (i.e., fictional characters) should facilitate information processing and learning. As a result, all six modules provide inputs as written explanations, audio exercises, and videos. In each module a professional trainer welcomes participants and explains the theoretical basis of training elements. In different practical exercises participants can self-reflect, write, or listen to guided imaginations such as mindfulness exercises or visualizations of goal achievements. Moreover, gamification techniques were part of the training: an illustrated tree bloomed more and more as participants completed one module after the other.
Evaluation of the FlexAbility training
A randomized-control group design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the FlexAbility self-learning training. Results reveal positive interventions effects on participants’ positive emotions, boundary management, well-being and work-life balance (Althammer et al., 2023a).
Moreover, a FlexAbility blended-learning training was developed. In addition to the FlexAbility self-learning training blended-training participants took part in three interactive group sessions via a webbased conference tool. Using a randomized-control group design study participants were assigned to the FlexAbility self-learning condition, a blended training condition or a waiting control group.
Evaluation results show that participants of the FlexAbility self-learning training as well as participants of the FlexAbility -blended training reported improved psychological detachment, satisfaction with work-life balance, and well-being. However, blended training participants reported to have had more social exchange, and were more likely to adhere to the training (Althammer et al., 2023b).
© BAuA
The FlexAbility self-learning is freely available for organizations and workers in English and German.
Michel, A., Althammer, S. E., & Wöhrmann, A. M. (2023). The FlexAbility self-learning training: How to organize your flexible work arrangements. Dortmund: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. baua: Guidance. https://doi.org/10.21934/baua:praxis20231027
Althammer, S. E., Wöhrmann, A. M., & Michel, A. (2023). Das FlexAbility-Selbstlern-Training: orts- und zeitflexible Arbeit gesund gestalten. Dortmund: Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin. baua: Praxis. https://doi.org/10.21934/baua:praxis20230221
Different study approved the effectiveness of this intervention approach:
Althammer, S. E., Wöhrmann, A. M., & Michel, A. (2023a). How positive activities ahape emotional exhaustion and work-life balance: Effects of an intervention via positive emotions and boundary management strategies. Occupational Health Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-023-00163-x
Althammer, S. E., Wöhrmann, A. M., & Michel, A. (2023b). Comparing Web-Based and Blended Training for Coping With Challenges of Flexible Work Designs: Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25: e42510. https://doi.org/10.2196/42510
Understanding Precarious Work:
A webinar launching resources for organisations and decisionmakers
Thursday 23 May 2024
Speakers:
Brief 1: Defining Precarious Work
Dr Lisa Seubert
Dr Christian Seubert
(University of Innsbruck, Austria)
Brief 2: Precarious work in the hospitality sector and ways to reduce its impact
Dr Esther García
(University of the Balearic Islands, Spain)
Brief 3: How fair is your reward? Fair reward as fundamental to shifting from precarious to decent work
Dr Ishbel McWha-Hermann
(University of Edinburgh, UK)
Brief 4: Redesigning Precarious Work for Better Mental Health: A SMART Solution
Dr Anupama Jolly
Cati Thomas
Prof Sharon Parker
(University of Western Australia & Curtin University, Australia)
Brief 5: Struggling to make ends meet despite a job: how economic vulnerability undermines worker wellbeing
Dr Katharina Klug
Prof Eva Selenko
(University of Bremen, Germany & Loughborough University, UK)
Five short talks from key academics showing how psychological science is expanding knowledge of the impact and consequences of precarious work on workers, organisations and societies.
This webinar is part of EAWOPii’s new campaign “POW to Precarious Organisational Work” to launch our new resources on the topic of precarious work.
The accelerating cost of living crisis concurrent with the rise of platform and gig work, have resulted in increased visibility of precarious work in the global media, as well as from academic researchers seeking to understand what it is, what it means for workers, and how to avoid it. This topic is seeing increased attention from policymakers and organisations looking to understand how to prevent citizens and workers from shifting into precarity.
Precarious work refers to work which is unstable, uncertain, and fails to provide social protection. It is a topic for our time, pertinent for all workers, regardless of contexts and country, but especially for those involved in informal and low-wage work. Its impacts reach beyond workers creating important consequences for their families but also society as a whole.
This online free webinar launches a new set of five briefing papers on the topic of precarious work, developed by leading scholars in the field as part of the EAWOP Impact Incubator. They offer insight into key aspects of precarious work, and are designed to serve as practical resources for organisations and the decisionmakers within them. They draw on cutting-edge academic research on precarious work, as well as some practical steps require to shift work away from precarious work toward decent work.
Those attending this event will gain insight into the science of precarious work, with five short talks from key academics working in this area that will show how psychological science is expanding knowledge of the impact and consequences of precarious work on workers, organisations and societies.
Article aiming to make the world a better place
31 January 2024
Full title: "In Pursuit of Impact: How Psychological Contract Research Can Make the Work-World a Better Place"
As part of a Special Issue: Making the (Entire) World a Better Place? Aligning theory and Practice Toward a More Sustainable & Inclusive HRM.
The article describes how scholars engaged in a workshop designed to generate expert guidance on how to aid the psychological contract field to be better aligned with the needs of practice, and thus impact the creation and maintenance of high-quality and sustainable exchange processes at work.
Small Group Meeting “great success” with initiatives planned for 2024
2 November 2023
“Really enjoyed the mix of keynotes, the entire three days was completely relevant to my work!”
“It was a perfectly balanced conference”
“It was an excellent three days, wonderful hospitality, excellent speakers, cutting edge research, and lots of networking!”
“Precarious Employment and Work –
Understanding the underlying psychological and social processes”
Organisers
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Lisa Seubert (University of Innsbruck)
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Ishbel McWha-Hermann (University of Edinburgh)
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Christian Seubert (University of Innsbruck)
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Rosalind Searle (University of Glasgow)
The EAWOP Small Group Meeting held in September at University of Glasgow was a great success attended by 36 delegates from across the world. It brought together academics, policymakers and practitioners. This event provided time and space for networking and discussions.
Major highlights were the thought-provoking keynotes by Prof David Blustein, Dr Blake Allan, Prof Eva Selenko and practitioner Dr Johanna Wilde and next month we will be adding the keynotes to our YouTube channel.
Organisers were overwhelmed by the positive feedback, with comments from participants such as: “Really enjoyed the mix of keynotes, the entire three days was completely relevant to my work!”, “It was a perfectly balanced conference” and “It was an excellent three days, wonderful hospitality, excellent speakers, cutting edge research, and lots of networking! Thank you to the organisers!”
Dr Lisa Seubert said: “Following the meeting there are some great initiatives to come in 2024. First, there is a call for papers for a Special Issue on Precarious Employment and Work in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, with a submission deadline of the end of April, 2024.
“We also aim to organise symposia around the topic at forthcoming scientific conferences such as SIOP and EAWOP and we will write a policy-focused paper for use as practical and useful information for policymakers. There will also be the final report for the event on the EAWOP website.
Dr Ishbel McWha-Hermann who leads the EAWOP Impact Incubator Decent Work topic, said “In 2024 we will launch “POW”, the Precarious Organisational Work campaign working with policymakers and practitioners to develop materials translating WOP science and research to inform policy and practice on a range of topics concerning precarious employment and work. These will be launched at a webinar and then the materials and recordings hosted on this website.
Prof Rosalind Searle who directs the EAWOP Impact Incubator said: “This was such a great example of making a space to bring together different stakeholders on a topic. It follows from our earlier Living Wage event. It is brilliant to see so many young scholars attending. These spaces are so rare but important in solving our 'wicked' enduring concerns.
“We will keep you informed through the newsletter and those signing up to this website. We are going to need members help to translate these into different languages. Our goal remains having something in your own language to share with policymakers and practitioners.”
Webinar review: "From decent wages to decent work"
29 March 2022
"From decent wages to decent work: showcasing the SMART work design framework"
In March 2022, at our webinar “From decent wages to decent work”, we not only launched our serious game, SuperbMarket*, we also heard from speaker Prof Sharon Parker, who outlined her SMART framework for developing decent work.
More than 130 people registered in advance to listen to Prof Parker — one of the world’s most eminent work organisational psychological researchers.
During the webinar, hosted by the EAWOP impact incubator and the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology, Prof Parker demonstrated why separately and together her SMART framework could not only improve work from an employee perspective, but also improve the productivity and costs of employees.
Built through her extensive studies she reviewed each letter, starting with “S” for stimulating work. It also includes skill and task variety, and problem solving, while “M” is for mastery and focuses on clarity of a job role, including the provision of feedback and task identity. “A” comprises agency and concerns a worker’s autonomy to organise and make decisions about their schedules and methods. “R” is for relational, which identifies experiences of support, purpose and social contact in a job. It includes not just the support from those around them including a line manager, but also the significance of their work to others and to society, with an emphasis on whether the individual feels the work they do is appreciated. Finally, “T” is for tolerable demands, and captures the work demands, such as time pressure, emotional labours and role conflicts.
Prof Parker used a wealth of examples and illustrations throughout her talk and ended by using a real-life example of a worker at a recycling centre, to demonstrate how every job can apply the SMART framework. Jeremy transformed not only his job, but the space he worked in into a community and wildlife resource. Through the appliance of work psychology regarding the design of work, she revealed the health and well-being ramifications reducing cost for society but also employers and service providers, showing that SMART work is actually a better and cheaper approach to work for the person — like Jeremy — and for the organisations that employs them.
Overall, it was a generous and engaging talk, with many of the 138 people who registered asking her questions afterwards.
Her website - www.smartworkdesign.com.au/ has a wealth of resources and references to support those interested in finding out more.
* Keep an eye on our Twitter feed or, better still, register as a member of this EAWOPii site, so you can hear first news of the publication date of our serious game SuperbMarket.
Call for Papers for Special Issue on "Precarious Employment and Work"
19 October 2023
This special issue of EJWOP provides an opportunity to showcase psychological research on precarious employment and work, in order to shift the dial within our discipline to understand and influence precarious working conditions.
We call for papers that explore precarious employment and work in a variety of different ways, including conceptualisation, measurement, and integration with other psychological concepts.
The special issue is also intended to be an important output of the EAWOP SGM on Precarious Employment and Work held in September 2023.
SuperbMarket now open!
Our serious educational game draws on science concerning the living wage and decent work. It explores connections between job quality, employee identity, organisational commitment, fairness, and trust.
Being paid a living wage not only improves a worker’s physical and mental health, it brings benefits to their employing organisation, to family and to society. And if the concept of “decent work” – beyond just wages – is applied in the workplace, employee experiences can be enriching, rather than depleting. This is because seemingly insignificant workplace events can have important implications all round, both for the employees and for the organisation.
These are all themes that are explored in a new online interactive serious educational game, launched this week by EAWOP (European Association of Work and Organisational Psychology) and ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council), in partnership with Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh Business School. The game explores the connections between job quality and employee identity, organisational commitment, fairness and trust.
Research by both university’s academics has revealed that being paid a living wage is an important means of resilience, especially post pandemic to workers, families and society. Paying a living wage means workers can focus their effort on one main employer so they are more likely to upskill, resulting in easier upward mobility, better productivity and improved job satisfaction. Fewer sick days are taken, there is increased employee retention and recruitment costs are reduced.
The research also showed that paying a living wage means a reduced cost to governments because as an individual’s health and skills improve, they create less demand for welfare support.
Professor Ros Searle, from the Adam Smith Business School and Director of the EAWOP Impact Incubator said:
“A living wage is one that enables workers to meet their everyday needs and to meaningfully participate in society beyond just ‘surviving’ financially.
"Set at a higher level than a minimum wage, a living wage gives workers choices to allow them to change their lives and move out of poverty, meaning they can develop their capabilities for future employability – from learning to drive a car to undertaking other forms of education and skills development.
"It can act as a step change for organisations, stopping them focusing on the ‘revolving door’ of staff constantly exiting and having to be replaced and instead enabling them to improve the capability and capacity of their workforce.”
Superbmarket follows four characters centred around a particular business, with players being able to decide on a step-by-step approach the conditions to provide for staff. The game then takes players through the consequences of their decisions on the individuals and the business itself. Through these decisions, players gain an insight into the broader impact of their choices for their workplaces and the world beyond.
The online game comes with an instructor overview and a player worksheet for each part:
Part 1 focuses on personal reflection related to playing the game and aims to encourage critical thinking and reflection about the choices that are made when playing the game.
Part 2 connects organisational theories with the game, to increase understanding of the the practical implications of these theories in real world settings.
Part 3 connects with broader organisational strategies related to business challenges to become more socially responsible and provide decent work.
Dr Ishbel McWha-Herman, from the University of Edinburgh Business School, said:
“We developed Superbmarket as a way of understanding that events that happen in the workplace can have important implications for individual workers, their line managers, for human resource teams and for organisations.
"The events in the game might seem insignificant when they occur, but over time they can accumulate to create far bigger outcomes and consequences that extend beyond the organisation into families and society.
"The game also explores the concept of decent work and how it shifts the balance of cost and benefits in ways that not be sufficiently recognised.”
Professor Searle concluded:
“We should not underestimate the psychological impact of financial strain in our society currently. Receiving a living wage is an important way employers can signal their respect and care for staff. It provides one less diversion for job tasks.
"The dividends of having to only work one job are huge for the rest and recovery of employers, but also for their families – any effort to reduce the anxiety families are facing allows people to improve the quality of their relationships - less stressed workers has important and positive ripple effect beyond the individual.”
Link to research paper:
1. Searle, R.H. and I. McWha-Hermann, “Money’s too tight (to mention)”: a review and psychological synthesis of living wage research. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2021. 30(3): p. 428- 443.
2. McWha-Hermann, I., R.H. Searle, and S.C. Carr, Striving for more: Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) and living wages. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2021. 30(6): p. 771-776.
Professor Ros Searle
Dr Ishbel McWha-Herman
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