Stress has been reported among Swedish social workers for over a decade. Survey data from a longitudinal quasi-experimental trial in the public sector of reduced working hours, with a proportional decrease in workload and retained full pay, were used to examine the effect on stress, symptoms of Exhaustion syndrome, psychosocial work characteristics and work–life balance in social workers. Reduced working hours had a positive effect on restorative sleep, stress, memory difficulties, negative emotion, sleepiness, fatigue and exhaustion both on workdays and weekends; on sleep quality on weekends; and on demands, instrumental manager support and work intrusion on private life.
The results of this present study show beneficial effects on sleep and stress due to a worktime reduction of 25% for full-time workers, including increased sleep duration during workdays. The paper may contribute to unresolved questions about the possible positive effects of implementing 6-hour workdays on employee's long-term health and work performance.
Little is known about how reduced working hours relate to social work stressors, coping and work-life balance. An exploratory mixed methods study was therefore performed at a Swedish social service agency participating in a quasi-experimental trial of work-time reduction by 25%, with proportionally reduced workload, and retained full-time pay. Social workers that reduced their working hours reported less emotional exhaustion (n = 28, p < 0.05) on the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, and less reactivity in stressful situations connected to time urgency and irritation (n = 28, p < 0.05) on the Everyday Life Stress Scale. In interviews, the social workers described that despite using effective, problem-focused coping behaviour at work, both before and after work-time reduction, high caseload remained a central stressor, creating time conflicts that exacerbated stressful situations involving emergencies, practical setbacks, client aggression, report deadlines, and managerial stress. In contrast, the work-time reduction was described as fully resolving time conflicts and stress during free-time in situations that involved finding time for friends, household chores, rest, exercise and childcare. Results suggest that reduced working hours lowered emotional exhaustion and situational reactivity by increasing free-time recovery opportunities and decreasing total daily exposure to work stress, but future trials should also compare reduced work-time with reduced caseload.ABSTRAKT Kunskap saknas om hur arbetstidsförkortning påverkar stressorer i socialt arbete, coping och balans mellan arbetsliv och fritid. En explorativ mixad metod-studie genomfördes därför på ett svenskt socialkontor som deltog i en kvasiexperimentell studie av 25% förkortad arbetstid med proportionerligt minskad arbetsbelastning, och bibehållen heltidslön. Socialarbetare som minskade sin arbetstid upplevde mindre emotionell utmattning (n = 28, p < 0.05), mätt med Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, och mindre reaktivitet i stressande situationer relaterade till tidsbrist och irritation (n = 28, p < 0.05), mätt med Vardagens stress. I intervjuer beskrev socialsekreterarna att trots att de använde effektivt,
We analyze the effects of formal recognition of foreign higher education on employment probabilities and earnings for newly arrived immigrants in Sweden. Prior research has found that immigrants have lower returns on education if it was acquired in the country of origin than if it was acquired in the host country. One reason for this is that foreign credentials work poorly as productivity signals and risk-averse employers avoid employees with credentials they do not fully understand. A formal recognition statement can help overcome this problem by providing credible information about the foreign education, thus reducing uncertainty. Data consists of immigrants who, within the first ten years of residence in Sweden, had their foreign degree formally recognized during 2007–2011. Using fixed effects regressions, we estimate the treatment effect of official recognition to be 4.4 percentage points higher probability of being employed, and 13.9 log points higher wage for those with employment. We also find considerable treatment effect heterogeneity across subcategories of immigrants from different regions of origin, with different reasons for immigration and who obtained recognition during different economic conditions. Our conclusions are that the mechanism of employer uncertainty is real, and that recognition does reduce it. But as the signal of foreign education becomes better, other mechanisms such as human capital transferability problems and quality differences, and the ability to use foreign human capital, become more salient, leading to heterogeneous effects.
This paper deals with the working and employment conditions of cleaners with an overview of Sweden but with main emphasis on the Stockholm region. The article is based on a review of previous research, statistics from Sweden, and interviews with cleaners and owners of cleaning firms. Results indicate that working conditions among Swedish cleaners are generally unfavorable with regard to employment contracts and the low status of the profession. Conditions seem to be worst in the Stockholm region, with its turbulent market. The cleaning industry in the Stockholm region consists of too many firms and there is an adverse business climate within this regional industry. We argue that there is a connection to the model of intersectionality, which implies that there is an interlinking of identity constructions and socially organizing principles in terms of class, gender, ethnicity/“race,” and citizenship. Cleaning or charwork constitutes one of the lowest working-class positions in society. Cleaners are at the bottom of the hierarchy, below the owners and other white-collar workers in the industry. The majority of cleaners in the region are women and/or of immigrant origin, not least men and women from non-European countries; many have low educational levels, low proficiency in the Swedish language, and deficient knowledge of laws and regulations. All these factors add up to powerlessness, something that aggravates the situation for the cleaners in the county.
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