• Summary:In recent decades the public welfare sector has been subjected to major structural changes, and studies of various occupational groups within human service work have reported increased workload and a high prevalence of work-related stress. Using questionnaire data from a sample of human service workers within social work, child care and elderly care, the aim of this study was to identify different patterns of coping strategies to manage the imbalance between work demands and resources, and then to investigate their impact on outcomes in employee health and service quality. • Findings:Cluster analysis identified three strategy profiles: compensatory and quality reducing, voice and support seeking and self-supporting, and the comparative analysis indicated that the compensatory and quality reducing cluster may be regarded as a risk group. Results of hierarchical regression analyses disclosed that the identified strategies affected health outcomes as well as perceived service quality. The use of compensatory and quality reducing strategies was negatively related to health and quality, although work demands, resources and background characteristics were controlled for. • Applications:The results add to the research field through the identification of compensatory and quality reducing strategies not previously described in the coping literature, as well as the risks associated with them. Applied in practice, the identified strategy clusters might help distinguish ‘risk behaviors’ from more beneficial strategies. The results also point toward the importance of providing organizational structures that allow the employees to voice their opinions and critique, as well as to give and receive social support.

This study investigates the relationship between the work conditions in higher education work settings, the academic staff's strategies for handling excessive workload and impact on well-being and work-life balance. The results show that there is a risk that staff in academic work places will start using compensatory coping strategies to deal with excessive demands and that this might seriously impair their health. The compensatory strategy cluster emerged as a 'risk group' among the three identified strategy clusters, having a lower work-life balance and suffering from stress-related symptoms more often than the other two strategy clusters. The results also show that high educational level, management position and wide discretion as regards regulation of work in time and space (when and where to work) are factors that might contribute to a lower work-life balance. In practice, the results can contribute to create more sustainable work environments by detecting risk behaviours and risk factors.

His research interests include occupational health, sickness absence, disability pension and sickness presenteeism.