Bottom-up job (re)design: The test of 2 job crafting interventions among health care professionals

Does job crafting assist dealing with organizational changes due to austerity measures? Two studies among Greek employees

“…Stimulating individuals to set and achieve small job crafting goals enhanced the chances of achieving desired outcomes such as being open to the experiences linked to the change. Although previous studies also supported the effectiveness of similar job crafting interventions (e.g., Gordon et al, 2013;Van Den Heuvel et al, 2015), this is the first study to provide evidence about the effects of the job crafting training for employees facing changes imposed by a financial recession, and not changes designed on the basis of organizational needs. Taking into account that many of the changes due to austerity were detrimental for employees (Sinclair et al, 2010), our findings underscore the importance of stimulating employees to craft their job, when facing such changes.…”

“…The job crafting intervention had positive effects on well-being (i.e., work engagement, health, and reduced burnout), and job performance (i.e., adaptive, task, contextual, and objective performance) for both intervention groups. Importantly, whereas Van Den Heuvel et al (2015) found no effect of the intervention on the job crafting scores, Gordon et al (2013) did find effects of the intervention on the job crafting scores. For this reason, our intervention was based on Gordon et al's adaptation, and we asked participants to execute one (rather than two) job crafting action per week.…”

“…During times when organizations are preoccupied with the implementation of threatening changes, employees may be neglected. This is when it is most important to act proactively in order to facilitate their work-related well-being and openness to change (Gordon et al, 2013;Meyers, Van Woerkom, & Bakker, 2013;Tims & Bakker, 2010).…”

“…Previous evidence (Gordon et al, 2013;Van Den Heuvel et al, 2015) suggests that the job crafting intervention is a promising 'bottom-up' job redesign strategy that can improve employee well-being, job characteristics and job performance in changing settings. This is in line with the conclusions of a recent review of various intervention studies aimed at improving job redesign, well-being and performance (Daniels, Gedikli, Watson, Semkina, & Vaughn, in press).…”

“…Applying a modified version of Van den Heuvel et al's (2015) intervention, Gordon, Demerouti, Le Blanc, Bipp, and Bakker (2013) tested the impact of the job crafting intervention on employee well-being and job performance by using a group of Dutch medical specialists and a group of nurses, who were confronted with changes in their work tasks (again, unrelated to austerity). The job crafting intervention had positive effects on well-being (i.e., work engagement, health, and reduced burnout), and job performance (i.e., adaptive, task, contextual, and objective performance) for both intervention groups.…”