Initiatives addressing precarious employment and its effects on workers’ health and well-being: a protocol for a systematic review

Abstract

Background Precarious employment is a significant determinant of population health and health inequities and has complex public health consequences both for a given nation and internationally. Precarious employment is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct including but not limited to employment insecurity, income inadequacy, and lack of rights and protection in the employment relation, which could affect both informal and formal workers. The purpose of this review is to identify, appraise, and synthesize existing research on the effectiveness of initiatives aiming to or having the potential to eliminate, reduce, or mitigate workers’ exposure to precarious employment conditions and its effects on the health and well-being of workers and their families. Methods The electronic databases searched (from January 2000 onwards) are Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and PubMed, along with three institutional databases as sources of grey literature. We will include any study (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods design) evaluating the effects of initiatives that aim to or have the potential to address workers’ exposure to precarious employment or its effects on the health and well-being of workers and their families, whether or not such initiatives were designed specifically to address precarious employment. The primary outcomes will be changes in (i) the prevalence of precarious employment and workers’ exposure to precarious employment and (ii) the health and well-being of precariously employed workers and their families. No secondary outcomes will be included. Given the large body of evidence screened, the initial screening of each study will be done by one reviewer, after implementing several strategies to ensure decision-making consistency across reviewers. The screening of full-text articles, data extraction, and critical appraisal will be done independently by two reviewers. Potential conflicts will be resolved through discussion. Established checklists will be used to assess a study’s methodological quality or bias. A narrative synthesis will be employed to describe and summarize the included studies’ characteristics and findings and to explore relationships both within and between the included studies. Discussion We expect that this review’s findings will provide stakeholders interested in tackling precarious employment and its harmful health effects with evidence on effectiveness of solutions that have been implemented to inform considerations for adaptation of these to their unique contexts. In addition, the review will increase our understanding of existing research gaps and enable us to make recommendations to address them. Our work aligns with the sustainable development agenda to protect workers, promote decent work and economic growth, eliminate poverty, and reduce inequalities. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42020187544.

The Measurement of Precarious Work and Market Conditions: Insights from the COVID-19 Disruption on Sample Selection

“…In both periods, males are prone to instability more than females (the gender gap is insignificant in a full-employment market), and singles more than those with partners. Moreover, the better one's health status, the lower the volume of employment volatility (the gap is insignificant during COVID-19): either poor health causes instability or employment insecurity leads to poor health ( Gunn et al, 2021 ). Age is one of the most frequently discussed contours of inequality in recessions, employment instability, and precarious work ( Grusky et al, 2019 ).…”

What affects employment by NGOs? Counteraction to precarious employment in the Polish non-profit sector in the perspective of COVID-19 pandemic crises

“…As Andrzejczak (2015) argues, young people occupy a special position on the labour market that is unable to absorb all the graduates. Critics of precarious employment point out that flexible forms of work are characterized by a lack of stable and permanent employment, which is associated with a sense of uncertainty in the future resulting from the desire for basic economic security (Gunn et al, 2021). Precarious employment usually means poor terms and conditions of employment, short tenures do not elicit commitment on the part of workers, weaken the bargaining power of even regular workers, and are often associated with poor pay (Trlifajová, & Hurrle, 2019;Spyridakis, 2019).…”

“…In the first place, people employed in flexible forms of employment that are not subject to almost any legal protection lose their jobs (Schoon & Bynner, 2017). Moreover, the use of flexible forms of employment in an organization evokes a feeling of instability, insecurity and frustration among employees (Gunn et al, 2021;Lopez et al, 2021;Valero et al, 2020). It weakens the relationship between personnel and the organization, as it does not provide employees with prospects for permanent employment.…”

Initiatives Addressing Precarious Employment and Its Effects on Workers’ Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review

“…The specific objectives of our review were to identify, appraise, and synthesise existing research about “the effectiveness of initiatives aiming to or having the potential to eliminate, reduce, or mitigate workers’ exposure to PE conditions and its effects on the physical and mental health, safety, and well-being of workers and their families” [ 60 ]. The purpose of this manuscript is to synthesise the results pertaining specifically to studies that evaluated and reported health and well-being outcomes of initiatives.…”

“…We start by briefly describing the methods utilized to perform the systematic review. A more detailed description is available in the review protocol, published in the BMC Systematic Reviews journal [ 60 ] and its PROSPERO CRD42020187544 registration [ 61 ]. Next, we share the key findings with a focus on aspects such as the initiatives identified, their target economic sectors and population sub-groups, ways in which these initiatives could impact PE, the study design and data collection approaches used to assess the impact of initiatives, and the specific type(s) of PE and health-specific outcomes assessed and described.…”