TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of work intensification by managers and psychological distressed and non-distressed employees
T2 - a multilevel comparison
AU - Bamberger, Simon Grandjean
AU - Larsen, Anelia
AU - Vinding, Anker Lund
AU - Nielsen, Peter
AU - Fonager, Kirsten
AU - Nielsen, René Nesgaard
AU - Ryom, Pia Køhler
AU - Omland, Øyvind
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Work intensification is a popular management strategy to increase productivity, but at the possible expense of employee mental stress. This study examines associations between ratings of work intensification and psychological distress, and the level of agreement between compared employee-rated and manager-rated work intensification. Multi-source survey data were collected from 3,064 employees and 573 company managers from the private sector in 2010. Multilevel regression models were used to compare different work intensification ratings across psychological distress strata. Distressed employees rated higher degree of total work intensification compared to non-distressed employees, and on three out of five sub ratings there were an increased prevalence of work intensification in the case group. In general, there was poor agreement between employee and company work intensification rating. Neither manager-rated work intensification nor employee/manager discrepancy in work intensification ratings was associated with psychological distress. Distressed employees had a higher total score of employee/manager agreed work intensification, and a higher prevalence of increased demands of labour productivity. This study demonstrates higher ratings of employee/manager agreed work intensification in distressed employees compared to non-distressed employees, challenging previous findings of reporting bias in distressed employees' assessment of work environment.
AB - Work intensification is a popular management strategy to increase productivity, but at the possible expense of employee mental stress. This study examines associations between ratings of work intensification and psychological distress, and the level of agreement between compared employee-rated and manager-rated work intensification. Multi-source survey data were collected from 3,064 employees and 573 company managers from the private sector in 2010. Multilevel regression models were used to compare different work intensification ratings across psychological distress strata. Distressed employees rated higher degree of total work intensification compared to non-distressed employees, and on three out of five sub ratings there were an increased prevalence of work intensification in the case group. In general, there was poor agreement between employee and company work intensification rating. Neither manager-rated work intensification nor employee/manager discrepancy in work intensification ratings was associated with psychological distress. Distressed employees had a higher total score of employee/manager agreed work intensification, and a higher prevalence of increased demands of labour productivity. This study demonstrates higher ratings of employee/manager agreed work intensification in distressed employees compared to non-distressed employees, challenging previous findings of reporting bias in distressed employees' assessment of work environment.
U2 - 10.2486/indhealth.2014-0176
DO - 10.2486/indhealth.2014-0176
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 25752252
SN - 0019-8366
VL - 53
SP - 322
EP - 331
JO - Industrial Health
JF - Industrial Health
IS - 4
ER -