How to Promote Workplace Health in order to Work into Old Age: Experiences from Employees in an Industrial Setting

Managers' experiences of promoting employees' health and work environment from a salutogenic perspective during organizational change

Purpose

This study aims to describe the managers' experiences of promoting employees' health and work environment from a salutogenic perspective during an organizational change.

Design/methodology/approach

Ten managers going through an organizational change, including three men and seven women. The managers belonged to the same management team and was participating in discussions with researchers regarding organizational changes. The managers were between the age of 32 and 59 and had between one and 25 years of experience in a managerial position. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the analysis was performed using qualitative content analysis with an abductive approach.

Findings

The experiences from the managers were described, and during the analysis, six categories emerged. The categories were about the salutogenic theory sense of coherence, and therefore, the categories were placed in the domains comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. In the domain comprehensibility, two categories emerged in the analysis; transparent managers create an understandable change and continuous information contributes to comprehensibility. In the domain manageability, two categories emerged in the analysis; clear structure provides manageable change and balance between requirements and expectations provides manageable change. In the domain meaningfulness, two categories emerged in the analysis; an open conversational climate creates meaningful participation and common consensus contributes to meaningfulness in work.

Originality/value

This study highlights what it is like to be a manager during an organizational change and describes how employees' health and work environment can be promoted. By being clear with information about the change and being transparent in what is happening, an opportunity is created to promote good health among employees during the change period.

Healthy and Entrepreneurial Work Environment for Older Employees and Its Impact on Work Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Managing older employees is a major challenge for companies, especially during COVID-19. Therefore, creating a healthy and entrepreneurial work environment as well as an inclusive culture within organizations is crucial for companies to maintain their sustainable advantage. The main objective of this paper is to develop a multidimensional model of a healthy and entrepreneurial work environment for older employees and determine its impact on their work engagement during COVID-19. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The results show that workplace health promotion, entrepreneurial working conditions, and leadership lead to better well-being of older employees. In addition, entrepreneurial working conditions that promote intergenerational synergy lead to higher work engagement of older employees, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the elderly, the entrepreneurial work environment is therefore particularly important, even though entrepreneurship is mostly attributed to younger men. In addition, older employees’ well-being and the promotion of intergenerational synergy have a positive impact on their work engagement. The results will help companies better manage their older employees, shape their workplace, and increase the sustainable benefits of their businesses during and after the COVID-19 crisis.