Enhancing Resources at the Workplace with Health-Promoting Leadership

Hospital managers' perspectives on pregnancy policy and work adjustments: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Risk assessment and work adjustment according to EU legislation may safeguard pregnant employees and their offspring. Knowledge on management perspectives in relation to implementation of protective measures is limited.

OBJECTIVES

The primary aim was to describe Danish hospital managers' engagement in pregnancy policy and work adjustment for pregnant employees. The secondary aim was to investigate how managers' characteristics and the setting affect engagement and behaviour.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study of survey data from 212 managers. Outcomes were within dimensions of health promotion, pregnancy policy, work adjustment, collaboration, manager support, and sick leave. Logistic and ordinal logistic regression models were applied to identify associations between background information and outcomes.

RESULTS

Of the managers included, 84% arranged meetings and 76% conducted occupational risk assessment. Most managers (96%) engaged in dialogue with the employees before sick leave. Most managers felt competent in providing guidance for pregnant employees and 99% considered work adjustment important, mainly to safeguard mothers and children. The self-reported data showed positive associations between female managers and feeling competent to guide the employee. Further, management training was associated with meetings with pregnant employees. Seniority was associated with feeling competent to guide and dialogue. Midwifery support was associated with competence in guiding employees about risk factors.

CONCLUSION

Work adjustment and risk assessment for pregnant employees are considered a priority by Danish hospital managers. Overall, managers feel competent guiding pregnant employees. However, managers experience midwifery support beneficial for the guidance of pregnant employees.

Insights into the Impact of Organizational Factors and Burnout on the Employees of a For-Profit Psychiatric Hospital during the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this paper, we provide insights into the interplay among the organizational, job, and attitudinal factors and employees' intentions to resign during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic at a mental health hospital. We point out shortcomings in the relationship dynamics between executive administration and operational staff and propose a pathway to develop more effective leadership frameworks to increase job satisfaction. We integrate qualitative data from case information and open-ended questions posed to employees at a mental health hospital and quantitative data from a small-scale survey (n = 19). We highlight that the ability to achieve objectives, work autonomy, burnout, affective commitment, distributive and procedural justice, and job satisfaction are critical in determining individuals' intentions to resign. Individuals identified disconnectedness and moral distress as critical aspects, while highlighting empathy, compassion, satisfaction, and confidence as pivotal elements. Mental healthcare settings could benefit from enhancing the staff's ability to achieve objectives, work autonomy, affective commitment, and both distributive and procedural justice. Addressing burnout and implementing measures to increase job satisfaction are equally vital. Efficiently restructuring dynamics between various leadership levels and staff can significantly improve employee retention.

Perceived superior trust and organizational commitment among public employees: The mediating role of burnout and the moderating role of public service motivation

The significance of trust as a vital element in the workplace, fostering a strong bond between leaders and their teams, and generating positive organizational outcomes is emphasized in this research. Leveraging the job demand-resource (JD-R) theory, the study employs a dual methodology: experimental (Studies 1 and 2) and field survey (Study 3), to investigate how trust perceived from superiors influences the organizational dedication of public sector employees. It also examines burnout's role as an intermediary and the influence of public service motivation (PSM) as a conditional factor. The key outcomes are: (1) enhanced organizational dedication can result from trust perceived from superiors; (2) this trust indirectly affects dedication through the lens of burnout; and (3) PSM plays a critical role in moderating the impact of perceived superior trust on organizational dedication. By elucidating the dynamic between perceived superior trust and organizational dedication, and its influence, this study presents novel strategies to boost organizational commitment among public employees.

The Effects of Job Demand-control-support Profiles on Presenteeism: Evidence from the Sixth Korean Working Condition Survey

Background

Presenteeism is closely related to work performance, work quality and quantity, and productivity at work. According to the job demand-control-support model, job demand, job control, and support play important roles in presenteeism. The present study investigated job characteristics profiles based on the job demand-control-support model and identify the association between job characteristics profiles and presenteeism.

Methods

This secondary data analysis used the Sixth Korean Working Condition Survey, a nationwide cross-sectional dataset. The study included 25,361 Korean wage workers employed in the workplace with two or more workers. Participants were classified into four job characteristics profiles based on the job demand-control-support model, using latent profile analysis, and logistic regression was performed to examine the association between study variables.

Results

Overall, 11.0 % of study participants reported experience of presenteeism in the past 12 months. Age, sex, location, monthly income, shift work, work hours, health problems, and sleep disturbances were significantly associated with presenteeism. The rate of presenteeism was the highest in the passive isolate group. The passive collective, active collective, and low-stain collective groups had a 23.0%, 21.0%, and 29.0% lower likelihood of experiencing presenteeism, respectively, than the passive isolate group.

Conclusions

The job demand-control-support profiles and the risk of presenteeism were significantly associated. The most significant group that lowered the experience of presenteeism was the low-strain collective group, which had a low level of demand and high levels of control and support. Therefore, we need a policy to reduce job demand and increase job control and support at the organizational and national levels.

Perceived Supervisor Support for Health Affects Presenteeism: A Prospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE

We investigated how perceived supervisor support for health (PSSH) affects the occurrence of presenteeism 1 year later.

METHODS

A prospective cohort study was conducted using a questionnaire survey. In total, 10,718 nonmanagerial employees in seven companies in Japan were included in the analyses. We conducted multilevel logistic regression analyses nested by company to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) of the relationship between PSSH at baseline and high presenteeism at follow-up.

RESULTS

The ORs for high presenteeism at follow-up were significantly higher for high (OR, 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14 to 1.51), low (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.37 to 1.94), and very low PSSH (OR, 2.42; 95% CI, 1.88 to 3.12), compared with very high PSSH.

CONCLUSIONS

Lower PSSH can induce high presenteeism, suggesting that increasing PSSH is important to reduce the occurrence of presenteeism in companies.

The Influence of Health-Promoting Leadership on Employees' Positive Workplace Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Employability and the Moderating Role of Workplace Civility

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely accelerated the transformation and rapid organisational change in the workplace. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hotel industry will not fade in a short time, and the long-term coexistence with the COVID-19 pandemic pressure is a real dilemma for the hotel industry. The topic of How to create employee positive workplace outcomes (task performance and innovative work behaviour) during the COVID-19 pandemic has garnered increasing interest in both practical and academic fields. Leaders play a critical role in influencing employee workplace outcomes, yet few studies have explored the predicting role of health-promoting leadership. Drawing upon the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to examine the employability mediator effect and workplace civility as the moderator effect in the relationship between health-promoting leadership and employee-positive workplace outcomes (task performance and innovative work behaviour). We conducted a two-wave survey of 421 participants from the hotel industry in China and formulated a series of hypotheses that were tested with structural equation modelling. The results showed that health-promoting leadership has a significant positive effect on employees' employability (β = 0.479, p < 0.001), task performance (β = 0.250, p < 0.001), and innovative work behaviour (β = 0.446, p < 0.001). Employability has a significant positive effect on task performance (β = 0.438, p < 0.001) and innovative work behaviour (β = 0.296, p < 0.001). This study makes certain contributions to the extant hotel industry employees' positive workplace outcomes literature by attending to the healthy leadership styles that promote employability during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its novel point is to evaluate the workplace civility moderating effect between the above model. It also provides practical insight that mutual transformation in workplace relationships inspire those positive outcomes.

Appreciation at work and the effect on employees’ presenteeism

BACKGROUND: Presenteeism, which means attending work while feeling unhealthy or ill, is a serious risk behavior that reduces the employees’ productivity and performance. Employees who are treated appreciatively by their work environment show less presenteeism. Investigating the mechanisms behind the relationship between appreciation and presenteeism can help to understand how presenteeism can be reduced even more in the workplace. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the impact of two forms of appreciation (supervisor appreciation and general appreciation from the work environment), on presenteeism and includes the moderating effects of resources and stress. This will help to answer the questions a) which form of appreciation is more beneficial for employees and b) whether appreciation counteracts presenteeism by building up resources. METHOD: 1077 Austrian workers were invited to fill-in an online survey about work-related issues. The data was analyzed with structural equation modelling (SEM). RESULTS: The results showed that both forms of appreciation increase the resources of the employees. Through this increase of resources employees experience less stress, which consequently lowers presenteeism. Additionally, general appreciation is more beneficial than supervisor appreciation. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that appreciative behavior builds resources at the workplace which are essential for showing less presenteeism at work.

Caring for yourself and for others: team health climate and self-care explain the relationship between health-oriented leadership and exhaustion

Purpose

Health-oriented leadership is an emerging concept that is promising for better understanding how leaders can support employee well-being. However, there is uncertainty about the process through which health-oriented leadership relates to employee well-being. Advancing health-oriented leadership research, this study aims to examine employee self-care and the perceived team health climate as mediating mechanisms.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a time-lagged study with three measurement points (NT1 = 335, NT2 = 134, NT2 = 113) to test these mechanisms.

Findings

The results show that health-oriented leadership at Time 1 positively relates to employee self-care and perceived team health climate at Time 2, which, in turn, are negatively associated with employee exhaustion at Time 3.

Originality/value

The indirect associations suggest that health-oriented leadership relates to employee well-being via the perceived team health climate and the individuals' self-care. By revealing an important mediating mechanism, this study contributes to the health-oriented leadership literature and can help organizations and leaders improve health promotion in organizations.

Perceived Supervisor Support for Health Affects Presenteeism: A Cross-Sectional Study

We investigated the relationship between perceived supervisor support for health (PSSH) and presenteeism by adjusting for psychological distress and employee work engagement. These are the mediators of the two paths shown in the job demands-resources model. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire survey among 15,158 non-managerial employees from seven companies in Japan considered to have relatively high perceived organizational support for health (POSH). PSSH was evaluated with a single question, “My supervisor supports employees to work vigorously and live a healthy life”, on a four-point scale. Presenteeism was estimated using the quantity and quality method. Multilevel logistic regression analyses nested by company were conducted. Lower PSSH was more likely to be associated with presenteeism, but after adjusting for psychological distress evaluated by K6 and for work engagement, the relationship between PSSH and presenteeism weakened. Our results suggested that lower PSSH is linked to presenteeism through both psychological states because of its role as a resource, and other independent factors, even with relatively high POSH. Increased PSSH could act as a measure against presenteeism in the workplace. To achieve this, it is important to create an environment where supervisors can easily encourage employees to improve their health.

How and When Health-Promoting Leadership Facilitates Employee Health Status: The Critical Role of Healthy Climate and Work Unit Structure

Health-promoting leadership has attracted a lot of attention from scholars in recent years. However, majority studies focused on theoretical arguments rather than empirical examination. Not only that, extant research often theorizes health-promoting leadership as a combination of a series of direct and explicit health-related behaviors, neglecting the potential social information it may convey to employees. Based on social information processing theory, this study empirically examines how and when health-promoting leadership can facilitate employees’ health status. Using a time-lagged data of 370 employees (i.e., matched to 51 leaders), we found that health-promoting leadership has a significant and positive influence on employees’ health status, and healthy climate acts as a linking pin. In addition, work unit structure moderates the relationship between health-promoting leadership and healthy climate. Specifically, compared with mechanic work unite structure, employees rely more on social information conveyed by health-promoting leadership when working at an organic work unite structure. This study not only extends current knowledge about the effect of health-promoting leadership, but also provides useful guidance for practitioners.

Business Leadership from a Gender Perspective and Its Impact on the Work Environment and Employee's Well-Being in Companies in the Basque Country

If the workplace environment is good, the health and well-being of employees will be good too. This research aims to distinguish whether there are differences when it comes to being directed by a man or a woman and whether this affects employees. An ad hoc questionnaire was applied, collecting personal information and including the MLQ-6 S. It was sent by mail and answered by 549 employees of 16 companies in the Basque Country, Spain. A total of 277 (50.5%) men and 272 (49.5%) women participated, among whom there were 63 managers. The methodology shows a double perspective of how employees understand and perceive the differences between male and female business leaders and how managers see themselves exercising this leadership. No significant differences have been perceived. Both men and women believe they make their employees feel good about exercising leadership (M = 42.11%, W = 48.00%) quite often. Employed women consider it more challenging to become leaders and reconcile their work-life. Men do not think so. Communication is the tool that women managers know best how to handle and where men seem to fail more. Working on it could achieve more business success and better health in employees.

Is the health-awareness of leaders related to the working conditions, engagement, and exhaustion in their teams? A multi-level mediation study

Background

Research shows that leaders influence the health and well-being of employees, by being either a buffer or major source of employee’s work stressors. Various leadership behaviors and their relation to employee outcomes have been examined. Yet, a satisfactory explanation of how leaders’ behavior influences health has not been found. A new line of research investigates the construct of “health-oriented leadership”, that is, the health awareness of leaders towards themselves (“self-care”) and towards their employees (“staff-care”). It is hypothesized that this health-orientation has a direct effect on both leader’s and employees’ health, as well as an indirect effect mediated by their working conditions.

Methods

Data were derived from four company research projects, that involved employee and leader surveys on work, health, and well-being. The sample consisted of 50 teams, with 191 leaders and 604 team members. To test the relation between a leader’s self-care and his/her engagement, exhaustion, as well as staff-care, multiple regression analyses and mediation analyses were conducted. The relation between a leader’s staff-care, the team’s job resources and demands, and the individual employee outcomes engagement and exhaustion were tested with multilevel analyses.

Results

Regression analysis showed that the stronger a leader’s health-orientation towards him/−herself (“self-care”), the stronger was the health-orientation towards his/her employees (“staff-care”). A leader’s self-care was also associated with higher work engagement and lower exhaustion and this relation was mediated by his/her job resources and demands, respectively. Multilevel analysis showed that a leader’s staff-care was associated with employee work engagement and exhaustion, and that this relation was mediated by team-level job resources and demands, respectively.

Conclusions

The health-orientation of leaders relates to their own as well as their teams’ engagement and exhaustion, which is partly mediated by job demands and resources. Thus the construct of health-orientation may prove worthy of further exploration. For practical conclusions, this study provides support for researching not different leadership styles with very specific facets, but a general orientation towards health, which can be implemented into coaching and consulting sessions for organizations.

Development and Pilot Test of an Online Training to Engage Managers to Support Workplace Wellness

OBJECTIVE

To contribute to a broader understanding of effective implementation strategies to help managers engage employees in workplace wellness.

METHODS

We beta-tested an online training at four Washington state agencies (two test, two control). We administered a post-training evaluation, re-administered an online manager survey and conducted additional interviews with wellness leads.

RESULTS

Training participation rate was high. The two test agencies experienced a significant increase in the percentage of managers who: agreed that they received training on employee wellness; agreed their agency's culture supports employee wellness; and encouraged their employees to participate in wellness activities. Approximately 80% of managers who received the training agreed they could apply information learned to support employee wellness.

CONCLUSIONS

If proven effective, the training could be administered at a low cost and disseminated to improve employee health.

Psychological needs matter more than social and organizational resources in explaining organizational commitment

This study investigates the effects of psychological needs satisfaction on teacher's commitment, over and above the impact of social and organizational resources, by building a model based on the Job Demands-Resources theory, Self-Determination Theory, and Conservation of Resources Theory. Hierarchical multiple regressions with data obtained from a sample of 301 Romanian teachers (89% women) reveal that psychological needs satisfaction explains a significant amount of variance in teacher commitment, compared to the variance explained by social resources and organizational resources (affective and normative organizational commitment). These results highlight the role of needs' satisfaction in predicting teachers' commitment and provide valuable information for practitioners aiming to design interventions to increase teachers' commitment.

Health-Promoting Leadership: Concept, Measurement, and Research Framework

Employee health is not only positively related to the employee well-being and family happiness, but also impacts organizations, and society as a whole. We searched the health-promoting leadership literature in the following databases: Web of Science, ProQuest, EBSCO, and a Chinese local database. Based on this research, we clarify the concept of health-promoting leadership, propose a definition of health-promoting leadership, and examine measurement scales for this type of leadership. We also suggest a research framework for health-promoting leadership, demonstrating its potential outcomes at both the individual level (e.g., health, well-being, job attitudes) and the organizational level (e.g., health management culture and practices); the mechanisms for its development based on conservation of resources theory, the job demands–resources model, social learning theory, and social exchange theory; and antecedents (e.g., health values, health awareness, organizational health culture, organizational health climate, and organizational health promotion behavior control). Finally, we identify six potential research areas: Research level, performance, the impacts of health-promoting leaders on themselves, moderators, research methods, and intervention effects on health-promoting leadership.

Risk Factors and Leadership in a Digitalized Working World and Their Effects on Employees' Stress and Resources: Web-Based Questionnaire Study

Background

In today’s world of work, the digitalization of work and communication processes is increasing, and will increase even further. This increase in digitalization at the workplace brings many new aspects of working life to light, such as working in virtual teams, mobile working, expectations of being constantly available, and the need for support in adapting and learning new digital tools. These changes to the workplace can contain risks that might harm the well-being of employees. Leaders can support the well-being of their employees in terms of protecting and replenishing their work-related resources to cope with critical work demands. This so-called health-promoting leadership could serve as a buffer between risk at the workplace and critical outcomes, such as stress, by amplifying work-related resources.

Objective

This study’s aims were twofold. First, we wanted to investigate if risk factors related to higher digitalization at the workplace can be identified and if these risk factors have an impairing effect on the well-being of employees (eg, higher stress and lower resources). Second, we wanted to investigate if the health-impairing effects of these risk factors can be reduced by health-promoting leadership.

Methods

A total of 1412 employees from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland took part in this online study and provided information on their perceived risks at the workplace, their leaders’ health-promoting behaviors, and their work-related stress and resources.

Results

The results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that all four risk factors of digital work (distributed team work, mobile work, constant availability, and inefficient technical support) were related to higher stress at the workplace. In addition, distributed team work and inefficient technical support were associated with lower work-related resources. A possible buffer effect of health-promoting leadership between these risks and employee well-being was visible for inefficient technical support. In particular, in the case of having fewer support opportunities in learning and using digital tools, leaders could weaken the potential critical effects on stress. As for the other risk factors, leaders might engage in a different leadership behavior to improve their employees’ well-being, as the physical distance between leaders and employees in virtual team work or mobile work could make health-promoting leadership more difficult.

Conclusions

In a digitalized working world, solutions are needed to create working conditions that benefit employees. The results of this study strongly support the importance of investigating risk factors associated with an increase in digitalization at the workplace in addition to traditional risk factors. As for leadership, leaders need to show leadership behavior adapted to a digitalized workplace in order to reduce employee stress and increase work-related resources.

Exploring the effort-reward structure of university work focusing on perceived overall stress, self-reported health, and musculoskeletal disorders

Background: The effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model by Siegrist encouraged numerous scientific investigations that reported particular ties between psychosocial risks and poor self-reported health (SRH), while psychosocial work-related stress has also been linked to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The aim of this study was to examine the health status and the perceived levels of occupational stress of university employees and to analyse the findings according to the employees’ effort and reward structure of work, perceived overall stress, SRH and the presence of MSDs.

Design and methods: 398 employees – including healthcare professionals, academic personnel and workers with administrative or other jobs – employed at the University of Szeged, Faculty of Medicine were investigated with a self-administered questionnaire including the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERIQ) and Perceived Stress Scale 4 (PSS-4).

Results: More than half of the investigated subjects (54.8%) reported some forms of MSDs. Low self-reported health (P<0.001) and presence of MSDs (P=0.015) were significantly associated with the level of perceived stress and effort-reward imbalance (ERI), moreover increased level of perceived stress was independently associated with the likelihood of MSDs (AOR=1.13) and low self-reported health (AOR=1.30). ERI well predicted low self-reported health (AOR=2.05) as well. Increased level of perceived stress positively correlated with high workrelated effort (r=0.247, P<0.001) and over-commitment (r=0.387, P<0.001) while with work-related reward (r=−0.181, P=0.011) perceived stress showed a negative connection.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that addressing the burden of effort-reward imbalance and MSDs would likely lessen employees’ perceived level of overall stress and affect their self-reported overall state of health.

A Digital Tool to Build the Capacity of Leaders to Improve Working Conditions Related to Psychological Health and Well-Being in Teams: Intervention Approach, Prototype, and Evaluation Design of the Web-Application "wecoach"

The “wecoach” is a web-application that builds the capacities of team leaders to improve working conditions that are positively related to the psychological health and well-being of their team members. The web-application works through an automated, rule-based chat enhanced by machine learning. This so-called conversational agent guides the team leader through a systematic project cycle, providing a mind map of work and health, training materials, self-assessments, and online tools to conduct team surveys and workshops, as well as self-evaluation of progress and effectiveness. In this paper, we present the development process of this web-application, which resulted in (1) a comprehensive intervention approach, (2) the prototype, and (3) the implementation of an evaluation design for a multi-level, randomized controlled trial.

Pathway to professionalizing health leadership in Canada: The two faces of Janus

This article looks at the current state of health leadership in terms of expectations for professionalism: controlled entry, exit, and licensure/certification; a social contract to provide public services for the good of Canadians; and a unique body of knowledge and practice generally accepted. Looking to the future, and using the same three criteria, a compelling case for pursuing the professionalization of health leadership is made using LEADS as a roadmap. The article also outlines how to realize the professionalization of health leadership in Canada and why it is important to do so.

The Relationship between Perceived Coaching Behaviors, Competitive Trait Anxiety, and Athlete Burnout: A Cross-Sectional Study

Athletes possibly experience a great deal of stress which may cause anxiety and burnout. Athletes’ perceptions of their coaches’ behaviors influence their performance and psychological well-being. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between athletes’ perception of their coaches’ coaching behaviors and burnout, and also to examine the medication effects of competitive trait anxiety on the relationship. A total of 368 collegiate athletes participated in the study, and their ages ranged from 20 to 26 years old (M_age = 21.21 years, SD = 1.07 years). A cross-sectional research design was employed to collect the data. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling are utilized to analyze the data. Trait anxiety in athletes had a significant correlation with athlete burnout as well as significant pathways. Controlling coaching behaviors were significantly related to athletes’ competitive trait anxiety, whereas autonomy-supportive coaching behaviors were not significantly related to trait anxiety. A significant positive pathway from controlling coaching to trait anxiety was observed. The bootstrapping results indicated a significant and indirect pathway from controlling coaching to athlete burnout via competitive trait anxiety. Given that controlling coaching behaviors affected trait anxiety and, in turn, burnout, it is concluded that coaches should provide less controlling coaching to reduce anxiety and burnout in athletes.

Envy and Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Moderation Role of Leadership in Public and Private Organizations

Envy is a frequent emotion in work contexts where there is strong competition for resources and the leader is the person who manages them. When employees feel envy, they are likely to use counterproductive work behaviors (CWB), but the use of these behaviors may differ depending on the organization’s ownership. The goal of this study is to develop and test a model for the moderating role of Leader Member Exchange (LMX) in the relationship between envy and CWB in public and private organizations. The study design was cross-sectional. Data were collected from 225 Spanish employees in public and private organizations and analyzed using Path Analysis techniques. Results showed that envy was positively related to CWB, and that LMX was a significant moderator in the relationship between envy and CWB in public organizations, but not in private ones. However, this relationship is positive with high LMX, but less than in subjects with low LMX. Findings provide empirical support for the hypothesized conceptual model. This study is one of the first to explore LMX as a moderator of the relationship between envy and CWB. Thus, this study adds value to previous social exchange studies on LMX by integrating emotion research into the context of an exchange-based relationship. Our findings lead to several practical implications for creating healthy organizations.