NYA KRAV I ARBETSLIVET - Hur organisationer arbetar med att hantera dagens gränslösa och flexibla arbete

Abstract

In today’s global and fast changing world, we are faced with new challenges. On the labour market one of these challenges are the boundless work, the fact that the boundaries between private life and work are blurred. Technological advancements and increased demands has resulted in the deepening of work’s intrusion on worker’s off time. It has showed negative consequences for both individuals and organisations in the form of increased morbidity. To create a successful company and ensure a sustainable workforce, it is today vital for organisation’s leaders and HR-professionals to deal with the pertaining issues. The purpose of the study is to describe how organisations work to create a psychosocially sustainable work environment with focus on boundless work. The essay offers insight on how five different organisations handles boundless work and which incentives and gains they have found. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with four heads of HR and a HR specialist, which has provided the empirical base of this study. Together with previous research and theoretical input, such as Karasek and Theorell’s demand-control model and Siegrist’s effort-reward model, a complete picture of the problematics and approaches is presented. Results in this study shows the complexity of this area. Participating companies offer their employees various levels of flexibility when it comes to distributing work, but a trend towards internal standardisation and regulation can be gathered from the empiric of this study. The subjects interviewed agrees that communication, dialog and clear work directives are key components to handling boundless work and to prevent mental illness. Actively working with these three key components promotes a healthier corporate culture. The primary incentive for organisations to work on limiting the boundless work is to reduce absence due to sickness and all costs associated with it, to have motivated and healthy employees who perform at the height of their capabilities and to be viewed as an attractive and credible employer.