Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the level and predictors of work engagement among service sector employees in eight European countries. Design/methodology/approach -The work seeks to discover if job demands and resources, i.e. job autonomy and social support, affect work engagement in differing ways in different countries when socio-demographical variables and work-related factors are controlled. The study is based on a statistical analysis of survey data from Bulgaria,

It has been assumed that third-sector organizations attract ideologically oriented employees. Therefore, employees consider their work as more meaningful. However, employees' ideological orientation has not been taken into account in previous studies on work engagement. With this in mind, the present study sets out to apply an extended job demand-resources (JD-R) model in a survey conducted with Finnish third-sector employees (N = 1,412). The results showed that thirdsector employees report higher work engagement than employees generally in the work engagement studies. In addition to job demands and resources, work engagement is associated with public service motivation and value congruence. Thus, public service motivation theory offers more insight into third-sector employees' work engagement than the conventionally used JD-R model.Résumé Les organisations du tiers-secteur sont supposées attirer les employés sensibles à une idéologie, qui attribueraient alors plus de sens à leur travail. Cependant, l'orientation idéologique des employés n'a pas été prise en compte dans les études précédentes portant sur l'engagement au travail. En gardant cela à l'esprit, la présente étude établit un modèle « besoins-ressources de travail » étendu pour l'appliquer à une enquête menée auprès d'employés du tiers-secteur finlandais (N = 1,412). Les résultats montrent que les employés du tiers-secteur indiquent un engagement au travail supérieur à celui des employés interrogés généralement dans les études portant sur l'engagement au travail. Outre les besoins et les ressources, l'engagement au travail est ici associé à la motivation de service public et à la congruence des valeurs. Ainsi, la théorie de la motivation de service public offre un meilleur éclairage sur l'engagement au travail des employés du tiers-secteur que le modèle besoins-ressources habituellement utilisé.Zusammenfassung Man ist bislang davon ausgegangen, dass Organisationen des Dritten Sektors ideologisch orientierte Mitarbeiter anziehen. Somit messen diese Mitarbeiter ihrer Arbeit eine größere Bedeutung bei. Doch in früheren Studien zum Arbeitsengagement wurde die ideologische Orientierung von Beschäftigten nicht berücksichtigt. Vor diesem Hintergrund wendet die vorliegende Studie bei der Befragung von finnischen Mitarbeitern im Dritten Sektor (N = 1,412) ein erweitertes Modell zu Arbeitsbelastungen und -ressourcen (Job-Demands-ResourcesModell) an. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass in den Studien zum Arbeitsengagement die Beschäftigten im Dritten Sektor ein größeres Arbeitsengagement angeben als andere Beschäftigte im Allgemeinen. Neben den Arbeitsbelastungen und -ressourcen wird das Arbeitsengagement mit der Motivation zu öffentlichen Dienstleistungen (Public Service Motivation) und der Wertekongruenz in Verbindung gebracht. Somit bietet die Theorie der Public Service Motivation einen tieferen Einblick in das Arbeitsengagement der Beschäftigten im Dritten Sektor als das konventionell angewandte Job-Demands-Resources-Modell.Resumen Se ha asumido que las organizaciones...

Background Work in the health and social care services (HSS) is very stressful and sickness absences are high. Nevertheless, little is known about their work stressors and work ability. The first aim of this study is to describe the prevalence of different work stressors and their accumulation among eldercare workers compared to general HSS workers. Second aim is to analyze associations between different work stressors and work ability and thus provide information on factors that are important in enhancing work ability. Methods This cross-sectional survey examined HSS employees in Finland in 2020. The response rate was 67% (N = 22,502). Descriptive analyses were used to describe the control variables and the differences between the work stressors of general HSS and eldercare employees. After this, multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed the association between work stressors and work ability. Results Eldercare employees experienced more often moral distress than HSS employees in general, and this further lowers their work ability. Single work stressors––Karasek’s strain, Siegrist’s ERI, organizational injustice and moral distress––increased the odds of low work ability (OR range 1.4–2.5) in comparison to no work stressors. However, the association with single stressors was roughly one third of that with the accumulation of all four work stressors (OR = 6.8). Thus, the accumulation of several stressors was most harmful for work ability. Conclusions This study provides novel information on the accumulation of work stressors in relation to work ability. The results suggest that in order to enhance work ability, HSS organizations should pay more attention to preventing several stressors from accumulating. Eldercare organizations in particular need to develop effective measures for lowering moral distress.

Discussions about social isolation have been extensive over the past few decades. A less sociable nature of social ties has been identified in Western societies. The phenomenon has been associated with demographic changes such as aging and living alone as well as changes in the use of new technologies. In this study we employ representative Finnish Time Use Surveys from three decades, 1987-1988 (n = 1887), 1999-2000 (n = 2673) and 2009-2010 (n = 1887) to examine the trends in social isolation, measured as time spent alone. Our results showed that between 1987 and 2010 the time spent alone increased by 124 min per day. The increase was linear and occurred in nearly all population groups. Structural factors, such as aging and an increase in the number of single households, are strongly associated with increased time spent alone. Time spent alone has increased, especially during leisure activities. Specifically, time spent watching television and using computers is associated with the decreasing tendency for face-to-face interaction.

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