An increasing number of academic institutions offer their staff the option to work from other places than the conventional office, i.e., telework. Academic teaching and research staff are recognized as some of the most frequent teleworkers, and this seems to affect their well-being, work performance, and recovery in different ways. This study aimed to investigate academics’ experiences and perceptions of telework within the academic context. For this, we interviewed 26 academics from different Swedish universities. Interviews were analyzed with a phenomenographic approach, which showed that telework was perceived as a natural part of academic work and a necessary resource for coping with, and recovering from, high work demands. Telework was mostly self-regulated but the opportunity could be determined by work tasks, professional culture, and management. Telework could facilitate the individual’s work but could contribute to challenges for the workgroup. Formal regulations of telework were considered a threat to academics’ work autonomy and to their possibility to cope with the high work demands. The findings provide insight into academics’ working conditions during teleworking, which may be important for maintaining a sustainable work environment when academic institutions offer telework options.

Background:

Telework reshapes the conventional work practice by providing the flexibility to perform work at new places and times. Telework can increase individual autonomy to control and organize work, but can also place higher demands on the ability to separate work-nonwork in time and space, physically and mentally. Leaders’ abilities to manifest trusting relationship with staff, and support them seems important during telework. Academic staff are frequent teleworkers, but little is known about how it may impact on their well-being. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate how academic teaching and research staff practice telework and how telework affects their well-being at work. Another aim was to investigate the experiences of academic managers leading teleworkers in academia.

Methods: 

Study I was a cross-sectional survey and examined the association between the amount and frequency of telework and perceived health aspects. Study II was conducted with assessments of psychophysiological activity, postures and movements, and with daily self-ratings on stress, fatigue, and recuperation, to compare exposures during telework and work at the conventional workplace. Study III and study IV had qualitative study design and were based on semi-structured interviews using an inductive phenomenographic approach.

Results:

Academics who teleworked several times per week or more reported more work-related stress related to indistinct organization and conflicts, and individual demands and commitment, compared to academics who teleworked less. The psychophysiological activity indicated more relaxation before and after workhours during teleworking days. Academics had overall sedentary behaviors regardless of work location, alternated more between sitting and standing during working hours during telework than at the ordinary workplace. The academics’ experiences of telework were related to work tasks, coping strategies, workgroup relationships, and policies/regulations, which were mostly interrelated. Collectively, the process of change of managers’ conditions and experiences of leading teleworkers before, during and after the pandemic were related to digital and social interaction, work performance, the work environmeny in, and regulations of, telework.

Conclusions:

The use of different research designs and methods showed that telework in academia could impact biological, psychological, social and professional aspects of academics’ well-being. The perspective of academic managers showed that the organizational context could impact on the conditions for providing academics with support in telework. We argue future studies to adopt different research designs and methods when studying well-being in telework, and especially consider the professional and organizational context in telework.

Bakgrund:

Distansarbete förändrar det konventionella sättet att arbetet genom att ge flexibilitet att utföra arbete på nya platser och tider. Detta kan öka autonomin att styra och organisera arbetet, men det kan också medföra högre krav på förmågan att separera arbetet i tid och rum, fysiskt och mentalt, från livet i övrigt. Chefers förmåga att upprätthålla en förtroendefull relation med, och stödja sin personal, verkar vara särskilt viktigt vid distansarbete. Distansarbete är vanligt bland akademianställda, men det saknas kunskap om hur det kan påverka deras välbefinnande i arbetet. Det övergripande syftet med denna avhandling var att undersöka hur undervisande och forskande personal inom högre utbildning distansarbetar och hur det kan påverkar deras välbefinnande i arbetet. Ett annat syfte var att undersöka akademianställda chefers erfarenheter av och förutsättningar för att leda distansarbetare i akademin.

Metod:

Studie I var en tvärsnittsundersökning av sambandet mellan mängd och frekvens av distansarbete och skattade hälsoaspekter. Studie II bestod av mätningar av psykofysiologisk aktivitet, kroppsställningar och rörelser, och av dagliga självskattningar av stress, trötthet och återhämtning vid distansarbete jämfört med arbete på ordinarie arbetsplats. Studie III och studie IV hade kvalitativ studiedesign och baserades på semistrukturerade intervjuer med en induktiv fenomenografisk ansats.

Resultat:

Akademianställda som distansarbetade flera gånger per vecka eller mer rapporterade mer arbetsrelaterad stress relaterad till otydlig organisation och konflikter, och individuella krav och engagemang i arbetet, jämfört med de som distansarbetade mer sällan. De psykofysiologiska mätningarna tydde på mer avslappning före och efter arbetstid under distansarbetsdagar. Akademianställda var generellt stillasittande oavsett plats för arbete, men växlade mer mellan att sitta och stå under arbetstid vid distansarbete jämfört med ordinarie arbetsplats. Akademianställdas upplevelser av distansarbete relaterade till arbetsuppgifter, copingstrategier, arbetsrelationer och policyer/regler. Chefers förutsättningar och erfarenheter av att leda distansarbetare före, under och efter pandemin relaterade till digital och social interaktion, arbetsprestationer, arbetsmiljön i och regleringar av distansarbete.

Slutsatser:

Studierna med olika forskningsdesign och metoder i denna avhandling visade att distansarbete i akademin kan inverkan på biologiska, psykologiska, sociala och professionella aspekter av akademianställdas välbefinnande i arbetet. Akademianställda chefers erfarenheter var att den organisatoriska kontexten kunde påverka deras förutsättningarna att ge akademianställda stöd vid distansarbete. Vi rekommenderar att framtida studier använder sig av olika forskningsdesign och metoder för att studera välbefinnande vid distansarbete, och särskilt beaktar den professionella och organisatoriska kontextens betydelse för välbefinnande vid distansarbete.

BACKGROUND:The complex position of a first line manager is characterized by heavy workload and contradictory demands. Little is known about how first line managers experience demand and control in their work.

OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to explore experiences of demand and control among first line managers within psychiatric and addiction care.

METHOD:In the present study, interviews with ten managers in for-profit psychiatric and addiction care in Sweden were analyzed with a phenomenographic approach.

RESULTS:The managers experiences of demand and control implied varied and extensive responsibilities for a wide range of professions; regulation by organizational, economic, and political frameworks; creating balance in their work; and handling the emergence and consequences of acute crisis. These experiences of demand and control involved high and contradictory demands together with coexisting high and low levels of control. Many of their work characteristics could be described in terms of both demand and control.

CONSLUSION:The first line managers experiences of demand and control are more complex than implied by the job demand control theory. Our results suggest that the organizational position and branch should be considered when identifying health hazards in the work environment of first line managers.

The aim of this study was to determine if psychophysiological activity, postures and movements differ during telework (i.e., work performed at home) and work performed at the conventional office. We performed twenty-four-hour pulse recordings and accelerometry measurements on 23 academic teaching and research staff during five consecutive workdays, with at least one day of telework. Additionally, we conducted salivary sampling during one day of telework, and one day of office work. Heart rate and heart rate variability indices, postural exposure and cortisol concentration were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance with Workplace and Time (i.e., before, during and after workhours) as within-subject effects. We found a significant interaction effect of Workplace and Time in heart rate variability indices and in the number of transitions between seated and standing postures. This shows more parasympathetic activity among academic teleworkers during telework than office work, which may indicate more relaxation during telework. They had an overall sedentary behavior at both workplaces but switched between sitting and standing more often during telework, which may be beneficial for their health.

As the development of technical aids for telework has progressed, work has become more flexible in time and space. Among academics, the opportunity to telework has been embraced by most, but it is unclear how it relates to their health and well-being. The aim of this study was to determine how frequency and amount of telework is associated with perceived health, stress, recuperation, work-life balance, and intrinsic work motivation among teaching and research academics. An electronic questionnaire was sent to junior lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors at Swedish public universities. It included the General Health Questionnaire, Work Stress Questionnaire, items for assessing recuperation, the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction at Work scale, and parts of Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, as well as questions about the frequency and amount of telework performed. In total, 392 academics responded to the survey. Multivariate analysis of variance showed significant differences between groups of academics with different telework frequency (p < 0.05). Univariate analyses of variance showed that ratings of stress related to indistinct organization and conflicts were higher among academics that telework several times per week or more than among academics that telework less than once per month. In regression analyses of associations between amount of telework (in hours per week) and the dependent variables, no significant effects were found. Although it cannot be concluded whether stress is a cause or an effect of frequent telework, the findings warrant further attention to academics who telework frequently.

Telecommuting is a working arrangement that is highly adopted among academic staff. This may be a cause or a consequence of expanding demands on productivity, efficiency and availability of academic staff. A previous study on white-collar workers at a government authority showed higher cardiovascular arousal during work at the office, but less recovery after working from home. To our knowledge, these findings have not been confirmed or refuted in other populations. As part of an ongoing study, we aimed to determine whether there is a difference in perceived stress and psychophysiological reactions during work at the central workplace (CW) compared to work performed away from the central workplace (OCW) among academic staff. In addition, recuperation after work performed at the two locations were compared. For each subject, saliva cortisol was collected regularly throughout each of two working days in the same work week (i.e., one full day CW and one full day OCW). Before and after each working day, the subjects rated their stress and fatigue on 100 mm Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) where higher values imply more stress and fatigue, and the difference in ratings within a day (i.e., after-before) was calculated. In the morning after each of the working days, the subjects rated how recuperated they felt on VAS where higher values imply more recuperation. Cortisol values were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance with Day (2 days) and Time of day (6 time points) as within-subjects effects. Self-ratings were compared using paired-samples T test. In all tests, the level of significance was p=0.05. Preliminary results show no significant differences between days in cortisol curves (F=0.62; p=0.685), stress (Dstress=2 for CW and -1 for OCW; p=0,604), fatigue (Dfatigue=7 for CW and 6 for OCW; p=0,837) and recuperation (51 for CW and 61 for OCW; p=0,094).

The ability to telecommute has changed working life for staff at universities and colleges. Although the opportunity to work away from the office at any time gives workers more freedom to manage their work, it also imposes higher demands on workers to set limits to their work. The aim of this ongoing study is to determine if there is an optimal amount of telecommuting for male and female academics with respect to perceived health, work stress, recovery, work-life balance, and work motivation. A web-based survey is currently being conducted among lecturers and professors at Swedish universities and colleges. Results so far show that perceived fatigue and stress associated with indistinct organization and conflicts are higher among academics that telecommute to a larger extent. The results also show that female academics are more fatigued and stressed at work than male academics, but this does not seem to be related to the extent of telecommuting performed.

Bakgrund

Universitets- och högskoleväsendet har under de senaste årtiondena genomgått stora förändringar. Den teknologiska utvecklingen och ökade konkurrensen nationellt och internationellt har lett till högre krav på effektivitet, produktivitet och tillgänglighet av personal oavsett vart de befinner sig. Arbetssituationen inom universitet- och högskole-väsendet har på detta sätt blivit mer krävande. Universitetslärare är en yrkesgrupp som i allt större utsträckning har möjlighet att arbeta på distans, och nyttjar den möjligheten regelbundet både inom och utanför ordinarie arbetstid. Trots detta är det få studier som undersökt hur undervisande och forskande personal inom högskolesektorn upplever och påverkas av distansarbete.

Syfte

Att undersöka hur distansarbete praktiseras av, och påverkar universitetslärare, samt att undersöka första linjens chefers upplevelser av att leda en personalgrupp som i varierande omfattning arbetar på distans.

Metod

Projektet innehåller fyra delstudier. Delstudie I består av en web-baserad enkätunder-sökning av hälsa, stress, återhämtning, balans mellan arbete och privatliv, arbetsmo-tivation, och förekomst av distansarbete bland universitetslärare vid svenska högskolor och universitet. Datainsamlingen pågår och förväntas vara avslutad i slutet av VT-18. I delstudie II kommer universitetslärare att följas under en arbetsvecka med mätningar av rörelsemönster, hjärtfrekvens och stresshormon. Mätningarna kommer att förläggas till en vecka då läraren arbetar minst en dag på ordinarie arbetsplats och minst en dag på annan plats, så att jämförelser av exponering kan göras inom person. Datainsamling för delpro-jekt III genomförs genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med universitetslärare för att undersöka deras upplevelser av att arbeta på, respektive utanför, ordinarie arbetsplats och vad som motiverar dem att arbeta på distans. I delprojekt IV undersöks upplevelser av att leda en personalgrupp som i varierande omfattning arbetar på distans, genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med universitetsanställda med en första linjens chefsposition.

Resultat

Projektet förväntas bidra med fördjupad kunskap om hur distansarbete inom universitets- och högskolesektorn relaterar till olika aspekter av hälsa och välbefinnande bland universitetslärare, och vilka effekter det får för individen att ta med sig arbetet från den ordinarie arbetsplatsen. Projektet förväntas även generera kunskap om hur universitets-anställda med en personalledande funktion upplever att leda anställda som arbetar på distans. Denna kunskap kommer att bidra till utvecklandet av rekommendationer för en hållbar arbetsmiljö, i lärarkåren och hos universitetsanställda med en personalledande funktion.