Can job insecurity be managed? Evaluating an organizational-level intervention addressing the negative effects of restructuring

an article by Johan Simonsen Abildgaard (The National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark), Karina Nielsen (Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK) and Magnus Sverke (Stockholm University, Sweden; North-West University, Potchedstroom, South Africa) published in Work & Stress: An International Journal of Work, Health & Organisations Volume 32 Issue 2

Abstract

Although downsizing and reorganisation are recognised as serious threats to the psychological well-being of employees, intervention strategies for addressing these events are limited.

This study evaluated the effects of a participatory organisational-level intervention in which employees and managers chose to address the psychosocial consequences, specifically job insecurity, of restructuring.

The intervention was conducted among postal service letter carriers in Denmark and was evaluated based on quantitative and qualitative data. Using interviews (N = 24) and observations, the programme theory of the intervention and to what extent the intervention had been implemented were assessed. Using survey data (N = 238), repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to test for differences in the development of job insecurity between the intervention group and a comparison group.

The results indicate that the intervention group had a significantly smaller increase in one dimension of job insecurity as compared to the comparison group.

Therefore, we conclude that employees’ experiencing of job insecurity, which typically follows in the wake of restructuring, can be addressed by planned efforts at the workplace level.

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