Financial hardship of the self-employed comes with impaired well-being

Financial hardship is significantly related to impaired well-being among self-employed individuals in different European countries, as a new study shows. However, this effect differed significantly between countries. The study found that the economic conditions of a country play an important role in this regard. For self-employed people living in a country with a more supportive social policy in the form of unemployment allowance, financial hardship and well-being were less strongly related. In addition, an individual’s education and social trust were buffers against lower well-being.

Annink, A., Gorgievski, M., & Den Dulk, L. (2016). Financial hardship and well-being: a cross-national comparison among the European self-employed. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 25(5), 645-647.

The risk of job insecurity: Effects on health and well-being

Job insecurity is the perception of being threatened by job loss and concerns about the continued existence of one's job in the future. A new review of 57 longitudinal studies suggests that job insecurity negatively affects psychological well-being and physical health. The results imply that companies and governments should make an effort to reduce the perceived threat of job insecurity.

De Witte, H., Pienaar, J., & De Cuyper, N. (2016). Review of 30 years of longitudinal studies on the association between job insecurity and health and well-being: Is there causal evidence? Australian Psychologist, 51(1), 18-31.

New views on employee well-being

Employee well-being should be studied in a more complex and comprehensive way, as organizational psychologist Arnold Bakker from the Netherlands argues in a recent publication. The multilevel model of employee well-being explains that there are multiple factors on multiple levels influencing well-being at work: Not only do people with different personalities experience daily demands differently, also the level of the previously accumulated demands and the previously accumulated coping strategies should be taken into consideration when predicting employee well-being in order to provide new and deeper-reaching insights.

Bakker, A. B. (2015). Towards a multilevel approach of employee well-being. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 24(6), 839-843.

Home office - how do you feel about it?

Employees experience more job-related well-being when working from home, in comparison to when they work at the office, researchers from the US revealed in a new study. However, the study found that not everybody benefits the same way. Several individual factors (e.g., degree of openness to experience, rumination, or social connections outside the office), influence the extent to which home office has positive effects. 

Anderson, A. J., Kaplan, S. A., & Vega, R. P. (2015). The impact of telework on emotional experience: When, and for whom, does telework improve daily affective well-being? European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 24(6), 882-897.

Thinking about something happy at work is better than suppressing anger

The management of emotions as part of one’s work role (i.e., emotional labour) is especially important in jobs that require frequent customer/client contact. There are two main strategies to manage emotions: Suppressing negative emotions and pretending good mood (surface acting) and trying to actually create positive feelings (deep acting). Surface acting is related with lower well-being, whereas deep acting has no such detrimental effects, according to a recent study. Workers in a service job should therefore try to create true positive feelings at work instead of only pretending positive emotions. So how about instead of suppressing your anger think about something positive in your live when the next costumer wears you down ?

Journal of Applied Psychology

Doing what you are good at increases satisfaction with work but does not reduce exhaustion

The more individuals use their skills at work, the more positive they feel about their work each day. This is especially true for individuals who are motivated internally, for example, by self-development. However, according to the same study, using skills at work does not help to reduce feelings of exhaustion. Doing what you are good at thus can make you happier at work. However, using your skills does not necessarily mean that work feels less demanding.

Work and Stress

Too much control over your job might not be good for you

High and low job control may decrease well-being and produce a depersonalized attitude toward one’s work. Too little control can be frustrating and lead to alienation. However, too much control can be overwhelming because of too much autonomy and uncertainty regarding how the job ought to be performed. According to an Austrian study, a medium level of job control is the optimal level because it produces a sense of pride, significance, and enthusiasm for one’s work.

International Journal of Nursing Studies

Interruptions at work can lead to lower satisfaction with one’s performance

Employees may experience lower satisfaction with their performance, increased feelings of irritability, more rumination about problems at work, and heightened distraction from work goals because of interruptions at work. According to a German study, some of the results could be explained by a higher level of time pressure and mental demands induced by interruptions. These findings caution against the frequent use of social-media during work hours or constant email checking that is prevalent among some employees.

Work & Stress

Finding your calling is not enough - Having the chance to enact it daily is important

Working in a profession that corresponds to your calling does not automatically mean that you will have the chance to enact your calling on a daily basis, according to a study among church ministers in the UK. Even for priests, the degree to which they could enact their callings during a normal work day varied considerably and was related to their experienced well-being. Finding one's calling is thus not enough for your happiness - creating daily opportunities to enact it in your job is important, as this study suggests.

Journal of Organizational Behavior