TY - JOUR

T1 - Working time dimensions and well-being

T2 - a cross-national study of Finnish and German health care employees

AU - Karhula, Kati

AU - Wöhrmann, Anne Marit

AU - Brauner, Corinna

AU - Härmä, Mikko

AU - Kivimäki, Mika

AU - Michel, Alexandra

AU - Oksanen, Tuula

N1 - The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors are responsible for the content and writing of the article. Kati Karhula and Mikko Härmä are supported by NordForsk, the Nordic Program on Health and Welfare (74809). Mika Kivimäki is supported by a professorial fellowship from the Economic and Social Research Council, UK, and NordForsk (75021). Health and well-being among Finnish Hospital Personnel Study is supported by the Finnish Work Environment Fund (117 094) as part of the Finnish Public Sector Study. Anne M. Wöhrmann, Corinna Brauner and Alexandra Michel did not receive external funding.

PY - 2020/10/2

Y1 - 2020/10/2

N2 - Health care professionals often face irregular working hours and high work pace. We studied associations of the five working time dimensions duration (weekly working hours), timing (shift work and weekend work), on-call work, working time autonomy, and work tempo (deadline and performance pressure) with well-being among health care employees in Finland and Germany. We used data on working time dimensions and indicators of well-being (work-life conflict, poor perceived health, sleep difficulties, and fatigue) from a cohort of 5050 hospital employees (Working Hours in the Finnish Public Sector Study 2015, WHFPS) and 1450 employees in the health care sector in Germany responding to the German BAuA-Working Time Survey in 2015 (BAuA-WTS). Findings from logistic regression analyses showed that high work tempo was associated with increased work-life conflict (WHFPS: odds ratio [OR] = 3.64, 95%CI 3.04–4.36 and BAuA-WTS: OR = 2.29, 95%CI 1.60–3.27), sleep difficulties (OR = 1.75, 95%CI 1.43–2.15 and OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.03–1.71) and fatigue (OR = 2.13, 95%CI 1.77–2.57 and OR = 1.64, 95%CI 1.29–2.10) in both datasets. Weekend work was associated with increased work-life conflict (OR = 1.48, 95%CI 1.27–1.72 and OR = 1.61, 95%CI 1.12–2.32); and high working time autonomy with decreased work-life conflict (control over the timing of breaks: OR = 0.65, 95%CI 0.55–0.78 and OR = 0.52, 95%CI 0.33–0.81). The associations between other working time dimensions and well-being were less consistent. These results suggest that tight deadlines, performance pressure, weekend work and lack of working time autonomy are linked to impaired well-being among health care employees.

AB - Health care professionals often face irregular working hours and high work pace. We studied associations of the five working time dimensions duration (weekly working hours), timing (shift work and weekend work), on-call work, working time autonomy, and work tempo (deadline and performance pressure) with well-being among health care employees in Finland and Germany. We used data on working time dimensions and indicators of well-being (work-life conflict, poor perceived health, sleep difficulties, and fatigue) from a cohort of 5050 hospital employees (Working Hours in the Finnish Public Sector Study 2015, WHFPS) and 1450 employees in the health care sector in Germany responding to the German BAuA-Working Time Survey in 2015 (BAuA-WTS). Findings from logistic regression analyses showed that high work tempo was associated with increased work-life conflict (WHFPS: odds ratio [OR] = 3.64, 95%CI 3.04–4.36 and BAuA-WTS: OR = 2.29, 95%CI 1.60–3.27), sleep difficulties (OR = 1.75, 95%CI 1.43–2.15 and OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.03–1.71) and fatigue (OR = 2.13, 95%CI 1.77–2.57 and OR = 1.64, 95%CI 1.29–2.10) in both datasets. Weekend work was associated with increased work-life conflict (OR = 1.48, 95%CI 1.27–1.72 and OR = 1.61, 95%CI 1.12–2.32); and high working time autonomy with decreased work-life conflict (control over the timing of breaks: OR = 0.65, 95%CI 0.55–0.78 and OR = 0.52, 95%CI 0.33–0.81). The associations between other working time dimensions and well-being were less consistent. These results suggest that tight deadlines, performance pressure, weekend work and lack of working time autonomy are linked to impaired well-being among health care employees.

KW - fatigue

KW - on-call work

KW - perceived health

KW - shift work

KW - sleep

KW - work tempo

KW - work-life conflict

KW - work-time control

KW - Working hours

KW - working time autonomy

KW - Health sciences

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088871549&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/07420528.2020.1778716

DO - 10.1080/07420528.2020.1778716

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 32727224

AN - SCOPUS:85088871549

VL - 37

SP - 1312

EP - 1324

JO - Chronobiology International

JF - Chronobiology International

SN - 0742-0528

IS - 9-10

ER -