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The levels of sickness absenteeism in Norway are extraordinarily high. One of three employees reports that work is partly or fully the reason why they are absent. Regardless of a clear and explicit political goal to reduce sickness absence, previous reforms in Norway have not had much success. In this dissertation, we collected self-report data from thousands of jobholders and performed cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. The results identified factors that can contribute to the improvement and enhancement of employee well-being and health. In Paper I, we showed that job resources and job demands were associated with work engagement and workaholism, respectively. Both engaged employees and workaholics worked extra hours. Work engagement was positively related to work-related health, whilst workaholism was negatively related to work-related health. In Paper II we revealed that job resources predict work engagement, that work engagement leads to reduced sickness absenteeism, and that this relationship is mediated by health. In Paper III we found that organizational contexts (i.e., nature of work and occupation) and individual dispositions (i.e., positive trait emotions) influence the degree to which individuals appraise job demands positively and negatively. The theoretical foundation guiding this dissertation is the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, which we refined based on the present research. Specifically, we argue that workaholism could be included in the health-impairment process and that health-related indicators could be included as possible outcomes of the motivational process. Further, we suggest that job demands may play a role in the motivational process and that a more nuanced approach to measuring job demands should be applied in future research. The findings presented in this dissertation challenge the policies and reforms currently applied to reduce sickness absenteeism in Norway. Today, attention is focused on removing or reducing aspects of work that may cause ill-being, which is important but not sufficient. Rather, our research suggests that the promotion of positive working conditions may lead to hard-working and healthy employees. This can prove profitable for organizations, add societal value through a healthy workforce, and contribute to solve parts of the absence puzzle. Authorities and employers are encouraged to utilize this perspective in the future. |
