Project

Manage recovery during crises

External crises present challenges for the management of wellbeing at work in the healthcare and social welfare sector, as they increase employee stress without quick reduction methods. However, employee coping can be supported with good recovery practices. In this project, we will be studying the recovery from work of healthcare and social welfare employees and wellbeing services county planners – especially recovery from the psychosocial stress of work and recovery methods. The project will produce concrete guidelines and recommendations for the healthcare and social welfare sector on how to facilitate good recovery during crises.

Timetable

3/2023–7/2024

Objectives

The work stress of employees in the healthcare and social welfare sector has increased as a result of recent crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and changes, such the health and social services reform. Recognising that this work stress cannot be completely eliminated, this project will produce concrete, research-based means to support the recovery from work of healthcare and social welfare employees and wellbeing services county planners.

In particular, we will be examining ways in which management and work communities can support recovery from work, whereas past research on recovery has focused primarily on methods available to individuals.

The project aims to:

identify the stress factors and resources associated with challenging work during a crisis
provide information on how healthcare and social welfare employees can support their own and their work community’s recovery during crises
provide information on how recovery from work during crises can be supported
- by management
- by the work community.

Data and methods

The research will be carried out utilising already collected data.

The qualitative data consists of the open-ended responses of two organisations to the ’Mitä kuuluu?’ wellbeing at work survey and of the respondents of the ‘Mitä kuuluu hyvinvointialuevalmistelijoille?’ follow-up survey for wellbeing services county planners. The data will be analysed utilising traditional content analysis, in addition to which we will be developing automated content analysis based on machine learning methods during the project.

The quantitative data consists of the results of the ’Mitä kuuluu hyvinvointialuevalmistelijoille?’ follow-up survey for wellbeing services county planners from February to November 2022. The data will be analysed utilising multivariate statistical methods.

Results and impact

Work stress in the healthcare and social welfare sector cannot be completely eliminated, but its negative impacts on work ability can be mitigated by taking care of recovery. Better recovery can promote wellbeing at work, productivity and health while reducing sickness absences and employee attrition. As such, the project will produce information that can be utilised to improve the employee retention and appeal of the healthcare and social welfare sector.

Maintaining the productivity of work during crises and recovery from them is important for society. The concrete, research-based recommendations and guide to be produced in this project will provide information on what organisations should focus on to support recovery from work, especially in terms of management and the work community, when stress suddenly increases as a result of a crisis or changes. The recommendations will be aimed not only at employees and work units, but also at management and HR personnel. The guidelines will help wellbeing services counties, other healthcare and social welfare sector organisations and other sectors to manage rapid changes in work that cause high amounts of stress.