A new perspective on balancing life domains: work-nonwork balance crafting.

BACKGROUND: Self-initiated and proactive changes in working conditions through crafting are essential for shaping work and improving work-related well-being. Recently, the research stream of job crafting has been extended to other life domains. The present paper aims to study a novel crafting concept-work-nonwork balance crafting-investigating the role of its antecedents and identifying relevant outcomes. Work-nonwork balance crafting is defined as individuals' unofficial techniques and activities to shape their work-nonwork balance, here considering their life domain boundary preferences. METHODS: In the study, 1,060 employees in three European countries (Austria, Germany and Switzerland) were surveyed in a longitudinal three-wave study with three-month intervals. We explored the influences of job/home demands and resources as antecedents of work-nonwork balance crafting. Important constructs for employee health and well-being (i.e., work engagement, work-related burnout, mental well-being and detachment from work) were investigated as outcomes. RESULTS: The findings suggest that resources and demands in the context of work or home are key antecedents of work-nonwork balance crafting. Work-nonwork balance crafting was also predictive for important employee health and well-being outcomes over three months, mainly in a positive and health-promoting way. CONCLUSION: This study provides insights into the antecedents of proactive efforts to balance the complex interplay of life domains. By studying work-nonwork balance crafting, we provide a new perspective on crafting beyond job crafting, which may help maintain or improve employees' mental health and well-being.

Staying healthy during COVID-19 crisis: well-being and salutogenic crafting among German and Swiss working population.

The COVID-19 pandemic induced considerable changes regarding our working and private lives. This study aimed to examine the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 crisis on German and Swiss employees. We analyzed the impact of the crisis on working and private life, well-being and health indicators. We tried to understand how the salutogenic behavior of crafting helps to overcome adversities during the COVID-19 pandemic and to maintain well-being and health. Therefore, we conducted a follow-up online survey from 9 to 22 April 2020 among 597 employees that had participated in the first wave of the survey in June 2019. This follow-up study design offered the opportunity to compare the situation of survey participants before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. This pre-post comparison was possible through the design of our study, which allowed us to link participants in an individual, yet anonymized way from t0 to t1. Results of the study showed that the situation concerning psychosocial factors at work and in private life and several well-being and health indicators was stable or even improved. Many study variables even remarkably improved among high crafters-a group of employees who tend to regularly craft their job and private life. Our findings indicate that employees are coping with the crisis surprisingly well. Moreover, there seem to exist beneficial, salutogenic behaviors (i.e. crafting) that allow people to better cope with crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. These behaviors should be induced and promoted by interventions as they could be especially beneficial for low crafters.

Needs-based off-job crafting across different life domains and contexts: Testing a novel conceptual and measurement approach.

Shaping off-job life is becoming increasingly important for workers to increase and maintain their optimal functioning (i.e., feeling and performing well). Proactively shaping the job domain (referred to as job crafting) has been extensively studied, but crafting in the off-job domain has received markedly less research attention. Based on the Integrative Needs Model of Crafting, needs-based off-job crafting is defined as workers' proactive and self-initiated changes in their off-job lives, which target psychological needs satisfaction. Off-job crafting is posited as a possible means for workers to fulfill their needs and enhance well-being and performance over time. We developed a new scale to measure off-job crafting and examined its relationships to optimal functioning in different work contexts in different regions around the world (the United States, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Japan, and the United Kingdom). Furthermore, we examined the criterion, convergent, incremental, discriminant, and structural validity evidence of the Needs-based Off-job Crafting Scale using multiple methods (longitudinal and cross-sectional survey studies, an "example generation"-task). The results showed that off-job crafting was related to optimal functioning over time, especially in the off-job domain but also in the job domain. Moreover, the novel off-job crafting scale had good convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. To conclude, our series of studies in various countries show that off-job crafting can enhance optimal functioning in different life domains and support people in performing their duties sustainably. Therefore, shaping off-job life may be beneficial in an intensified and continually changing and challenging working life.

Crafting work-nonwork balance involving life domain boundaries: Development and validation of a novel scale across five countries.

Ongoing developments, such as digitalization, increased the interference of the work and nonwork life domains, urging many to continuously manage engagement in respective domains. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent home-office regulations further boosted the need for employees to find a good work-nonwork balance, thereby optimizing their health and well-being. Consequently, proactive individual-level crafting strategies for balancing work with other relevant life domains were becoming increasingly important. However, these strategies received insufficient attention in previous research despite their potential relevance for satisfying psychological needs, such as psychological detachment. We addressed this research gap by introducing a new scale measuring crafting for a work-nonwork balance and examining its relevance in job-and life satisfaction, work engagement, subjective vitality, family role and job performance, boundary management and self-rated work-nonwork balance. The Work-Nonwork Balance Crafting Scale was validated in five countries (Austria, Finland, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland), encompassing data from a heterogeneous sample of more than 4,200 employees. In study 1, exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factorial scale structure. Confirmatory factor analysis, test for measurement invariance, and convergent validity were provided in study 2. Replication of confirmatory factor analysis, incremental and criterion validity of the Work-Nonwork Balance Crafting Scale for job and life satisfaction were assessed in study 3. Study 4 displayed criterion validity, test-retest reliability, testing measurement invariance, and applicability of the scale across work cultures. Finally, study 5 delivered evidence for the Work-Nonwork Balance Crafting Scale in predicting work-nonwork balance. The novel Work-Nonwork Balance Crafting Scale captured crafting for the challenging balance between work and nonwork and performed well across several different working cultures in increasingly digitalized societies. Both researchers and practitioners may use this tool to assess crafting efforts to balance both life domains and to study relationships with outcomes relevant to employee health and well-being.

The Role of Off-Job Crafting in Burnout Prevention during COVID-19 Crisis: A Longitudinal Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic and remote working challenge employees' possibilities to recover from work during their off-job time. We examined the relationship between off-job crafting and burnout across the COVID-19 crisis. We used a longitudinal research design, comprising one wave collected before the onset of the pandemic, in March 2019 (T1), and one wave collected during the first lockdown of the crisis in April 2020 (T2). We measured the six off-job crafting dimensions (Crafting for Detachment, Relaxation, Autonomy, Mastery, Meaning, and Affiliation) and burnout (fatigue/exhaustion) via a questionnaire among German and Swiss employees (N = 658; Age M = 47; 55% male). We found that both burnout levels and crafting for affiliation significantly decreased at T2 compared to T1. All off-job crafting dimensions and burnout correlated negatively cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Regression analyses showed that employees who crafted in their off-job time before and during the crisis experienced fewer burnout complaints during the crisis. Looking more closely at the subdimensions of off-job crafting, employees who crafted for detachment before and during, and for affiliation before the crisis, reported less burnout during the crisis. We conclude that off-job crafting may act as a buffer mechanism against burnout during the COVID-19 crisis.

Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on work and private life, mental well-being and self-rated health in German and Swiss employees: a cross-sectional online survey.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 crisis has radically changed the way people live and work. While most studies have focused on prevailing negative consequences, potential positive shifts in everyday life have received less attention. Thus, we examined the actual and perceived overall impact of the COVID-19 crisis on work and private life, and the consequences for mental well-being (MWB), and self-rated health (SRH) in German and Swiss employees. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were collected via an online questionnaire from 2118 German and Swiss employees recruited through an online panel service (18-65 years, working at least 20 h/week, various occupations). The sample provides a good representation of the working population in both countries. Using logistic regression, we analyzed how sociodemographic factors and self-reported changes in work and private life routines were associated with participants' perceived overall impact of the COVID-19 crisis on work and private life. Moreover, we explored how the perceived impact and self-reported changes were associated with MWB and SRH. RESULTS: About 30% of employees reported that their work and private life had worsened, whereas about 10% reported improvements in work and 13% in private life. Mandatory short-time work was strongly associated with perceived negative impact on work life, while work from home, particularly if experienced for the first time, was strongly associated with a perceived positive impact on work life. Concerning private life, younger age, living alone, reduction in leisure time, and changes in quantity of caring duties were strongly associated with perceived negative impact. In contrast, living with a partner or family, short-time work, and increases in leisure time and caring duties were associated with perceived positive impact on private life. Perceived negative impact of the crisis on work and private life and mandatory short-time work were associated with lower MWB and SRH. Moreover, perceived positive impact on private life and an increase in leisure time were associated with higher MWB. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show the differential impact of the COVID-19 crisis on people's work and private life as well as the consequences for MWB and SRH. This may inform target groups and situation-specific interventions to ameliorate the crisis.

Capturing interprofessional collaboration between physicians and nurses in an acute care setting. A validation study of the revised German version of the Collaborative Practice Scales.

The relevance of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is widely acknowledged. Given the lack of a fully validated instrument in the German language for measuring the level of IPC, we built upon the current, albeit psychometrically weak, German-language version of the instrument to devise a new version with improved wording and for subsequent psychometric testing. In a tertiary hospital in German-speaking Switzerland, 160 physicians and 374 nurses completed the revised Collaborative Practice Scales in German (CPS-G) and additional scales regarding positive and negative activation at work and regarding job demands and job resources. A confirmatory factor analysis of the CPS-G was performed, and internal consistency estimates were computed. Partial correlations between the CPS-G and the additional scales were examined for criterion validity. The model fit of the CPS-G was good for physicians (χ2/df = 2.38, p < .001; CFI = .923; RMSEA = .051, 90%-CI (0.037-0.065)) and moderate for nurses (χ2/df = 5, p < .001; CFI = .919; RMSEA = .087, 90%-CI (0.072-0.102)) supporting the two-factor structure of the original English version. Reliability was acceptable in all sub-scales for physicians (inclusion, α = 0.79; consensus, α = 0.80) and nurses (assertiveness, α = 0.77; understanding α = 0.82). As expected, the CPS-G physicians' subscales correlated positively with positive activation and job resources and negatively with negative activation and job demands, albeit not always statistically significantly. Similar correlations were found with the CPS-G nurses' subscales other than in one instance. The CPS-G showed good construct and criterion validity and acceptable internal consistency. It consequently represents a valid instrument ready for application to measure the level of interprofessional collaboration between nurses and physicians in acute care settings.

"Resources-Demands Ratio": Translating the JD-R-Model for company stakeholders.

OBJECTIVES: Practitioners and organizational leaders are calling for practical ways to explain and monitor factors that affect workplace health and productivity. This article builds on the well-established Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and proposes an empirically tested ratio that aggregates indicators of job resources and demands. In this study, we calculate a ratio of generalizable job resources and demands derived from the JD-R model and then translate the ratio into the language of company stakeholders. METHODS: We calculated a ratio based on measures applied in a large stress management intervention study (n = 2983) and report the findings from cross-sectional analysis with health and productivity outcomes from same-source and separate-source data. RESULTS: Findings showed a strong and unambiguous increase in health and productivity measures with each step of increase in the ratio. Loss in explained variance due to aggregation of two factors into a single ratio is small for measures which are known to be predicted by both factors simultaneously. CONCLUSIONS: A translation and visualization of the ratio that is accessible to practitioners and organizational leaders is presented and its use in companies discussed.

Personal and Social Resources at Work: Reciprocal Relations Between Crafting for Social Job Resources, Social Support at Work and Psychological Capital.

The availability and development of social and personal resources are substantial components of a positive work experience. This study aims to inquire the reciprocal relations between the personal resource of psychological capital (PsyCap; hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism) and the social job resource of social support, as proposed in the job demands-resources theory. There, job crafting is defined as a catalysator to the interplay of social support and PsyCap and is therefore added to this study. Moreover, we test the enabling hypothesis of social support in the context of work. We contribute to the field, as this research (a) examines propositions of a core theory, (b) adds and extends relevant hypotheses from health psychology into occupational psychology, and (c) aims to replicate findings. To capture the dynamic nature of the selected, relevant relationships of the job demands-resources theory, we used a three-wave, 3-month panel design to study 995 employees who were working in a broad range of economic sectors and occupations. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses. Results showed, that social support at work positively influenced the development of PsyCap, supporting and extending the enabling hypothesis of self-efficacy. Counterintuitively, PsyCap and crafting for social job resources were negatively related, indicating (a) that the reliance on personal resources might reduce the necessity to generate social resources, and (b) that crafting is a strategy that consumes personal resources. Previously observed gain cycles were not replicable.

Goal Pursuit in Organizational Health Interventions: The Role of Team Climate, Outcome Expectancy, and Implementation Intentions.

In taking a goal pursuit perspective into account, the present study examined associations between the context, process and outcome evaluation of an organizational health intervention (OHI) implemented within 29 teams in a hospital setting. In doing so, team climate for innovation as a context factor was measured at baseline (N = 529). Four to six weeks after baseline, N = 250 team representatives participated in a 4-day workshop. During the workshop employees formulated collective goals as action plans to be implemented in the nursing wards. Goal pursuit as a process factor was differentiated into (a) a motivational "goal setting" and (b) a volitional "goal striving" phase. The scale of outcome expectancy (measured after the fourth day of the workshop) was used as an indicator for the goal setting phase. For the operationalization of the goal striving phase, action plans were coded with regard to the proportion of formulated implementation intentions ("if-then plans"). After 6 months, the outcome of the intervention was measured on a retrospective impact scale (N = 385). The results of the multiple regression analysis and of the multilevel analysis show that both team climate and goal pursuit (outcome expectancy and the proportion of if-then plans) were positively related to the perceived impact of the intervention. Furthermore, the results show that the relationship between team climate and the impact of the intervention was mediated by outcome expectancy. The results highlight the contribution of goal theory within context-process-outcome research that leads to a better understanding of when and why OHIs are effective.

Individual and group-level job resources and their relationships with individual work engagement.

OBJECTIVES: This study adds a multilevel perspective to the well-researched individual-level relationship between job resources and work engagement. In addition, we explored whether individual job resources cluster within work groups because of a shared psychosocial environment and investigated whether a resource-rich psychosocial work group environment is beneficial for employee engagement over and above the beneficial effect of individual job resources and independent of their variability within groups. METHODS: Data of 1,219 employees nested in 103 work groups were obtained from a baseline employee survey of a large stress management intervention project implemented in six medium and large-sized organizations in diverse sectors. A variety of important job resources were assessed and grouped to an overall job resource factor with three subfactors (manager behavior, peer behavior, and task-related resources). Data were analyzed using multilevel random coefficient modeling. RESULTS: The results indicated that job resources cluster within work groups and can be aggregated to a group-level job resources construct. However, a resource-rich environment, indicated by high group-level job resources, did not additionally benefit employee work engagement but on the contrary, was negatively related to it. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of this unexpected result, replication studies are encouraged and suggestions for future studies on possible underlying within-group processes are discussed. The study supports the presumed value of integrating work group as a relevant psychosocial environment into the motivational process and indicates a need to further investigate emergent processes involved in aggregation procedures across levels.

The experience of work-life balance across family-life stages in Switzerland: a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study.

BACKGROUND: The division of paid and unpaid labor in families continues to be highly gendered with men doing more paid work and women doing more unpaid care work. This is especially true for life stages with young children. Our study investigates the subjective experience of demands in the work and the private domain and the experience of work-life balance across family-life stages as a consequence of this gendered division of labor. METHODS: We used data from a survey study on work-life issues and health in four large companies in Switzerland (N = 3664). RESULTS: In line with our hypotheses, subjective work and private demands were predicted by an interaction of family-life stages and gender. Specifically, during the primary child-rearing family-life stages, women experience more private demands than men while men experience more work demands, regardless of level of employment. Furthermore, women who work part time experience more work-life balance than women who work full time and more than men who work part or full time during the primary child-rearing family-life stages. CONCLUSIONS: Results are discussed in terms of a gendered work-life experience across the life course and the need for part-time work for both genders. Finally, conclusions are drawn concerning our results' implications for public health considerations.

Towards a Job Demands-Resources Health Model: Empirical Testing with Generalizable Indicators of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Comprehensive Health Outcomes.

Studies using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model commonly have a heterogeneous focus concerning the variables they investigate-selective job demands and resources as well as burnout and work engagement. The present study applies the rationale of the JD-R model to expand the relevant outcomes of job demands and job resources by linking the JD-R model to the logic of a generic health development framework predicting more broadly positive and negative health. The resulting JD-R health model was operationalized and tested with a generalizable set of job characteristics and positive and negative health outcomes among a heterogeneous sample of 2,159 employees. Applying a theory-driven and a data-driven approach, measures which were generally relevant for all employees were selected. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that the model fitted the data. Multiple group analyses indicated invariance across six organizations, gender, job positions, and three times of measurement. Initial evidence was found for the validity of an expanded JD-R health model. Thereby this study contributes to the current research on job characteristics and health by combining the core idea of the JD-R model with the broader concepts of salutogenic and pathogenic health development processes as well as both positive and negative health outcomes.

Busy yet socially engaged: volunteering, work-life balance, and health in the working population.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the relationship between volunteering and health in the overlooked yet highly engaged working population, adopting a contextualizing balance approach. We hypothesize that volunteering may function as a psychosocial resource, contributing to work-life balance and, ultimately, health. METHODS: A total of 746 Swiss workers participated in an online survey; 35% (N = 264) were additionally volunteers in a nonprofit organization. We assessed volunteering, work-life balance perceptions, paid job demands, and resources and health outcomes. RESULTS: After controlling for job characteristics, volunteering was associated with less work-life conflict, burnout and stress, and better positive mental health. Results further revealed that balance perceptions partly explained the relationship between volunteering and health. CONCLUSIONS: Volunteering, albeit energy and time-consuming, may contribute to a greater sense of balance for people in the workforce, which might, in turn, positively influence health.

Process and outcome evaluation of an organizational-level stress management intervention in Switzerland.

This field study evaluates the process and outcome of an organizational-level stress management intervention (SMI) in eight companies, taking into account the lessons learned from previous evaluation research. It utilizes the RE-AIM evaluation framework to capture the Reach and Adoption of the intervention in the companies, the appraisal of the Implementation process and the project's Effectiveness and Maintenance with a range of qualitative and quantitative methods. It applies an adapted research design in the context of a field study involving entire organizations, retrospectively assigning study participants to comparison groups. The results of a longitudinal analysis (n = 1400) showed that the SMI had a positive impact on the participants' job demands and resources, when controlled for baseline levels. Qualitative data analysis revealed that the companies had built capacities for ongoing health promotion and showed what issues must be borne in mind when implementing such projects. The study also showed that participation in such interventions alone does not suffice to achieve the desired impact, but that the individual participants' appraisal of the intervention and the collective involvement of the teams must be further researched to fully understand how change occurs.

Effort-reward and work-life imbalance, general stress and burnout among employees of a large public hospital in Switzerland.

INTRODUCTION: Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and work-life imbalance (WLI) are recognised risk factors for work stress and burnout but have not been investigated conjointly so far and compared with each other in this regard. The present cross-sectional study provides initial evidence by studying associations of ERI and WLI with general stress and burnout simultaneously. METHODS: The study was based on survey data collected in 2007 among the personnel of a large public hospital in the canton of Zurich covering a random sample of 502 employees of all professions and positions. Prevalence rates, correlation coefficients, standardised regression coefficients and odds ratios were calculated as measures of association. RESULTS: Concerning the main research question and relating to the entire study sample, WLI was found to be more strongly associated with general stress and burnout than ERI. As stratified analyses with regard to burnout have shown, this applied especially to nursing, technical care and emergency staffs who account for more than three fifths of the study population. But for other professional categories like physicians, therapists and medical-technical personnel the opposite of a stronger association of ERI with burnout was found. Results also suggested that general stress plays a (rather minor) mediating role in the relationships between ERI and burnout and particularly between WLI and burnout. CONCLUSION: For the prevention of chronic stress and burnout one should consider both high efforts put into work as well as all job demands that are competing and interfering with family responsibilities or other private activities should be considered.