SUMMARY CHALLENGES IN
WORK, HEALTH & WELL-
BEING
Lectures and literature
Content
1. Introduction 1 ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Literature ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1.1 ‘Work, health and wellbeing’ .................................................................................................................. 4
1.1.2 ‘The impact of COVID-19 on student experiences and expectations’......................................... 5
1.1.3 ‘COVID-19 anxiety among front-line nurses’ ..................................................................................... 6
1.2 Lecture 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 7
2. Introduction 2 ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
2.1 Movie .................................................................................................................................................................. 9
2.1.1 I, Daniel Blake ............................................................................................................................................ 9
2.2 Lecture 2: Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 10
2.2.1 Lecture 2: I, Daniel Blake ..................................................................................................................... 10
3. Work 1: Labor relations ...................................................................................................................................... 11
3.1 Literature ......................................................................................................................................................... 11
3.1.1 ‘The beginnings of social security in Western Europe and the United States.’ ....................... 11
3.1.2 ‘Birmarch or Beverdige: a beauty contest between dinosaurs’ .................................................. 11
3.1.3 ‘Social Europe: Annex to the State of the European Union’........................................................12
3.2 Lecture 3: History of labor relations and social security ...................................................................15
3.2.1 What is work? ..........................................................................................................................................15
3.2.2 Historical development of work .........................................................................................................15
3.2.3 The meaning of work, why do we work? .........................................................................................15
3.2.4 Work and health .................................................................................................................................... 16
3.2.5 The welfare state ...................................................................................................................................17
4. Work 2: Reintegration ....................................................................................................................................... 20
4.1 Literature ........................................................................................................................................................ 20
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, 4.1.1 “Social Investment as a Perspective on Welfare State Transformation in Europe” ............. 20
4.1.2 “Sickness, disability and work: Breaking the barriers”..................................................................21
4.2 Lecture 4: From social protection to social activation ...................................................................... 24
4.2.1 The phases of welfare .......................................................................................................................... 24
5. Health 1: Mental illness – absence ................................................................................................................ 29
5.1 Literature ........................................................................................................................................................ 29
5.1.1 “How burnout became a sinister and insidious epidemic” .......................................................... 29
5.1.2 ‘Burnout & Workload Among Health Care Workers: The Moderating Role of Job Control’.30
5.1.3 “Burnout in Europe: Relations with national economy, governance, and culture.” .............. 32
5.1.4 “Burnout in health care” ...................................................................................................................... 34
5.2 Lecture 5: Mental illness sick leave ........................................................................................................ 37
5.2.1 What is health ........................................................................................................................................ 37
5.2.2 Body and Mind ....................................................................................................................................... 38
6. Health 2: Flexibilization .................................................................................................................................... 41
6.1 Literature ........................................................................................................................................................ 41
6.1.1 “The sick role; Sociology of illness and disease.” .......................................................................... 41
6.1.2 “Taking part in uncertainty” ................................................................................................................ 43
6.2 Lecture 6: Absenteeism and reintegration ............................................................................................ 47
6.2.1 Foucault’s analysis of illness .............................................................................................................. 47
6.2.2 Parson’s theory on the sick-role.......................................................................................................48
6.2.3 Sickness and work: absenteeism...................................................................................................... 50
6.2.4 Organizations: from absenteeism to reintegration .......................................................................51
6.2.5 Consequences for sickness role ....................................................................................................... 52
7. Well-being 1: Sustainable employability....................................................................................................... 53
7.1 Literature ........................................................................................................................................................ 53
7.1.1 “Health and Wellbeing at Work.” ........................................................................................................ 53
7.1.2 “Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource
management the next approach?” ............................................................................................................. 56
7.2 Lecture 7: Sustainable employability......................................................................................................60
7.2.1 Changing trends in demographic distribution ................................................................................60
7.2.2 Consequences of the changing demographic distribution ......................................................... 61
7.2.3 Solutions to the changing demographic distribution ................................................................... 61
8. Well-being 2: Vulnerable groups .................................................................................................................... 65
8.1 Literature ........................................................................................................................................................ 65
8.1.1 “Autonomy and workload among temporary workers: their effects on job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, life satisfaction, and self-rated performance.” ................................. 65
8.1.2 “Young Adults Navigating European Labor Markets: Old and New Social Risks and
Employment Policies” ....................................................................................................................................66
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, 8.1.3 “Effectiveness of a worksite lifestyle intervention on vitality, work engagement,
productivity, and sick leave: results of a randomized controlled trial.” ........................................... 70
8.2 Lecture 8: Sustainable employability and vulnerable groups ...........................................................71
8.2.1 Recap: Sustainable HRM and wellbeing ............................................................................................71
8.2.2 Vulnerable groups ..................................................................................................................................71
“Wat een goede
samenvatting! Lekker
bezig Lisa”
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, 1. Introduction 1
1.1 Literature
1.1.1 ‘Work, health and wellbeing’
Since people get older, there is no other option than to work longer. Raising pension age and anti-
age discrimination laws are the result. It is in this context that our ability to maintain the capacity
of individuals with significant health conditions to remain in, or return to, work is increasingly
under the spotlight. Thus, the older working people will encounter significant health issues while
they are still working instead of during retirement, especially those related to mental health and
Musculoskeletal disorders (sprains, back pain, carpal tunnel, hernias).
The contemporary context
Being healthy enough to work is important for the people and the companies their work for. When
labour was largely physical, the focus was on preventing injuries. Now with more service-based
jobs, the focus is more on stress, health promotion and wellbeing.
Many modern factors that make health and work more important for individuals, companies and
governments. The 3 most important ones are covered below.
Health and work
Work and working is often considered good for you. It can aid your recovery, lessen the risk of
isolation, etc. There are significant health differences between those who work and those who are
unemployed. But important to keep in mind is that there are major inequities. Many people say
their job caused or made their illness worse. Access to ‘good work’ is not equally available to all.
Health trends
People live longer. Chronic diseases like MSD’s are now a major issue. There are differences
between gender and social class. Those not able to work are a more important issue than those
just unemployed, as people claiming IB (not able to work money) rises.
Ageing population
More older people may cause problems for the principles welfare states are based on: a large
group young working creating pensions for the elders. Due to lowering population growth and
more elders, this balance will be disrupted. How is the state going to pay for all these old people
and the things they need? Raising retirement age is an often used option. The economic crisis
made it worse for retirement fund companies. As a result of these developments, there will be
larger numbers of older workers in the labour force, with the corollary that more people are likely
to be trying to combine continuing to work with a long-standing health condition.
The developing policy context
The focus of governments and employers used to be on health and safety, like prevention of
accidents and rehabilitation when they occurred. Now with more service and white collar work,
the focus is on health promotion and active management of ill health. For governments this is
important to lower IB. For employers it costs a lot of money to have ill employees. The costs of
work-related illness and workplace injury are substantial, just like the working days lost through
other forms of illness. We’re talking about 100 billion pounds! Lots of money lost, just health and
work.
Two main strands of public policy have emerged in response to these pressures:
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