Evaluation of lifelong work satisfaction among former postal service workers

19 Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 10 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2020 1 You can find this text and its DOI at https://tidsskrift.dk/njwls/index. 2 Corresponding author: Miira Niska, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Social Research), 33014 Tampere University, Finland. E-mail: [email protected]. ‡ Contributed equally. Evaluation of Lifelong Work Satisfaction among Former Postal Service Workers1 ❚❚ Miira Niska2‡ Postdoctoral researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Social Research), Tampere University, Tampere, Finland ❚❚ Prakash, K. C.‡ Postdoctoral researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Health Sciences), Gerontology Research Center, Tampere University, Finland ❚❚ Anna Siukola Postdoctoral researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Health Sciences), Gerontology Research Center, Tampere University, Finland ❚❚ Hanna Kosonen Research assistant, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Health Sciences), Tampere University, Finland ❚❚ Jari Luomanen Postdoctoral researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Social Research), Tampere University, Finland ❚❚ Kirsi Lumme-Sandt University lecturer, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Health Sciences), Gerontology Research Center, Tampere University, Finland ❚❚ Subas Neupane Postdoctoral researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Health Sciences), Gerontology Research Center, Tampere University, Finland ❚❚ Pirjo Nikander Research director, The Doctoral School, Tampere University, Finland ❚❚ Clas-Håkan Nygård Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences (Unit of Health Sciences), Gerontology Research Center, Tampere University, Finland 20 Evaluation of Lifelong Work Satisfaction Miira Niska et al. ABSTRACT While policymakers emphasize the need to delay retirement age, numerous traditional industries, among them postal services, emphasize the need for employee downsizings. These can be contradictory needs. Downsizings can reduce work life satisfaction (WLS) among workers, and reduced WLS can decrease willingness to delay retirement age. In this cross-sectional study, we explore WLS trajectories of former postal service workers by analyzing quantitative survey data (N = 201) and qualitative interview data (N = 40). In the data, workers aged 50–67 years evaluate their lifelong work satisfaction. The results of the quantitative and the qualitative study complement and mirror each other. Same trajectories of WLS were identified in both data. One-third of the survey respondents reported decreasing WLS, which according to the qualitative data relates to employee downsizings. The article highlights the importance of acknowledging contextual elements of work satisfaction measurement and the benefits of combining methodological traditions to understand the longer-term dynamics involved. KEYWORDS Employee downsizing / extended working life / lifeline trajectories / mixing methods / older workers / work life satisfaction Introduction Recent demographic shifts have triggered a strong political need to delay retirement age and extend working lives. Over the past ten years, the population of Nordic countries has aged even faster than in many other European countries (Grunfelder et al. 2018a). As the old age dependency ratio increases, pushing the average retirement age further is an appealing proposition when compared against raising taxes or cutting pensions (Eläketurvakeskus 2013; European Commission 2010; Hess 2017; OECD 2017; Wise 2010). At the same time, the labor market is seeing major shifts. In the future, automation and digitalization can take over as much as 40 per cent of working hours in Nordic countries (Grunfelder et al. 2018b). Together with globalization, automation and digitalization have forced numerous traditional industries to invoke downsizing strategies that include, for example, early retirement incentives and layoffs (Grunfelder et al. 2018b; Macky 2004; McMullin & Marshall 2001). Previous studies have reported the association of downsizing practices with negative psychological responses like reduced work satisfaction (Datta et al. 2010). According to the classic definition, work satisfaction is a positive emotional state that results from one’s appraisal of one’s work (Locke 1976: 1300; also Spector 1997). In this article, our focus is on work life satisfaction (WLS). With this concept, we refer to work satisfaction throughout life. Work satisfaction is vital for individuals’ wellbeing and happiness (Bojanowska & Zalewska 2016), but it is also vital for companies and successful extension of working lives: low work satisfaction associates with retirement intentions and absenteeism from work (Harkonmäki et al. 2009; Kadefors et al. 2016; Sagie 1998). If downsizing practices lower work satisfaction, they may hinder the extension of work careers in two ways: older victims face difficulties in finding new employment (Armstrong-Stassen & Cattaneo 2010; Furunes & Mykletun 2010; Solem 2015), and older survivors start thinking about early retirement (Badran & Kafafy 2008; van den Berg et al. 2010). Work satisfaction has been the topic of active scientific inquiry (Berglund et al. 2017; Bussing et al. 1999; Kadefors et al. 2016; Pagán 2013). Previous quantitative Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 10 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2020 21 studies demonstrate that work-related resources (Stynen et al. 2017), job support (Pagán 2013) and job control (Allan et al. 2018; Chao et al. 2015; Lindfors et al. 2007; Meyers et al. 2019; Waddimba et al. 2016) are positive predictors of work satisfaction. Similarly, work engagement (Meyers et al. 2019; Shimazu & Schaufeli 2009) and work status (Navarro & Salverda 2019; Tay & Harter 2013; Virtanen et al. 2003) play a significant role in work satisfaction of workers in various sectors. In addition, poor perceived health (Lunau et al. 2014; Mäkikangas & Kinnunen 2003), increased number of sick leave days (Kuoppala et al. 2011), organizational injustice (Lindfors et al. 2007; Meier et al. 2015; Pagán 2013) and irregular working hours (Lunau et al. 2014) have the potential to degrade work satisfaction. Likewise, poor quality of work environment (Siegrist et al. 2007), employee age, their tenure period at work and working level, that is, the professional level or place in the workplace/company hierarchy (Ramoo et al. 2013) could reduce wellbeing at work and ultimately result in premature exit from the labor market. Quantitative studies on work satisfaction have been criticized for disregarding the particular historical and social context and nature of individuals’ work satisfaction evaluations (Zembylas & Papanastasiou 2006). Whereas Bojanowska and Zalewska (2016) call for studies on lay conceptions of happiness, Zembylas and Papanastasiou (2006) call for studies on lay conceptions of work satisfaction. Researchers have also conducted a substantial amount of qualitative studies on work satisfaction (Atefi et al. 2014; Bussing et al. 1999; de Wesley & Clemson 1992; McNeese-Smith 1999; Moore et al. 2006). These individual interview and focus group based studies have mapped the lay conceptions of work satisfaction, for example, of teachers in Cyprus, nurses in Iran and occupational therapists in Australia. In line with quantitative studies, qualitative studies have demonstrated that social relations, working conditions and resources have an effect on work satisfaction (Atefi et al. 2014; McNeese-Smith 1999; Moore et al. 2006; Zembylas & Papanastasiou 2006). Furthermore, qualitative studies have disclosed context-specific conceptions of work satisfaction. Iranian nurses, for example, reported that Iranian, doctor-centered culture decreases their work satisfaction (Atefi et al. 2014). Cypriot teachers reported that the centralization of the Cypriot educational system decreases their work satisfaction (Zembylas & Papanastasiou 2006). Considering these context-specific conceptions of work satisfaction, it might be insufficient to measure work satisfaction solely in quantitative terms, and thus overlook the possibilities of qualitative research (Bussing et al. 1999). In this article, we study evaluations of lifelong work satisfaction of Finnish postal service workers. The postal service sector all over the world faces massive transformations due to progressive digitalization and diminishing amount of traditional paper mail (Dieke et al. 2013). In Finland, the state-owned company Posti Group has undergone significant structural and operational changes, such as company acquisitions, mergers, selling parts of the company, and renewals in services and operations. Posti Group, formerly Itella and Suomen Posti, used to have a reputation as a stable and reliable employer (Pietiäinen 1998). Posti Group has also been one of the largest corporate employers in Finland. However, over the last decades, Posti Group has been laying off its personnel. Finland has a law about cooperation in companies (334/2007), which promotes interactional cooperation procedures between employers and employees. When companies with more than 20 employees make changes that affect these employees, such as downsizings, the employer is legally obligated to negotiate with the employees about the reasons, impacts and alternatives for those changes. In case of dismissals and 22 Evaluation of Lifelong Work Satisfaction Miira Niska et al. layoffs, the company is also responsible for making a motion for employees’ re-employment promotion, potentially in collaboration with public employment agencies. Since 2011, Posti Group has undertaken several cooperation negotiations yearly (Posti annual reports 2011–2016). After the cooperation negotiations of 2014, around 780 people were laid off (Posti annual report 2014, p. 150). Previous research has demonstrated that a fair downsizing process can actually mitigate negative employee responses such as reducing work satisfaction (Datta et al. 2010; Macky 2004). Has Posti Group been able to conduct downsizings in a way that prevents reductions in its employees’ work satisfaction? The purpose of this research is to increase knowledge about the trajectories of lifelong work satisfaction in the context of company downsizing. The aim is to facilitate decision-making and hopefully inspire further research in the field of work satisfaction studies. Work life satisfaction is a significant concern in terms of the overall health and development of the individual worker (Lunau et al. 2014), and as such carries across important public health outcomes and effects. Due to massive layoffs, former workers of the Posti Group represent a unique group for the study of WLS transitions in the context of company downsizing. In order to find out whether constant cooperation negotiations and employee downsizings have reduced employees’ WLS, we study WLS trajectories from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Most quantitative studies have targeted the WLS at a particular point. However, to map the possible changes, our quantitative study investigates retrospectively the developmental pathways of WLS. The quantitative study also describes the cross-distribution of different basic and work-related characteristics of the study population and their membership in different developmental pathways of WLS. To deepen our understanding of the social context of WLS trajectories (see Spector 1997), we also analyze narratives, or stories, of temporal changes in interviewees’ subjective work satisfaction. We believe that this cross-fertilization – or mixing of two different methodologies – provides a rich description of postal workers’ WLS transitions and their causes. Materials and Methods To examine postal workers’ work satisfaction trajectories throughout life, we analyze quantitative and qualitative data generated in a research project Towards a two-speed Finland? (2015–2019). In the data, former postal service workers over the age of 50 evaluate their lifelong work satisfaction. The quantitative data Initially, a survey questionnaire was sent to 4386 Finnish postal service workers and 44% of them responded. The selection of the laid-off respondents for the cross-sectional quantitative study is based on a survey questionnaire, sent in 2018, to 1935 study subjects who were actively working for Posti Group until 2016. A total of 1466 responded, yielding a response rate of 76%. Around 86% of the respondents were still working in Posti Group and the rest (n = 212) were no longer working in Posti Group (laid-off). In the analysis, we studied the laid-off respondents who replied to the questionnaire in Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 10 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2020 23 2016 regarding their WLS level at 15–29 years, 50–59 years and in at least one of the intervening lifetime points (either 30–39 years or 40–49 years or both). The inclusion criteria resulted in the selection of 201 respondents. Satisfaction in working life (WLS) The satisfaction level of respondents during the ages of ‘15–29’, ‘30–39’, ‘40–49’, ‘50–59’ and ‘60–69’ was asked using questionnaire. The responses were collected on a scale of ‘0’ (very dissatisfied) – ‘10’ (very satisfied). Since a large proportion of the respondents were around 50–59 years of age, the question regarding their satisfaction during ‘60–69’ years of age was not included, which was a proceeding question and potential to information bias. The single item to measure WLS has been previously validated (Dolbier et al. 2005). Work ability The first item of work ability index questionnaire was used to assess the current work ability (Jääskeläinen et al. 2016). The respondents were asked to rate their current work ability compared to life’s best using a scale of 0–10 where ‘0’ indicated the worst and ‘10’ indicated the best. The responses were categorized into Poor (0–5), Reasonable (6 –7), Good (8–9) and Excellent (10). The categories Good and Excellent were merged to be used as Good/Excellent work ability in the present analysis. The Good and Excellent categories of work ability were merged because there were very minimal to no differences in trajectory groups with respect to these two categories, and after merging, the single category was more representative. Job support and Job control Job support was assessed with questions related to feedback from supervisors, support from supervisors and support from workmates, which were answered on a scale of ‘0 to 10’, where zero indicates low support and ten indicates a high level of support. The summary score of five job support items (Cronbach’s α = 0.78) ranging from 8 to 50 was dichotomized into ‘high’ and ‘low’ using the median value (36.0) (von Bonsdorff et al. 2012). Job control was assessed with questions related to the respondent’s possibility to learn new knowledge and skills (0–10), possibility to influence work and working conditions (1–4), an experience of doing important and significant work (1–6) and enough education at work (0–10) (von Bonsdorff et al. 2012). The summary score of four job control items (Cronbach’s α = 0.73) ranging from 0 to 27 was dichotomized into ‘high’ and ‘low’ using the median value (17.0). Covariates The age of the respondents ranged from 51 to 67 years. The gender of the respondents was elucidated as women and men. Two occupational classes, white collar (includes 24 Evaluation of Lifelong Work Satisfaction Miira Niska et al. professional, managerial and administrative work) and blue collar (includes manual labor and customer interaction), were used. The tenure period in Posti Group was assessed in a count of years and working time was assessed as working hours per week. The number of sickness absence days per year was assessed in a count of days and is dichotomized into ‘0–14’ and ‘15–365’ days to be used in this study. The level of education is elucidated into three categories (basic schooling, college level training and academic degree). The self-reported responses on the presence of physician-diagnosed disease were assessed using yes/no questions. Likewise, equality at work was assessed using a yes/no question. Perceived health was assessed using a single item ‘How do you rate your current health compared to your life’s best?’, and responses were collected on a scale of ‘0–10’. Those responses were categorized into good (9–10), moderate (7–8) and poor/fair (0–6) to use in this study. The selection of the variables was partly based on previous literature (Dolbier et al. 2005; Ramoo et al. 2013; Siegrist et al. 2007). The qualitative data The qualitative data we use originate from a more extensive qualitative research project based on longitudinal qualitative research (e.g., Neale 2019). For the benefits of this article, we focus on data from the first interview round where interviewees (N = 40) evaluated their lifelong work satisfaction (for overall data generated in the project, see table A1 in Appendix). In these first round interviews, research participants were asked to draw their WLS lifelines on a coordinate plane where the x-axis mapped age (20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70), and the y-axis mapped WLS (example of a lifeline, see figure A1 in Appendix). While drawing the lifelines, interviewees narrated how their work satisfaction had changed over the years. At the time of the first interviews, 20 participants were 50–59 years of age and 20 were 60–65 years of age. Most interviewees (n = 17) were female, blue-collar workers. The other interviewees were male blue-collar workers (n = 8), female white-collar workers (n = 8) and male white-collar workers (n = 7). The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim in Finnish. For the benefits of transparency and validity, we present the original data excerpt transcriptions in Finnish alongside their translations into English. This is a commonly used means of securing the validity and guaranteeing the publicly verifiable, transparent nature of the qualitative analysis (Nikander 2008). Data analysis Mixture modelling was used to detect the developmental pathways of WLS. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used with continuous latent class indicators and user-specified starting values based on the continuous responses of the self-reported question of WLS at four lifetime points in a cross-sectional data. The responses on working life satisfaction at ages ‘15–29’, ‘30–39’, ‘40–49’ and ‘50–59’ were used in the original form to detect the most probable developmental pathways termed as trajectories of satisfaction in working life in this study. LCA is a method that identifies within the data, the multiple latent classes that tend to have a similar development over time (Muthén 2003). We fitted the mixture model with two to four classes and selected the best-fitted model. The Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 10 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2020 25 selection of the best-fitted model was based on Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), substantive interpretability of classes, parsimony and entropy (Muthén 2003; Nylund et al. 2007). The fit indices are presented in detail in Table 1. The four-class model had the lowest BIC value and the lowest AIC value. Therefore, we favored the four-class model that had the distinct development patterns of all the four classes, higher entropy, and higher average posterior probability. The four-class model gave us the latent classes that represent low, decreasing, moderate and high WLS, respectively. The differences in basic and work-related characteristics of the study subjects were tabulated according to trajectories of WLS with a significance level of p<0.05. The differences in continuous variables were tested using analysis of variance and differences in categorical variables using the χ2 test. The mixture modeling was done in Mplus version 7.11 (Muthen and Muthen, 3463 Stoner Ave., Los Angeles, CA) and other analyses were done in STATA 14.0 (StataCorp LP, College Station, Texas 77845, USA). Table 1 Fit-indices for trajectories of satisfaction in working life among post office workers Classes BIC AIC Entropy Posterior probability 2 27466.58 27371.44 0.73 0.92/0.93 3 26528.19 26382.68 0.73 0.91/0.89/0.86 4 25934.67 25738.79 0.75 0.87/0.88/0.92/0.84 BIC, Bayesian Information Criteria; AIC, Akaike Information Criteria The qualitative interview data were analyzed as narratives of subjective WLS. In line with Flanagan (1954), we focused on critical incidents, which structure the narratives by either increasing or reducing the narrator’s subjective WLS (see also Butterfield et al. 2005). Critical incidents are common resources for narratives. Because they are especially meaningful for narrators, they are also well remembered. In critical incidents technique, key incidents are identified in a data-driven, bottom-up fashion from the transcribed interview materials (Butterfield et al. 2005, p. 481–483). In this study, the analysis proceeded as follows. The transcriptions and work satisfaction lifeline drawings were processed together. The critical incidents described in the interviews and marked on the drawings were categorized into ones that took place when the narrator was 20–29, 30–39, 40–49 and 50–59 years old. Since the evaluation of work satisfaction at the age of 60–69 was omitted from the quantitative study, this was also mirrored in the qualitative study. Next, all incidents were classified into (a) ones that increased WLS and (b) ones that reduced WLS. Results Four distinct pathways of WLS were identified through quantitative analysis: high (27%), moderate (32%), decreasing (30%) and low (11%). The developmental pathways of WLS for laid-offs are shown in Figure 1. WLS was mostly increasing or constant from 15–29 years to 30–39 years for the low, moderate and high trajectory groups. However, for the decreasing trajectory group, WLS had already started decreasing at 15–29 years and sharply decreased after 30–39 years of age. The membership of basic and work-related characteristics in trajectories of satisfaction in working life are described in Table 2. Of the total 201 selected respondents, 43% were women and 57% were men. The mean 26 Evaluation of Lifelong Work Satisfaction Miira Niska et al. age of the respondents was significantly different among trajectory groups. Those in the high and moderate trajectory group were the oldest (60.2 ± 3.7 years, for high trajectory group) and the decreasing group was the youngest (56.9 ± 3.4 years). The proportion of white-collar workers was 21% and the occupational class of the respondents was not significantly different between WLS trajectory groups. There was a significant difference in perceived health of the respondents among the WLS groups. Around two-fifths of the respondents had reported their perceived health to be poor and almost half of them represented decreasing WLS. Around 50% of the respondents had basic schooling and there was no significant difference in educational status among the trajectory groups. Around 42% of the respondents had 15–365 days of sickness absence and out of that 47% represented decreasing WLS. Figure 1 Trajectories of working life satisfaction among post service laid-offs in 2018. Table 2 Distribution of basic and work-related characteristics of the study population in four different trajectories of satisfaction in working life (WLS) among Posti Group laid-offs Characteristics of the study population N (201) Membership of trajectories of satisfaction in working life High (n=54), % Moderate (n=65), % Decreasing (n=61), % Low (n=21), % p -valueb Agea Gender 58.9±3.9 60.2±3.7 60.2±3.4 56.9±3.7 58.1±3.3 <0.001c Women 85 31 34 28 7 0.434 Men 116 24 31 32 13 Occupational class White-collar 40 23 45 23 10 0.291 Blue-collar 153 28 29 33 11 Nordic journal of working life studies Volume 10 ❚ Number 1 ❚ March 2020 27 Characteristics of the study population N (201) Membership of trajectories of satisfaction in working life High (n=54), % Moderate (n=65), % Decreasing (n=61), % Low (n=21), % p -valueb Chronic diseases Yes 39 28 26 31 15 0.607 Perceived Health Good 56 23 45 20 10 0.005 Moderate 67 34 35 21 10 Poor 77 22 22 47 9 Educational status Academic degree 53 34 36 19 11 0.416 College Training 57 23 33 37 7 Basic Schooling 91 25 30 33 12 Sickness absence 0–14 days 106 29 43 19 9 <0.001 15–365 days 77 22 19 47 12 Work hours/weeka33.9±9.0 34.3±7.9 35.3±9.5 33.5±9.1 29.9±9.1 0.132c Tenure in yearsa28.2±12.1 30.1±11.3 27.9±12.3 27.8±12.2 25.5±12.9 0.498c Equality at job No 72 22 24 43 11 0.016 Yes 125 29 39 22 10 Work ability Poor 79 25 24 43 8 <0.001 Moderate 62 26 34 29 11 Good/Excellent 59 31 43 13 13 Job support Low 122 25 27 41 9 <0.001 High 79 29 44 14 13 Job control Low 126 21 25 44 10 <0.001 High 75 36 45 8 11 Note aexpressed as mean and SD (Standard Deviation); bderived from χ2-test; cderived from analysis of variance The average amount of working hours per week among our study subjects was 33.9 hours (SD 9.0) and the average number of tenure years in Posti Group was 28.2 years (SD 12.1), however, none of these were significantly different between WLS trajectory groups. The proportion of good/excellent, moderate and poor work ability was 30%, 34 Evaluation of Lifelong Work Satisfaction Miira Niska et al. the pathways of WLS in a way previous studies have not been able to do. However, the fact that respondents evaluated their general life satisfaction just before they evaluated their WLS engenders the possibility of a recall bias. Nonetheless, the authors believe that the use of mixture modeling has controlled it to an extent by mixing the analogous responses into the separate classes. In the qualitative interview study, the use of biographical lifelines to map changes in WLS produced rich data where interviewees evaluated the incidents that increased or decreased their work satisfaction in detail. This, according to Flanagan (1954), is crucial to the credibility of the findings (also Butterfield et al. 2005). 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