Development of occupational wellbeing and management of sickness absence in the Finnish paper industry

1
Development of occupational wellbeing and
management of sickness absence in the Finnish
paper industry
2
Project steering group
Chief medical officer Jarmo Taipale (chair),
Stora Enso tel. [phone] Researcher Esa
Kaitila (secretary), Paper Workers' Union tel.
358 45 138 0104 Managing director Peter
Rehnström, Finnish Work Environment Fund tel.
358 40 554 5033 Docent, team leader Anneli
Leppänen, Finnish Institute of Occupational
Health tel. [phone] Regional
director Irma Welling, Finnish Institute of
Occupational Health tel. [phone]
4228 Development manager Tiina-Mari Monni, Centre
for Occupational Safety tel. [phone]
1844 Occupational health safety manager Pauli
A. Karjalainen, UPM tel. [phone] Safety
manager Jari Haijanen, M-real tel. 358 50
598 7603 Industrial safety secretary Hannu
Ulenius, Paper Workers' Union tel. [phone]
9230 Chief shop steward Ilkka Nokelainen, Stora
Enso tel. [phone] Employee industrial
safety delegate Taisto Nieminen, M-real tel. 358
50 564 3474 Health safety director Juha Mutru,
Finnish Forest Industries Federation tel.
358 9 132 4457 SVP, Communications Helena
Aatinen, Finnish Forest Industries Federation
tel. [phone]

3
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH)
research team
Team leader Anneli Leppänen tel. [phone]
6186 Research engineer Arja Ala-Laurinaho tel.
358 40 562 0906 Psychologist Matti Joensuu tel.
358 30 474 2636 Team leader Kirsi Launis tel.
358 40 582 8955 Special researcher Ritva
Luukkonen tel. [phone] Researcher
Krista Pahkin tel. [phone] Senior
researcher Ari Väänänen tel. [phone]
2435 Regional director Irma Welling tel. 358 40
555 4228
4
Historical perspective on occupational wellbeing
research What does occupational wellbeing
refer to?

• Job satisfaction, from 1960s onwards
• Study of work-related load
• Work stress, burn-out, from 1970s onwards
• 1990s study of illness occurrence and mortality
  
• Starting from 1986 competence studies
• 2000s work engagement studies included
• 2006 health studies included
• Not enough intervention studies
• Clearer definitions of concepts and further
  analysis of actual wellbeing needed

5
Factors that affect occupational wellbeing

• Work
• Employment organisation
• Changes to the above as well as understanding and
  managing change
• An individuals competence, state of health,
  attitude and interpretations, lifestyle
• Operating practices and atmosphere of working
  group, team or work community
• Changes to the above as well as understanding and
  managing change

6
Factors that affect wellbeing

• Work processes and their load
• Significance of work management of the totality
  
• Work-development practices
• Development of competence
• Management and supervisory work (feedback,
  respect, etc.)
• Development orientation of working group/team and
  operating methods of work community
• Trust, fairness and tenability of psychological
  contract
• Developing the management of and solutions for
  disruptions and uncertainty factors
• Relationship between work and other aspects of
  life
• Etc.

7
Development of occupational wellbeing and
evaluation of work-related load
Company level
Department level/ operating unit
Work community/ unit
Work totality/ group/ individual
8
What kind of occupational wellbeing studies would
answer the new needs of the forest industry?

• Example Aiming for new product innovations,
  product-service concepts
• What kinds of competencies, organisation,
  management and action are necessary prerequisites
  for the development of new product innovations?
• Who are affected by this?
• What measures are needed to produce change?
• What is the status quo and how should it be
  developed?
• How does safeguarding and developing occupational
  wellbeing affect the development of new product
  innovations?
• Who will do what and for what reason?
• How to tell where change is headed?

9
What kind of studies are needed now - From the
perspective of occupational wellbeing research?

• Study of natural change. Causes and consequences
  of change. Multi-disciplinary, combining
  objective and subjective materials.
• The positive health effects of working
• Progressive studies of how occupational wellbeing
  is affected by changing circumstances
• Intervention studies on the development of
  occupational wellbeing
• Follow-up studies on the long-term effects of
  intervention (e.g. the connection between
  competence and wellbeing)
• Studies on the adoption of occupational-wellbeing-
  enhancing practices and their effectiveness
• Studies on the connection between working and the
  occurrence of illness

10
Sickness absence statistics 2006
Sickness and accident-related employee absence in
various branches of industry in 2006
Sickness absence
Accidents
6.3
0.4
Industry total
7.4
0.4
Food
7.0
0.5
Paper
6.4
0.4
Textile, clothing and shoes
Wood
5.9
0.6
6.3
0.1
Print
5.8
0.6
Energy
6.0
0.3
Technology
6.0
0.3
Chemical
5.3
0.2
Construction products
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
of theoretical regular working time
Source Confederation of Finnish Industries ,
working time survey 2007
11
Factors associated with sickness absence

• Illnesses
• Work-related load (physical and psychosocial
  factors)
• Organisational culture
• Perceptions of health, illness, working ability
  and available support for them
• Activities that promote occupational wellbeing
  and the management of sickness absence
• Operating methods of different actor grops and
  their development

12
Psychosocial factors and experiences associated
with sickness absence

• Command of work
• Opportunity to wield influence
• Atmosphere
• Management and supervisory work (feedback,
  respect, etc.)
• Functionality of working group
• Support from colleagues
• Fair treatment
• Fairness of work distribution
• Working times/ability to influence them
• Job satisfaction, work engagement
• Stress
• Working ability
• Health

13
Demographic, individual and lifestyle factors
associated with sickness absence

• Age
• Sex
• Professional status, level of responsibility
• Marital status (divorced people are more often
  ill)
• Alcohol consumption
• Smoking
• Negativity/positivity
• Conceptions, meanings, interpretations of work
  and health
• Sick leave predicts new sick leave

14
About practices that promote occupational
wellbeing and the management of sickness absence

• Exercise-promotion schemes are popular results
  mixed
• Few evaluation studies on occupational wellbeing
  projects follow-up studies practically
  non-existent
• Impact of competence development on occupational
  wellbeing and occurrence of illness the subject
  of little research
• Impact of management development on occurrence of
  illness has not been studied
• Link between sickness absence and the practices
  of occupational healthcare and general healthcare
  has not been studied

15
New study Development of occupational wellbeing
and management of sickness absence in the paper
industry

• Initiative from labour market organisations
• Four forest industry corporations participating
• The aim of the study is to develop occupational
  wellbeing and the management of sickness absence
  in the paper industry
• The study will monitor the measures implemented
  to realise objectives and their effects on
  occupational wellbeing and sickness absence
• The study will also disseminate good practices

16
Participating production facilities

• Kirkniemi
• M-real Tako and Kyro Board
• Kaskinen
• Anjalankoski
• Imatra
• Rauma
• Valkeakoski
• About 3,700 employees and 250 teams/working
  groups

17
Research frame

• Existing situation at research location with
  regard to the development of occupational
  wellbeing and the management of sickness absence
  based on documents and structured interviews
• Questionnaire survey of employees at
  participating units
• Combining questionnaire findings with registered
  data on sickness absence
• Discussion of findings at joint workshops with
  participants planning of measures to promote
  occupational wellbeing and develop the management
  of sickness absence
• Follow-up studies of changes to operating
  practices and workshops that utilise the findings
  of follow-up studies
• Repeat phases 1-3
• Analysis and dissemination of good practices in
  the promotion of occupational wellbeing and the
  management of sickness absence

18
About the practical implementation of the study

• A study liaison will be named at each
  participating locality who will
• Handle project communications to the production
  facility
• Organise people and facilities for briefings and
  research situations
• Assemble a local project support group, which
  should include industrial safety, occupational
  healthcare and human resource development
  professionals
• The support group will compile data on prior
  factors, measures and research or inquiry
  findings that depict or affect occupational
  wellbeing and supply it to the researchers
• The support group will compile for the
  researchers information about the development of
  factors that are related to occupational
  wellbeing at the locality during the course of
  the project
• Liaisons and support group members may also act
  as researchers in the project. Each instance of
  this is subject to separate authorisation after
  consideration of the studys ethical boundary
  conditions

19
How much of your time will the study consume?

• Questionnaire participants 2 x 2 h, in addition
  to feedback events a total of 6 h over the
  course of study. Several collections (prior to
  evening shift and after morning shift) will be
  arranged on both questionnaire dates
• Interviewees 2-8 h. 20-30 people will be
  interviewed at each locality
• Participation in working seminars 4 x 2 days, in
  addition to preparatory work
• Liaisons and support group compilation of
  necessary data for the study and monitoring the
  situation. Amount of time consumed depends on the
  availability and useability of the data

20
Working seminars and participation in them

• Four two-day working seminars will be arranged
  during the project to disseminate good practices
  associated with occupational wellbeing and
  develop them further
• 3-4 persons from each locality (support groups)
  will participate in the seminars in addition to
  the project steering group and the researchers.
  Total number of participants 40-45. The project
  will not pay the expenses of participants their
  respective organisations will foot the bill
• The seminars will take place in different
  localities. Preferably at participating
  production facilities that have adequate room to
  house a seminar.