Technical and social changes contribute to employees being increasingly confronted with challenges in their day-to-day work. For example, employees are often expected to independently plan how they carry out their work in order to achieve their goals. Similarly, working under time pressure and a high level of responsibility can also be described as challenges. We are investigating how these and other challenges affect employees, while primarily focussing on intra-individual processes of stress, motivation, and well-being.
Research projects
CODEofWORC
Cognitive demands of flexible work
Our working environment is constantly changing. New technologies, modern media and social developments require companies and their employees to constantly adapt to changes. To achieve this, companies are increasingly relying on more flexible forms of work. In recent years, for example, numerous companies have introduced flexible work arrangements, giving employees more freedom to decide for themselves when and where they work. On the one hand, such work arrangements can increase productivity and work engagement, and facilitate the reconciliation of work and private life. On the other hand, they also bring about new challenges.
Flexible forms of work require employees to plan, structure and coordinate their work more independently. Such requirements can have both positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, they offer the opportunity to use complex skills at work and to acquire new competences. On the other hand, they require a high degree of self-control, self-motivation and mental effort. Based on these considerations, the research project CODEofWORC addresses the following questions:
- How do employees experience the requirements of a flexible work organization?
- Which effects do demands of a flexible work organization have on well-being, work performance and the compatibility of work and private life?
- Which short-term and long-term learning and stress processes are associated with a flexible work organization?
- Which resources (at the individual and the organizational level) strengthen employees in dealing with the demands of a flexible work organization?
- How shall trainings be designed to reduce stress and enhance positive effects of flexible work organization?
In order to answer these questions, various social science research methods are used:
- Self-reports
- Short-term and long-term longitudinal studies
- Observation interviews
- Intervention studies with training of employees
Duration: 03/2017-02/2022
Funding: Austrian Research Fund (FWF)
Principal investigator: Univ.-Prof. MMag. Dr. Bettina Kubicek
Cooperation partner: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christian Korunka (University of Vienna)