Atlas: Necessary Sisyphus Work: Motivation, Work Pressure and Motivation of Employees in Social Service Organisations by Ruth Simsa

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ISTR Sixth International Conference
Toronto, Canada / July 11-14, 2004
Contesting Citizenship and Civil Society in a Divided World

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Necessary Sisyphus Work: Motivation, Work Pressure and Motivation of Employees in Social Service Organisations
by
Ruth Simsa
University of Economics, Vienna

Necessary Sisyphus Work: Motivation, Work Pressure and Motivation of Employees in Social Service Organisations This paper presents the outcomes of an empirical study of the situation of employees in homes and mobile services for elderly people in Austria.

Background: The Third Sector often is seen as a promising field for the creation of more jobs, which could be specifically satisfying for employees. NPOs are thus expected to moderate if not solve disintegrative tendencies in labour markets, which lead to growing unemployment. At the same time, in certain fields of social services NPOs are confronted with growing difficulties of finding qualified personnel. Furthermore, in the last months some severe scandals especially in old people;s homes make the significance of the topic clear. At the same time these NPOs are often confronted with severe financial cuts, which by now have already effects on employees. The research presented in this paper shows, that working conditions in Third Sector organisations are often very precarious, moreover the comparison of working conditions in organisations in the same fields but in different sectors shows clearly, that NPOs are often less sensitive employers and they demand more from their employees than other organisations. In connection with changing policies of the state towards social service NPOs one conclusion that can be drawn from the outcomes of the study is the high importance of structural and financial public support.

Method: 11 comprehensive case studies were performed, consisting of the following:

- analysis of secondary material - interviews with managers concerning human resource management, organisational strategies, and leadership-styles - a survey based on written questionnaires was performed, comprising all employees of the respective organisations (valid questionnaires sent back: 1.182) The questionnaire was co-ordinated with the general Austrian Work-Climate-Index, an instrument designed by the chamber of Labour OÖ, with which regularly significant statistical data on working conditions of all Austrian employees is generated.

Regarding old people;s homes a comparison of working conditions in nonprofit-, profit- and public organisations was performed.

Based on the empirical research the following outcomes can be stated as examples:

- Employees in our sample (89% female) are significantly more under pressure and less satisfied with their work than Austrian employees in general.

- Compared with employees in the health and social services sector in general the disadvantages of employees in old people’s homes and mobile service are even more severe.

- Employees in NPO-homes are significantly less satisfied and more strained than those of profit-oriented and public organisations.

- Work pressure is mainly a result of psychological and physical stress, working time and of growing demands of clients.

- Still 92% of the interviewees consider their work as very meaningful and important.

- Concerning human resource management large differences between the investigated organisations could be found, especially concerning further training of employees and working time arrangements. Apart from these aspects clear connections of the motivation and satisfaction of employees with the clarity of leadership-structures could be shown.

Date received: October 1, 2003