Why downsizing may increase sickness absence: longitudinal fixed effects analyses of the importance of the work environment.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Downsizing can often have a detrimental effect on employee health and increase sickness absence. Earlier research has theoretically argued that such negative consequences are due to taxing alterations in the work environment, but research efforts to empirically test this argument remain limited.

Methods

In this study, we investigate whether the environment for control, role clarity, and commitment in different work units can explain the relationship between unit-level downsizing and sickness absence. We combined register- and self-reported data from 19,173 employees in a large Norwegian health trust in the period 2011-2015 and conducted a longitudinal fixed effects analysis.

Results

Unit-level downsizing was found to be significantly related to increased sh

SUBMITTER: Gronstad A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11869673 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature