What really helps when work demands are high?

With Massey University, we explored what helps people when their work demands are high. We used the period of workplace upheaval during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study.

This research was powered by Workplace Wellbeing Assessment data, collected across eight organisations from nearly 1,000 workers across 2021. We chose to study what happened in 2021 because we wanted to capture worker experiences at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – it’s important to understand how workplaces operate during times of rapid change, upheaval and disruption, and the workplace factors that impact on employee wellbeing. After all, pandemic aside, change is here to stay.

We examined how people responded to a range of questions assessing the resources they have in their jobs (things like manager support, team cohesion and coworker support), and the demands they experience in their jobs (things like workload pressures, poor change consultation and unclear roles). We then assessed how those factors explain, or buffer, how well people feel in themselves (flourishing) and the likelihood that they’ll quit their jobs in the future.

This research model is based on a theory that is big in the world of organisational psychology, called the Job Demands-Resources model. In simple terms, it suggests that, if job demands are not balanced by appropriate job resources, we will experience constant overtaxing, leading to stress, intentions to quit, and poorer wellbeing.

So, what did we find, and what really helps when we feel taxed by our job demands during uncertain times? Organisational resources appear to make a big difference for understanding how people flourish, and what keeps them in their jobs.

When job demands are high, these job resources are associated with higher wellbeing, and lower quit intentions:

1. Manager support. For example, “I can rely on my line manager to help me out with a work problem.”
2. Co-worker support. For example, “I get help and support I need from colleagues.”
3. Job control. For example, “I have choice in deciding how I do my work.”
4. Team cohesion. For example, “There are high levels of trust in my team” and “Generally, there is good communication between team members.”

The research is published in the New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations in partnership with Professor Jarrod Haar from Massey University. You can download the full article here to see all the findings and statistics.

In the paper, we talk about just how important it is for organisations to take stock of the risk factors associated with job demands, as well as the job resources that are present – or lacking – in their work. This means taking psychosocial risks seriously, and identifying them early, especially during times of high change.