Mid Sweden University

In this programme, we map and examine local labour market programmes (LLMPs) at the municipal level in Sweden. This includes their institutional structure and organisation, as well as the experiences of participants in the programmes, using a longitudinal approach with the aim to improve LLMPs. The long-term goal is to increasing the inclusion of LLMP participants in working life. To answer the programme’s questions, data will be collected and analysed within the four work packages. In each work package, a mixed-method approach is applied with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The programme is informed by three overarching general theoretical approached, tying together institutional ethnography, intersectional studies of structural inequalities on different levels, and the role of emotions in everyday work. At the organisational level (WP 1), we will investigate the circumstances under which LLMPs are performed and negotiated by those involved. Here, the internal organisation, activities and methods are the focus. This approach will result in knowledge about the characteristics of these organisations and the factors promoting the inclusion of underrepresented groups in working life. By examining the activities in LLMPs (WP 2), we will be able to determine how their institutional structure differs between regions in Sweden, how the different municipalities work with labour market policy, how they translate national policy into the local context, how they organise their work and which initiatives they choose to adopt. By examining the individual experiences of those who are directly affected by such incentives (WP 3), knowledge and understanding will be obtained of the connections between experiences and labour market policies. This will give important insights into the functioning of local programmes and of the opportunities to create entry into the labour market. Furthermore, in WP4 we will develop and test an effect evaluation of work methods used in LLMPs and their effect on clients’ progress over time.

INTRODUCTION: Women generally report more work-related musculoskeletal complaints than men and have higher rates of sickness absence, even within occupations. One likely reason is that work tasks within the occupation are gendered, that is, women and men have different tasks, even when sharing the same job title. Retail is an appealing sector for studying working conditions and work environment in a gender context. The prevalence of work-related complaints is high, physical loads may differ considerably between tasks and the distribution of tasks is likely gendered. The overall aim of this study in retail is to examine factors at the organisational and individual level that may, in a gender perspective, explain working conditions, work tasks, workloads and musculoskeletal health. METHODS AND ANALYSES: Data will be collected in two grocery stores, each with 50-70 workers, at two occasions interspersed by about 1 year. In each of these four waves, data collection will include a web-based questionnaire to all workers addressing, for example, work tasks, psychosocial factors, fatigue and pain; semistructured interviews with managers and approximately 10 workers addressing, for example, competences and decision levels; and technical measurements of postures, movements and heart rate in about 30 workers. The study is novel in combining an organisational gender perspective addressed through qualitative methods with a quantitative analysis of tasks, workload and health. The design allows an examination of both how genders may differ, and why they may differ, as well as analyses of the extent to which gendered working conditions change over time in the two participating stores. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Approval of the study by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (reference number 2017/404) has been obtained. This work will be disseminated by publication of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals, presentations at scientific conferences and in meetings with representatives from Swedish retail, including unions and employers' organisations. 

This article explores the extent to which spatial and hierarchical divisions of work in grocery stores intersect with gender, and resulting inequalities in employees’ working conditions. Our empirical basis is individual and group interviews conducted with managers and employees at two grocery stores in Sweden. The theoretical concept of inequality regimes serves as an analytical tool for understanding if and how multiple intersecting processes produce and maintain inequalities in working conditions. The findings show that hierarchical and gendered inequalities are (re)created in the stores, for both permanently and temporarily employed workers. The organizing processes include a functional and gendered division of the workforce together with a division based on terms of employment mainly based on the profit generated by the goods handled in each department. The study shows how spatial divisions related to hierarchy, status, and gender intersect in creating inequalities in employees’ working conditions, career opportunities, and the physical and psycho- social working environment.

The aim of this article is to discuss how the concept of inequality regimes can contribute to theoretical and methodological advances in occupational health research. We posit the mutual advantages of bringing together feminist intersectional analysis of inequality in working life with studies of working conditions and health. The job demands and control model (JDC) is used as a starting point for the discussion. Reintegration of organizational analysis into studies of working conditions and health is warranted, as organizations influence how working conditions are distributed and individuals are stratified in the labor market. We refer to that development as going from healthy work to healthy workplaces. We discuss how the concept of inequality regimes is open for mixed method analysis and how it can be used as a theoretical framework for unraveling the ways in which inequalities in working conditions and health are (re)created in different types of organizations.

Möjlighet till heltidsarbete för alla anställda är ett uttalat mål i det avtal som slutits mellan Kommunal och Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting. Den stora andelen deltidsarbete inom välfärdssektorn beskrivs som problematiskt ur ett jämställdhetsperspektiv och en försvårande omständighet vid rekrytering och för kontinuitet i bemanning. Inom Sundsvalls Kommun inleddes 2018 ett projekt för att införa ”Heltid som norm” för både befintliga tjänster och nyanställningar. Den lösning som har valts är en arbetstidsmodell som gå under beteckningen ”85/10/5”, där siffrorna representerar arbetstid i procent. Åttiofem procent av arbetstiden är förlagd till den anställdes ordinarie arbetsplats. Tio procent utgör vikarietid inom den egna, eller en annan verksamhet. De resterande fem procenten avsätts för APT och kompetensutveckling. Totalt omfattades sju av kommunens verksamheter inom Socialtjänsten, tre äldreboenden och fyra gruppboenden.