Employees and the Municipal Structure Reform
Reorganisation, health and wellbeing before and after

Leena Eskelinen, Oktober 2009

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Summary

The main purpose of the study was to analyse whether employee health and wellbeing were affected by the reorganisation carried out in connection with the municipal structure reform, and to analyse what factors have significance for any health effects. The study therefore focuses on the structure reform from an employee perspective, both by describing changes in working conditions from 2006 to 2008, and by documenting any changes in employee health and wellbeing during the same period.

The study is based on two questionnaires that were conducted, one eight months before (April 2006) and one 16 months after (April 2008) the structure reform entered into force on 1 January 2007. The study was conducted among all the employees in administrative positions in two counties and in five selected municipalities located close to the metropolitan region. The follow-up includes a total of 890 people.

The study reveals the following:

1. A considerable number of the participants in the study reported that they had been affected by the reform – whether in the form of changes in their work and working conditions and/or in the form of an effect on their health and wellbeing. For some, the changes were in a positive direction, for others in a negative direc-tion without one type systematically outweighing the other when the employees' responses in 2006 and 2008 were compared. The changes seemed to be direct consequences of the reform, during which the location of the workplace, work content, management etc. were changed due to the mergers and consequences of employees personally taking the initiative to change their work situation, e.g. by taking other employment.
2. Almost half of those who in 2006 were employed in the selected municipalities and county councils, did not follow the merger plan for their workplace, but had changed to other employment during the period 2006-2008. It is, however, not possible to conclude based on the study whether this has occurred primarily be-fore or after the structure reform entered into force on 1 January 2007 – simply that it has occurred between the two questionnaires. There is a difference in who followed the merger plan and who did not. More women than men followed the plan, and were, on average, older and in poorer health. It was therefore more atypical for an employee to seek, and possibly be offered, other work if the em-ployee was a woman of 50 or over and in less than good health.
3. A decline in self-rated health was shown from 2006 to 2008, whereas a positive develop¬ment in general stress was experienced in the same period, i.e. less stress was reported in 2008. Compared with the results of corresponding groups from the most recent survey carried out by the Danish National Institute of Public Health among the Danish population, the health level in the present study in 2008 was somewhat poorer than expected, whereas the stress level in 2008 was somewhat better than expected – the latter with the proviso, however, that the evaluations of various stress indicators are not entirely unambiguous.
   The changes in health and stress from 2006 to 2008 are not equally large for everyone. With reference to self-rated health, a negative development occurred among those who have changed their place of employment in relation to the merger plan during the period 2006-2008 and who were most directly affected by changes in connection with the structure reform. The stress level had fallen among municipal employees compared with county council employees whereas no difference was found in the development among employees with and without management duties, respectively.
4. It is important to note both the conditions for the employees who "were left" (who either kept the same employment in 2006-2008 or had changed employment on 1 January 2007 in accordance with the merger plan), and those who had changed to another job during the two-year period 2006-2008. There are various reasons for this. Employees who "were left" intended to withdraw early from the labour market. Age and health is important for their future plans, but otherwise the nature of the work and conditions at the workplace (development opportunities at work and work climate) were also of importance. On the other hand, the scores of employees who changed to another job in connection with the reform had not automatically improved. For instance, almost one third rate their current job as less attractive than before the reform.
5. The surveys clearly show the link between the evaluations of the nature of the changes and the employees' reactions. Work and working conditions in 2008 compared with the situation before the reform are therefore of importance to employee health and wellbeing. Positive development in the content of work tasks, in development opportunities, in work climate and in management condi-tions support positive wellbeing at work independent of age and self-rated health status.

In the light of this, the general conclusions of the study are as follows: First, the concrete working conditions in 2008 – compared with the situation in 2006 – have greater importance for employee health and wellbeing than whether they had followed the merger plan for their workplace in connection with the structure reform, or whether they had personally chosen to change to another job outside the workplaces covered by this study.
Second, the rather conflicting results – poorer health, but less stress – can probably be seen in the light of the presence of insecurity and unpredictability in 2006 when employees did not know how the structure reform would affect them. In the 2008 study – more than one year after the reform entered into force – things had fallen more into place and the uncertainty had been replaced by a new working day, which is reflected in the general stress level. However, the results also show that employee health has suffered from the impact of stress during the period of uncertainty.

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