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

This report presents the municipal structure reform from an employee perspective by describing how employees from five municipalities and two county councils describe the changes that have occurred in their work from 2006 to 2008, and how they rate their health and wellbeing at the same time. The study was conducted as a questionnaire among 900 employees in administrative positions and shows e.g. that

• there has been great mobility among employees in connection with the reform, i.e. a con-siderable number of the employees have changed to employers other than those they would have had according to the plans in the structure reform, and that young men in particular have "sought other challenges," whereas women aged over 50 were less likely to choose or be offer¬ed another job,
• the stress level has fallen since 2006 and in 2008 is actually lower than expected, although the fall is not identical for everyone, as municipal employees report greater change than previous county council employees,
• the employees' general health has declined during the two-year period 2006-2008, and this applies in particular to employees who have had to change employment in accordance with the reform plan,
• the real winners are those who have experienced a positive development in work tasks, their own development opportunities, work climate and management factors in connection with the reform. These factors support wellbeing at work for both the young and old, and women as well as men.