1. JOB STRESS AND BURNOUT: A MULTI-CASE STUDY OF HR/ WHS INTERVENTIONS
Anthony H. Winefield and Silvia Pignata
University of South Australia
ASBHM-APS College of Health Psychologists, Gold Coast Conference 2017

2. Aim
To enhance our understanding of job stress in the workplace and build upon evaluative intervention research.

3. Overview Research Questions:
What types of HR/WHS interventions were implemented at 5 universities over 3 years to enhance employees’ well-being and morale?
What types of strategies were viewed as a priority strategy at each university?

4. Job Stress
"the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them"
(Health Safety Executive, 2007, p. 7).
Intervention approaches:
Primary - long-term approaches that modify/reduce demands and stressors
Secondary – modify/change the stress response to inevitable/unchangeable demands
Tertiary - treat distress; medical treatment/psychological counselling to heal specific problems
(Cooper & Quick, 1999)

5. Intervention Targets
individual to improve their coping resources to deal with demanding situations
organisation in order to reduce the stressors
individual-organisation interface.
(Giga, Cooper, & Faragher, 2003)

6. Intervention Phases
Development – detail the changes needed; best way to achieve them; barriers
Implementation – document what types of changes were implemented; difficulties encountered; target population
Evaluation of results
(Goldenhar, LaMontagne, Katz, Heaney, & Landsbergis, 2001)

7. Participants & Procedure
Vice-Chancellors of universities who participated at both waves of Australian University Stress Study were invited to participate
Each nominated a Senior HR/WHS manager
Each nominated manager (5 universities in 3 Australian states) agreed to complete an Intervention Evaluation Survey to identify measures to enhance employees’ well-being and morale.

8. Measures
Intervention Evaluation Survey based on empirical evidence and research (Pignata & Winefield, 2006) that identified specific HR interventions at one Australian university.
Using a participative approach, survey draft circulated to all nominated managers to obtain feedback and develop the survey further.
After including feedback, survey was examined by independent HR Director who provided feedback which was incorporated into Survey; Director did not participate.

9. Measures

10. Procedure Frequency analyses identified intervention strategies.
Reported interventions categorised into individual-, organisational-, and individual/organisation interface-directed interventions (see DeFrank and Cooper (1987) classifications)

11. Results Across universities, dominant strategies were those to:
enhance training, career development and promotional opportunities for staff
improve remuneration and recognition practices
improve employees' work-life balance
enhance the fairness of organisational policies.

12. Intervention Focus and Target Level A B C D E
Total
Training/Career/Promotion - Organisation Level 4 8 10 9 35
Remuneration/Recognition - Organisation Level 5 11 6
Work-Life Balance - Organisation Level 3 7 29
Procedural Justice - Organisation Level 27
Job Design - Organisation Level – 23
Communication/Consultation - Organisation Level 20
Stress Awareness - Individual & Organisation Level 18
Trust in Senior Management - Organisation Level 13
Interpersonal Relations - Individual/Organisation Interface 2 1
Job security/Tenure - Organisation Level
Health and Lifestyle - Individual Level 41 44 37 51 48
221
RESULTS

14. Priority Strategies
Key strategies in 3 universities focused on leadership development:
increasing trust in senior management by developing leadership capabilities in staff
reviewing selection of staff for leadership positions
implementing/reviewing training and mentoring of staff for leadership positions.

16. Conclusion
All 5 universities implemented numerous multi-level stress interventions targeted at individual, organisational, and individual-organisation levels.
Total number of HR interventions implemented at each university ranged from 37–51; suggests a targeted focus by all universities to improve work environments.

17. References
Cooper, C. L., & Quick, J. C. (1999). Stress and Strain. Oxford: Health Press Limited.
DeFrank, R.S.,& Cooper, C.L. (1987). Worksite stress management interventions: Their effectiveness and conceptualization. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 2, 4–10.
Giga, S. I., Cooper, C. L., & Faragher, B. (2003). The development of a framework for a comprehensive approach to stress management interventions at work. International Journal of Stress Management, 10, 280 –296.
Goldenhar L. M., LaMontagne, A. D., Katz, T., Heaney, C., & Landsbergis, P. (2001). The intervention research process in Occupational Safety and Health: An overview from the National Occupational Research Agenda Intervention Effectiveness Research Team. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 43, 616–622.
Health Safety Executive (HSE). (2007). Managing the causes of work-related stress: A step-by-step approach using the Management Standards. Accessed June 12, 2017 from
Pignata, S. & Winefield, A. H. (2006, September). Awareness of stress-reduction interventions on organizational attitudes in staff at an Australian university. In M. Katsikitis (Ed.), Proceedings of the2006 Joint Conference of the Australian Psychological Society and New Zealand Psychological Society (pp. 330–334). Melbourne, Victoria: Australian Psychological Society.

18. Acknowledgements / Contact details
Australian University Stress Study research was supported by
grants from ARC and NTEU, and contributions from Vice
Chancellors of participating universities.
Other investigators include Jagdish Dua, Nicole Gillespie,
John Hapuarachchi, Con Stough, Carolyn Boyd, and Julie
Wells.
Contact: