Dismissals - a major concern, but only one among others?

Abstract

The Finnish forest industry has undergone extensive transition in recent years. This study investigates the effect of restructuring on the well-being of blue-collar employees who continued working in the organization after the changes. All six factories selected for the study were in the process of restructuring between baseline and the follow-up survey. The factories were grouped according to personnel reduction (dismissals): Change group 1 - no dismissals; and Change group 2 - dismissals. The majority of the analyses were carried out using longitudinal data (n=382). The associations between the changes in personnel and functional and psychological well-being were analysed using ANCOVA (adjusted for age, gender, education, and outcome at baseline). In both change groups the level of functional well-being improved after restructuring, but the level of psychological well-being decreased. The content of the changes, regardless of whether they involved personnel dismissals, did not affect the magnitude of the decrease in psychological well-being. It seems that the effect of restructuring on the psychological well-being of employees working in the restructuring organization is considerable, even when no dismissals are involved. The impact of change on functional well-being seems to be different.