Dual impact of organisational change on subsequent exit from work unit and sickness absence: a longitudinal study among public healthcare employees

Abstract

Objectives: We investigated work-unit exit, total and long-term sickness absence following organisational change among public healthcare employees.

Methods: The study population comprised employees from the Capital Region of Denmark (n=14 388). Data on reorganisation at the work-unit level (merger, demerger, relocation, change of management, employee layoff or budget cut) between July and December 2013 were obtained via surveys distributed to the managers of each work unit. Individual-level data on work-unit exit, total and long-term sickness absence (≥29 days) in 2014 were obtained from company registries. For exposure to any, each type or number of reorganisations (1, 2 or ≥3), the HRs and 95% CIs for subsequent work-unit exit were estimated by Cox regression, and the risk for total and long-term sickness absence were estimated by zero-inflated Poisson regression.

Results: Reorganisation was associated with subsequent work-unit exit (HR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.19) in the year after reorganisation. This association was specifically important for exposure to ≥3 types of changes (HR 1.52, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.79), merger (HR 1.29, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.49), demerger (HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.71) or change of management (HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.38). Among the employees remaining in the work unit, reorganisation was also associated with more events of long-term sickness absence (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.33), which was particularly important for merger (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.72) and employee layoff (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.59).

Conclusions: Specific types of reorganisation seem to have a dual impact on subsequent work-unit exit and sickness absence in the year after change.

Keywords: health care workers; organizational change; reorganization; sickness absence; turnover.

Figure 1

Diagram representing the flow of participants and the study design. The study population of employees occupied in the same work unit in 2013 were potentially exposed to organisational change in the last six months of 2013 with follow-up on subsequent work-unit exit, total sickness absence or long-term sickness absence in 2014. Data on organisational change were collected between April and June 2016.