Internal communicators’ understanding of the definition and importance of employee advocacy

In recent years, employee advocacy has evolved as a hot topic that has generated a lot of buzz in todayös public relations, marketing, and business circles. In spite of the growing relevance of employee advocacy, there is limited empirical and theoretical research on this topic and a universal definition and clear understanding of its exact meaning is lacking. Hence, the purpose of this study was to fill a gap in public relations research on employee advocacy by examining how internal communicators understand this behavior and their perceptions of its value. Through interviews with 25 public relations and communications practitioners, the studyös results indicated that participants perceived that advocacy could be expressed verbally or nonverbally. Given these findings, the study proposed a new definition of employee advocacy. Overall, participants agreed that employee advocacy plays a critical role in an organizationös future performance and can impact its success in several ways.     

The psychological benefits of exercise in work settings: A review, critique, and dispositional model

Evidence on the psychological effects of exercise on employees is considered. Studies which examined the effect of company-sponsored exercise programmes as well as those examining the more general effect of exercise in work settings are reviewed. It is concluded that the evidence for psychological benefits is equivocal. Due to methodological problems, it is difficult to determine whether exercise is responsible for the positive effects reported. Four personality characteristics which may be responsible for both exercise and psychological reactions to work are considered, and a model is then presented. It was concluded that future studies examining the impact of exercise should consider this dispositional model.     

Needs and preferences for employer supported child care: A feasibility study

Employees of a large suburban health care center were asked to identify their needs and preferences for child care, and existing fringe benefits that they would be willing to give up in order to obtain employer supported child care services. Results indicate that a majority of the 41 employees in the sample with children under 12 years of age experience problems relating to child care and that those problems affect their work performance. There is no clear preference for type of child care, however, and employees are unwilling to give up existing fringe benefits to obtain child care services. Results are discussed with implications for provision of employer supported child care that is sensitive to the individual needs of employees.Terese Dressel is a clinician/consultant with the DuPage County Health Department, 111 North County Farm Road, Wheaton, Illinois 61087. The research reported was conducted as part of her Masters thesis in the Department of Human and Family Resources, Northern Illinois University.Michael Martin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human and Family Resources, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115. Research interests include child maltreatment and family violence.     

Measuring safety climate on offshore installations

The human and organizational factors affecting safety were examined on 10 offshore installations using the Offshore Safety Questionnaire. The questionnaire contained scales measuring work pressure and work clarity, job communication, safety behaviour, risk perception, satisfaction with safety measures and safety attitudes. A total of 722 UK offshore workers (33% response rate) from a range of occupations completed and returned the questionnaire. The 'safety climates' on the various installations were characterized by most respondents feeling 'safe' with respect to a range of offshore hazards and expressing 'satisfaction' with safety measures. Respondents reported little risk-taking behaviour and felt positive about levels of work clarity and job communication. There was a wider diversity of opinions on the safety attitudes scale, indicating a lack of a positive, concerted 'safety culture' and more evidence for a range offragmented 'safety subcultures', which varied mainly as a function of seniority, occupation, age, shift worked and prior accident involvement. It is suggested that the interaction between these differing subcultures partly determines the prevailing 'safety climate' on any given installation. The UK oil and gas industry is now trying to improve its safety culture through the 'Stepchange' initiative, which hias set itself three main targets for the year 2000 : a 50 YO improvement in the industry's safety performance; safety performance contracts demonstrating leadership's personal concern for safety as an equal to business performance and encouraging industry members to work together to improve sharing of safety information and good practice. It is suggested that the existence of a strong, cohesive culture with respect to safety is not necessarily beneficial, possibly leading to 'dry rot' and complacency. A healthy culture may be represented by a range of assumptions, values, norms and expectations as reflected in employees' differing experiences of safety climate.     

Understanding the consequences of public social media use for work

Social media has slowly become ubiquitous in the workplace; however, the use of these technologies has been associated with both positive and negative consequences. Using the JD-R model, this study examines these positive and negative consequences of the public social media use for work. Survey data of 421 employees is used to explore the relationship between public social media use for work and engagement, and exhaustion, through opposing mechanisms. The findings demonstrate that interruptions and work–life conflict are important demands, whereas accessibility and efficient communication are resources associated with social media use for work. These demands and resources are related to engagement and exhaustion.     

忠诚雇员的经济意义和培养雇员忠诚的对策

本文通过分析忠诚雇员对于培养顾客忠诚和企业获利的影响,说明忠诚雇员对于企业的重要意义,并在分析引用影响雇员忠诚度因素的基础上,提出了培养雇员忠诚的建议.     

Employee absence, age and tenure: a study of nonlinear effects and trivariate models

Multiple regression techniques were used to explore the nature of the relationships between age, tenure and absence in 2417 British local government workers drawn from three work groups. The data were collected from organizational records and included measures of both non-certified absence and medically certified absence. Linear and curvilinear associations among age, tenure and absence were examined. The possible moderating or mediating role of tenure in the relationship between age and absence was subsequently analysed. The data revealed linear relationships between age and absence that were negative for non-certified absence and positive for certified absence. In contrast, curvilinear relationships were found between tenure and absence that were U-shaped for noncertified absence and inverse U-shaped for certified absence. Tenure was found to moderate but not to mediate the relationship between age and absence. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of the changing age and career paths of the workforce, and of methodological issues in absence research.