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In the municipality context, the priorities and financial objectives established by boards of directors (‘boards’) may influence the quality of occupational health and safety (OHS) in organizations. Little is known about boards’ discussions of OHS, which is why we set out to investigate vice chairs’ and chairs’ perceptions of facilitating conditions for discussing OHS in municipal boardrooms. Thirty-four participants from 12 randomly selected municipalities were interviewed, and the data were analyzed using template thematic analysis. The results show that facilitating conditions for board OHS discussions can be linked to the individual, group, and organizational levels and that these interplay. The most prominent finding is the considerable influence that the (vice-)chairs have on whether and how OHS is discussed on the board, both in terms of influencing the psychological safety of its members and how OHS information is gathered. Furthermore, high levels of psychological safety among organizational representatives interacting with the board facilitate the acquisition of candid OHS information from the organization. With the high level of employee risk of long-term sickness absence in municipalities and the challenges of attracting employees, OHS could be considered a strategically important part of boards’ meeting agendas. Our findings suggest that OHS governance in municipality administrations and companies can be individual dependent and that the governance structure is inadequate for ensuring that OHS is discussed at the board level. © 2026 The Author(s).

Swedish preschool work is highly relational and demanding, with documented stressors and elevated turnover and sick leave among preschool teachers and childminders. Concurrently, the proportion of early second-language (L2) learners has increased in line with demographic shifts, adding cultural and linguistic complexity to everyday practice. Despite this, evidence clarifying how specific working conditions relate to staff outcomes, particularly within L2-dense contexts, remains limited. The study aimed to examine how psychosocial working conditions (e.g., role conflicts, collegial and principal support), organizational factors (e.g., openness), structural factors (e.g., child group size, child–staff ratio, and especially the proportion of L2 learners), and individual factors (e.g., formal education and professional experience) relate to preschool staff’s organizational commitment and job satisfaction, using the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model as an overarching framework. Across analyses, job resources outperformed demands, structural, and individual factors. Principal support and co-worker support were positive predictors of job satisfaction; openness and influence were positive predictors of organizational commitment (openness strongest). Quantitative demands negatively predicted job satisfaction; qualitative demands and role conflict were attenuated when resources were included. Structural (including a proportion of L2 learners) and individual factors were not significant predictors of either outcome. In line with JD-R, leadership- and climate-related resources (support, openness, influence) are the most proximal correlates of staff attitudes, whereas structural context appears to act indirectly, if at all, via demands and resources. Practical efforts should prioritize strengthening supportive leadership, collegial collaboration, and voice. Findings should be interpreted within the Swedish (and broader Scandinavian) preschool context. © 2026 The Author(s).

Swedish municipal organizations exhibit persistent gender inequalities in working conditions, particularly between female-dominated caring occupations and male-dominated technical occupations. Drawing on devaluation theory and New Public Management (NPM) frameworks, this study investigates how politicians, accountable for the work environment of their employees, understand gender inequalities in the working conditions within municipal organizations. The study further explores what, according to the interviewees, may contribute to the reproduction of gender inequalities. Semi-structured interviews with 18 politicians from caring and technical committees revealed widespread awareness of heavier workloads, limited resources, and lower status in caring professions. However, these issues were primarily attributed to organizational culture and structural constraints seen as beyond politicians' control. While technical sectors generate revenue and enjoy more flexible budgets, caring sectors face stricter financial limits. Emphasis on cost efficiency and hierarchical governance, characteristic of NPM, is cited as a major barrier to substantive reforms, reinforcing systemic undervaluation of women's work. A need for more proactive political leadership and accountability mechanisms is underscored by the findings to mitigate gender-based disparities in public administration. By illuminating how political decision-making intersects with societal norms and management practices, this study provides new insights into the persistent undervaluation of caring labor in public- sector contexts.

Objective

Research shows worsening working conditions for nurses in Swedish elderly care with shortcomings exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although extensively debated during the pandemic, work environment and service quality improvements are needed. Registered nurses have a key role in elderly care, balancing medical and care responsibilities for older people. However, more knowledge is required about the expectations and organisational conditions for nurses executing the role in elderly care. Therefore, the study aims to explore first line managers’ role expectations of nurses in municipal elderly care and their perceptions of barriers to nurses’ role fulfilment.

Methods

A qualitative approach was used with the study set in two Swedish municipalities. We used purposeful sampling and recruited thirteen first line managers from municipal and private care providers with experience being responsible for nurses working in elderly care. Data was collected using semi structured interviews with the managers, and the data was analysed using thematic analysis.

Results

Two themes were identified in the analysis describing Role expectations in care practice and Barriers to fulfilling role expectations. The first theme highlights the expectations of nurses in elderly care to deliver evidence-based care, foster effective team collaboration, and demonstrate strong leadership in the care work. Together, these elements should ensure a supportive environment and high quality for the residents in elderly care. The second theme addresses barriers to meeting role expectations, including excessive administration, staffing shortages, and illegitimate tasks, resulting in high workloads for nurses.

Conclusions

There is conflicting logic between nurses’ role expectations in elderly care and the possibilities for nurses to execute the role due to organisational barriers. Heavy work and administrative tasks hinder nurses’ ability to focus on core responsibilities and deliver optimal elderly care. Improving the organisational conditions for nurses requires political action.

The paper is guided by the question of how public organizations can adapt to include citizens as co-producers of public values. To answer it, eleven researchers and civil servants, all involved in the transformation of a collaborative platform encompassing a university and four different public organizations, formed a collaborative and boundary-spanning author. Building on personal expertise and situated organizational experiences we conclude that public organizations do not adapt except for specific confined areas where they can still control and command outcomes important to them. Hence, public organizations struggle to become co-producers of new public values. From the process, we also conclude that academics and civil servants together writing an academic article cannot be viewed as a fertile common ground for equal collaboration and co-production. Nevertheless, it might still work as an interesting boundary-spanning activity for arriving at shared understandings and important insights on for instance why organizational moves from intended to actual involvement appear difficult.

Purpose Using COR theory to study developments of health and other key resources in self-employed workers in Sweden over 6 years, this study: (1) explored whether the heterogenous group of self-employed workers contained subgroups with different health trajectories, (2) investigated whether these were more typical for certain individuals (with respect to age, gender, sector, education, employment status), and (3) compared the different health trajectories regarding resource development in mental well-being, business resources, employment status, work ability.

Method The study used data from the Swedish longitudinal occupational survey of health (SLOSH) and included participants working as self-employed or combiner (N = 2642).

Result Five trajectories were identified with latent class growth curve model analysis (LCGM). Two health trajectories with (1) very good, respective (2) good stable health (together comprising 78.5% of the participants), (3) one with moderate stable health (14.8%), (4) one with a U-shaped form (1.9%), and (5) one with low, slightly increasing health (4.7%). The first two trajectories flourish: they maintained or increased in all key resources and were more likely to remain self-employed. Trajectories three and five consist of those who fight to maintain or increase their resources. Workers in the U-shaped health trajectory show signs of fight and flight after loss in health and other key resources.

Conclusions Studying subgroups with different resource developments over time was suitable to understand heterogeneity in self-employed workers. It also helped to identify vulnerable groups that may benefit from interventions to preserve their resources.

This study sets out to investigate the potential differences between social workers using voice- or silence strategies in their experience of organisational resources, attitudes and health, and whether social workers moving between strategies (voice or silence) over time have a different experience of the same outcomes than those who stay with the same strategy group. The participating social workers (n = 1356) responded to two web-based questionnaires over a one-year period. Findings The results show that voice strategies are related to the experience of more positive organisational resources, more positive attitudes (greater job satisfaction and organisational commitment, but lower intention to exit) and more positive health (greater recovery, but less emotional exhaustion and stress symptoms) than those using silence strategies. The results also show that moving from silence to voice is related to the experience of increased organisational resources, more positive attitudes and more positive health at T2, while those moving from voice to silence reported the opposite. Applications The longitudinal approach applied in this study adds empirical evidence of the relationship between voice/silence and work-related attitudes, as well as health and well-being. The close relationship between organisational resources, employee voice behaviour and related individual outcomes regarding attitudes and health imply that Human Resources (HR) management has a lot to gain by developing and securing a voice-friendly and considerate climate in their organisations.

Studiens syfte är att via fallstudier av socialtjänsten undersöka konkreta ledningspraktiker som kan sägas falla inom ramen för Tillitsdelegationens definition av tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning och som har betydelse för att åstadkomma hållbara arbetsmiljöer i välfärden. Analysen visar att hållbar arbetsmiljö via tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning kan kopplas till organisationens säkerställande av förmåga, integritet och hjälpvillighet. Konkreta ledningspraktiker för säkerställande och hållbar arbetsmiljö var uppdragsdialog, systemperspektiv, integrering av arbetsmiljö och verksamkvalitet samt långsiktig ekonomisk styrning. Genom att ledningen agerar tillitsvärdigt via säkerställande av tillitsvärdigheten hos dem som är satta att utföra arbetet närmast medborgarna, erhålls goda arbetsmiljöer.

There is a need for a stable competence provision in the Swedish publicsector in order to ensure the continuity, quality and stability of the socialservices that are provided to citizens. As the turnover rate of newcomersgenerally reaches a peak between three and six months after entry, it isimportant to understand how organisations can retain their newlyrecruited social workers. From a psychological contract theory standpoint,the aim of this exploratory qualitative case study is to describe the processthat leads to relatively stable psychological contracts amongst newlyrecruited social workers. Three focus group interviews (consisting of fournew social worker recruits, six co-workers and two supervisors from thesame department) were conducted to retrospectively capture theexchange relationship between these agents during the newcomers’first year of employment. The analysis identified two themes in theexchange process that shaped the employment relationship: pre-entryexpectations and post-entry experiences. The results showed that theorganisational promises that were kept over time, mostly by supervisorsand also due to co-worker influences, ultimately resulted in fulfilled andstabilized psychological contracts amongst the newcomers. An importantconclusion is that a co-worker-organisation relationship of a good qualityneeds to have been established in order to enable a successful qualitativenewcomer-organisation relationship. High organisational investment isthus required by an employing organisation that wants to builda trustworthy long-term relationship with all its employees.