Organization of remote home care and employee job satisfaction and workload

Authors

• Merja Hoffrén-Mikkola Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Seinäjoki
• Sari Teeri Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Pori
• Marjatta Komulainen Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki
• Tuula Mikkola Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki
• Sini Eloranta Turku University of Applied Sciences, Turku; Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, Turku; The Wellbeing Services County of Ostrobothnia, Vaasa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23996/fjhw.160727

Keywords:

remote services, home care, work burden, employees, work satisfaction

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to describe and compare the job satisfaction of employees working in centralised and decentralised remote home care, satisfaction with the inclusion of remote home care in home care, and experiences of the effects of remote home care on workload.

The research was carried out as an e-mail survey in April-September 2022 from employees of five home care organizations implementing remote home care (n=103).

Employees of both centralised (n=15) and decentralised (n=28) remote home care were mostly satisfied with their work. However, the satisfaction of the employees of the centralised remote home care was better than the employees of the decentralised remote home care (p < 0.05) and they were clearly more satisfied with the inclusion of remote home care as part of the home care services (p < 0.001). Employees of centralised remote home care felt that remote home care had reduced the workload in all its aspects more than employees of the decentralised remote home care (p < 0.05 – p < 0.001). Qualitative data supported quantitative results.

The results suggest that centrally organized remote home care can reduce the workload experienced by employees, including rush, which can have an impact on employees’ well-being at work. The research results can be utilized when remote home care is likely to expand further in the future and work organization methods are planned.