1000 Psychosocial/psychosomatic consequences on employees in local government administration of two municipalities in the city of athens, after the implementation of the "Kallikrates Plan" program in The Country. (1st September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tzamaloukas, Georgia S; Koliopoulou, Kate; Riza, Elena; Linos, Athena
• Is Part Of: Injury prevention. Volume 22(2016)Supplement 2
• Page Start: A355
• Page End: A356
• Publication Date: 2016-09-01
• Subjects: Administrative Reform -- Kallikratis -- Greece -- occupational safety; Children's accidents -- Prevention -- Periodicals; Accidents -- Prevention -- Periodicals; 617.1
• DOI: 10.1136/injuryprev-2016-042156.1000
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1353-8047

Abstract

Abstract : Background: Reconstruction and/or merging of Greek Businesses and Services, by a program which is called "Kallikrates", ("Kallikrates Plan" is a major administrative reform in Greece, aiming to the restructuration and better administrative cooperation among the thirteen regions of Greece).This reform plan has direct and indirect consequences on employees' health condition and security in Local Government Administration (L.G.A) work places. Staff reduction, new responsibilities, work overload, unexpected horizontal staff transfers, roles ambiguity, and job insecurity, result to psychosocial and psychosomatic imbalances such as stress, sleep disorders, myosceletal dysfunctions, cardiovascular diseases, work injuries, burn outs, violence outbursts at work and higher mortality rates. The abovementioned consequences on the working individual/group, inevitably reflect back to the short/long term "health" of the Industry, because of increased absenteeism, negative reputation, productivity fall and deterioration of product quality. The purpose of the present research is to present the results of a field study conducted in the City of Athens (Keratsini Municipality –Drapetsona Municipality ) and it concerned the employees' viewpoints regarding the impact of the implementation of the "Kallikratis Plan" program on the working environment and the resulting consequences on the psychosocial and psychosomatic condition of the working individual/group. Methods: One-way-Analysis of Variance and Multiple Regression Analysis were used for data reduction and identification of consistent data features. Results: The data showed that 30.3% of the employees confirmed that they increased their smoking and the 11.9% confirmed that they increased their alcohol use, within two years after the implementation of "Kallikrates Plan". Additionally, there are statistically important differences concerning psychosocial inconvenience (p = 0.01), interpersonal relationships (p = 0.03), anxiety (p = 0.01) and burn out (p = 0.00) within several administrative municipality departments, such as Administration Department, Technical Department, Social Services and Cleaning services. Employees complain mainly about work overload, time pressure per assignment and intensification of work. Nevertheless, married and educated employees displayed lower levels of stress and anxiety. Conclusions: Results indicate a negative influence on employees' health parameters which may result to possible deterioration of the working individual's/groups' condition and well-being. Results also indicate that education/training of employees in their new duties is needed. Furthermore, training towards a healthier life style for smoking cessation and drinking control is also needed, as well as in some cases psychological support and coaching could also be necessary.