Anne-Sofie Rosenfeldt Jensen

Purpose Workplace well-being interviews are increasingly used as a preventive measure to reduce sickness absence and support employee well-being. However, little is known about how these interviews are experienced in practice or how interactions between employees and line managers shape these experiences. This study explored how interactions between employees and line managers shape their experiences of workplace well-being interviews in Danish public sector workplaces. Methods An exploratory qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with six line managers and nine employees from six work units in two Danish municipalities. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Experiences of workplace well-being interviews were strongly shaped by the quality of interaction between employees and line managers. Trust, empathy, and perceived genuine care contributed to interviews being experienced as supportive, meaningful, and relevant. In contrast, when trust was lacking, employees described discomfort, nervousness, and a sense of having to justify their sickness absence. Employees particularly experienced the interviews as less meaningful when the cause of absenteeism was perceived as unrelated to work and beyond their control. Standardized organizational procedures also appeared to influence how employees and line managers positioned themselves during the interaction, sometimes reinforcing expectations of accountability. Conclusion The findings highlight the central role of interaction in shaping experiences of workplace well-being interviews. The preventive potential of such interviews may depend on trustful employee–line manager relationships and flexible approaches that consider employees’ individual circumstances and the perceived causes of sickness absence.

Night work and circadian disruption are linked to major public health challenges, e.g. cancer, cardiometabolic disease, and accidents. We established the 1001 nights-cohort to explore mechanisms underlying health effects of night work and circadian disruption. 1075 female hospital employees participated from September 2022 to April 2024. The data collection included a questionnaire, a blood sample, anthropometric measures, and sleep actigraphy and sleep diaries across 14 days. In subsamples, light exposure, physical activity, skin temperature, and blood glucose were measured continuously for 7 days, and saliva samples were collected five times across one day. The cohort consists of 2- and 3-shift workers with night work (66%), permanent night workers (7%), permanent evening workers or 2-shift workers without night work (9%), and permanent day workers (18%). Data comprise 4553 day shifts, 997 evening shifts, 1963 night shifts, and 6458 days without work. The poorest health was observed among permanent night workers and the group of shift workers without night work. The 1001 nights-cohort is the most comprehensive data within night work and working hour research due to the combination of questionnaires, biomarkers, technical measurements, and possibilities for linkage to historical and future register-based information about working hours from the Danish Working Hour Database (DAD) and diagnoses. With its repeated measurements within the same individual, the cohort will advance research on physiological and behavioral mechanisms underlying health effects of working hours, night work, and circadian disruption and deliver important scientific input for updating guidelines on healthy scheduling of working hours.