IA-avtalen og arbeidsmiljøet. En kvalitativ studie av hvilke faktorer som kan være med på å skape nærvær og tilhørighet i arbeidsmiljøet

Background: Reducing the scope of absenteeism is a key issue in health-promoting work, and during the last years the concept of health-promoting working places has been developed. Reducing absenteeism is a focus area of the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion, and for achieving this goal a new Working Environment Act has been developed, having a greater focus on health-promoting work and Health, Environmet and Safety than previously. The health- promotiong work also includes the Work-, Welfare- and Inclusion (IA) agreement, which is an interaction between private and public authorities to ensure inclusion and a better working environment for all workers. Aim: This study is based on inclusive working life onshore", the latter being the term for workers in the petroleum sector working on land. The aim of the study was to obtainin knowledge of what factors this group of workers regarded as important (subjective opinion) for improvement of their psychosocial working environment. Materials and Methods: The material of this study was collected through qualitative semistructured focusinterviews performed on two strategically selected focusgroups with workers employed in an onshore industrial company. The company was helpful in the prosess of selecting of two representative groups, and for group 1 and 2, eight and six employees were represented respectively. The analysis of transcripted data was based on a ad hoc meaning-generating method, and the categories and patterns developed on basis of these data. The discussion focused on health-promoting work, and was based on the Ken Wilber four quadrant- and the Karasek-Theorell demand-control -support model. Conclusions: Communication and administrative organization, like information from management, were two issues of remark for the interviewed workers and highlighted as important factors for improvement of the working environment. A limited knowledge on the content of the IA- agreement was also expressed, as well as the consequences of the agreement for employees working in a well-established IA-company. This indicates a lack of connection between what factors onshore workers regard as important for their working environment, and the fact that they are employed in an IA-company