The Relocation of a Health Care Department's Impact on Staff

Objective: This survey compares certain quality of work-life factors between a relocated work group and a control group. Methods: A self-administered, cross-sectional survey was conducted 12 months after five departments (304 workers) had been relocated between two public health sites. The survey explored the workers' psychosocial job characteristics, their perceived health, and psycho-organizational constraints. The results compared both the relocated and control groups by using univariate and then multivariate statistical analyzes. Results: When compared with the control group (n=272), the relocated group (n=180) showed a higher prevalence of psychosocial job characteristic "isostrain." The relocated group showed greater psycho-organizational constraints regarding the organizations favoring communication and team relationships. Conclusions: It seems that staff relocation can provoke a sense of uncertainty and isolation. Perhaps better communication might have reduced this and deter possible negative health outcomes.