Devising work schedules for a collective: Favouring
intergenerational collaboration among counsellors in a shelter for female
victims of conjugal violence
Issue title: Gender, Work Schedules and Work/Family
Regulations
Affiliations: Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur la
biologie, la santé et l'environnement (CINBIOSE), Université du
Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Département
d'éducation et formation spécialisées, C.P. 8888. Succ.
Centre-ville, Montréal (Québec), Canada H3C 3P8. Tel.: +1 514 987
3000 ext. 3772; Fax: +1 514 987 3430; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Objective: The work activity of counsellors in shelters for female
victims of conjugal violence is explored. The consortium of shelters requested
the study because of complaints of worker stress, difficulties in management
and high employee turnover. Methods: This qualitative and participatory community study involved
a team of specialists in ergonomics and social work from the Centre de
recherche interdisciplinaire sur la biologie, la santé, la
sociélté et l'environnement (CINBIOSE), brought together by the
Community Outreach Service of Université du Québec à
Montréal (UQAM). Presented here are the study findings pertaining to
training. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews and 80 hours of observation of
work and training were conducted with counsellors from two contrasting
shelters. Results: Observations revealed an intense collaborative activity
involving communication by many means. Nonetheless, young counsellors
interviewed complained of having few opportunities to develop their counselling
skills because they were isolated on evening, night and weekend shifts. In
collaboration with the ergonomists, one shelter experimented with new ways of
devising the work schedule to favour learning and training. Conclusion: By transforming the training mechanism, job status and
work schedules, the shelter made the conditions more conducive to the
development of counsellors' skills and health, while eliminating turnover for
at least the two following years.
Keywords: Gender, informal training, work organization, ergonomics
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2011-1271
Journal: Work, vol. 40, no. Supplement 1, pp. 101-110, 2011
