From Yearly Checks to Daily Progress: Evaluating Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) in Systematic Work Environment Management (SAM) Within the Municipal Sector

This project aims to test and evaluate a practical method for enhancing systematic work environment management (SAM), shifting the focus from identifying deficiencies to achieving goals centered on health-promoting factors. Competence supply is one of the greatest challenges for Swedish municipalities, and deficiencies in organizational and social work environments contribute significantly to sickness absence, poor mental health, and well-being. This issue threatens municipalities' ability to fulfill their responsibilities to citizens. Active systematic work environment management (SAM) has been identified as a potential solution, yet many municipalities rely on annual assessments focused on shortcomings, without providing indicators for concrete solutions, goal achievement, or measurable progress.

There is a lack of knowledge on how SAM should be designed to prioritize health-promoting factors (i.e., workplace conditions that support employee health and sustainable employment) at an organizational level. Additionally, there is a need for goal indicators that are motivating, measurable, and applicable at both unit and organizational levels.

To address these pressing needs, we propose applying the Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) method. GAS serves as both a goal-setting and evaluation methodology, previously applied successfully at the individual level. We suggest that GAS can help organizations formulate concrete and tailored desired states related to specific interventions, thereby enhancing improvements in health-promoting factors.

GAS offers several advantages for enhancing SAM. First, goal-setting theory suggests that GAS facilitates the establishment of achievable and relevant goals. A participatory design is crucial, fostering a shared mental model of objectives. Second, GAS promotes data-driven decision-making and accountability within SAM, enabling workplaces to systematically assess progress and the impact of work environment initiatives. Third, GAS is versatile and universal, serving as a general framework adaptable to different organizations and their specific contexts and objectives.

The project will address the following research questions:

• Which health-promoting factors are prioritized, and what organizational-level initiatives are generated to address them?
• How does the application of GAS (as part of SAM) influence the achievement of goals related to health-promoting factors?
• How is the use of GAS perceived by different stakeholders (employees, managers, HR representatives)?
• What facilitators and barriers influence the implementation of GAS and the attainment of goals? The project will identify and highlight prioritized organizational-level health-promoting factors while mapping successful strategies and practices for addressing them. The expected outcome is the development of a systematic, participatory, and practical method that fosters local engagement in initiative development, goal setting, and follow-up of health-promoting factors within SAM. This work will contribute to the development of measurement methods and outcome metrics for organizational-level health-promoting factors. The resulting knowledge and tools can support the creation of long-term healthy, sustainable, and attractive workplaces within the municipal sector

Inclusion criteria

• work unit must have >3 employees, working within municipal sector, no other major organizational changes

Exclusion criteria

• Units with <3 employees, other major organizational changes