The Other Aspect of Ergonomics: Job Crafting In A Sample of Older Adults Still in Employment
Authors: Mokdad Mohamed , Mebarki Bouhafs , Al-mahjoub Sami 
Published: June 2024

Problem Statement: Job crafting" refers to the psychological and physiological adaptations an employee makes while adhering to the requirements and relationships of his employment. Improving the level of fit between the employee and their job is the aim of these changes. Employees may also self-initiate changes to the job requirements and resources, whether they be increased or decreased, in order to achieve their personal and professional goals and to strike a balance between the job requirements and resources and their unique needs and abilities (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). Employees generally don't stay at their jobs for the years they spend doing nothing with them; instead, they make small adjustments to improve their happiness at work, even when their professional circumstances prevent them from doing so. Worker modifications typically take place in one or more of the following three domains: social, cognitive, and skill. In terms of Algeria's work environment, do employees engage in job crafting within their respective fields, and are they content with their current jobs? Can job crafting be classified as an ergonomic practice? This is the subject of the research paper.Objective/ Question: This study is centered on the following objectives:1. Assess the level of job crafting by senior staff members.2. Examine the relationship between job crafting and the mental health of senior employees.3. Consider the possibility that job crafting is the antithesis of ergonomics.Additionally, this research aims to respond to the following queries:1. To what extent do senior employees in their different fields practice job crafting?2. How do senior staff members who are implementing job crafting feel about their mental health?3. Can job crafting be categorized as an additional type of ergonomics?Methodology: Researchers employed both survey and correlational methods of the descriptive approach to carry out this investigation. A questionnaire created especially for the study was used to gather research data. Forty-two teachers of elementary schools made up the research sample. There were 21 educators from the first cycle (primary grades 1-3) and 21 educators from the second cycle (primary grades 4-6). The sample's average age was 55.76 years, with a standard deviation of 03.69 years.Results: To what extent do senior employees in their different fields practice job crafting? The findings demonstrated that most people in the general sample said they frequently crafted their work. They stated that they have made the changes they feel are required to advance educational work. Task components, the cognitive components, and the social components were the three areas of adjustment that they concentrated on.How are the senior staff members who are using job crafting doing in terms of mental health? The findings also demonstrated the high degree of mental health among employees who do craft their work. It is noteworthy, to mention that first-cycle educators have been found to have better mental health than second-cycle educators. Does job crafting fall under the category of another type of ergonomics? Ergonomics has been defined as the study and practice of fitting work to people for over fifty years, with the goal of enabling people to work happily and enjoy what they do. This is still the definition that is currently used to describe ergonomics. However, who makes the work human-readable? In this case, the person who adapts the work would likely be an ergonomist or engineer with ergonomic training (Grandjean & Kroemer, 1997). This was the state of affairs for many years. However, the concept of "job crafting", has been aiming to achieve a similar objective as ergonomics: that is tailoring work to the needs of the individual so they can be happy doing it. Ergonomics and job crafting therefore have the same end goal, but different methods to get there. In other words, they disagree on the question of who handles the adaptation process. When it comes to job crafting, the employee customizes the task to fit his or her skills and capabilities (Demerouti, 2014).Discussion: The fact that employees are granted freedom within reasonable bounds is among the most significant developments in the twenty-first century workplace. Because an employee with autonomy can be creative and imaginative. In this particular context, it has been observed that employees in the education sector implement any adjustments they think are necessary to ensure they are as comfortable and happy as possible while working. Teachers' excellent psychological health is one outcome of this change at work. Job crafting is a type of ergonomics since it aims to adjust work to workers.Conclusion:According to this study, senior teachers often craft their jobs to make them more appropriate for them. It also demonstrated the high degree of psychological well-being of teachers who engage in job crafting.