Slaughtering for a living: A hermeneutic phenomenological perspective on the well-being of slaughterhouse employees.
Slaughterhouses constitute a unique work setting exposing employees to particular physical and psychological health challenges. Research that focuses on the well-being of slaughterhouse employees is limited, and the aim of this study was to explore their well-being by conducting a hermeneutic phenomenological study of specifically the slaughterfloor employees' work-life experiences. The study was conducted in a South African commercial abattoir setting. Thirteen slaughterfloor employees and two managers of the slaughterfloor section participated in unstructured interviews. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach to data analysis was adopted following the stages of a naïve reading, a structural thematic analysis, and a comprehensive understanding. Data analysis resulted in four process-related themes representing the different stages of becoming a slaughterer, (mal)adjusting to slaughter work, coping with and maintaining the work, and living with the psycho-social consequences of slaughter work. Results facilitate an understanding of how employee well-being manifests in each of these stages of being a slaughterfloor employee. The risk potential of employees suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome was evident throughout the stages of being a slaughterfloor employee and offers a useful diagnostic framework to facilitate employee well-being assistance. Slaughterhouse management should develop a holistic focus addressing employee well-being needs evident in each of the stages of being a slaughter worker and by extending well-being interventions to the broader communities that the slaughterhouse functions in.
HR Manager at Dawn HR Solutions Pty Ltd, Alberton, South Africa.
Karen
K
Victor
Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa; barnaha@unisa.ac.za.
Antoni
A
Barnard
D000003:Abattoirs; D000328:Adult; D066297:Hermeneutics; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D011788:Quality of Life; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology
PTSD; hermeneutic phenomenology; life-world research; post-traumatic stress syndrome; slaughterfloor employee; slaughterhouse work