Organizational control outside of work: a multi-method investigation of an emerging psychosocial hazard

Theory and research have documented the ways in which organizations control workers during work hours. However, with new technical possibilities and societal trends towards greater integration between work and home, some organizations have adopted practices that control workers outside of primary work contexts, a phenomenon that is less commonly researched. Focusing on fly-in-fly out (FIFO) camps in Australia, and drawing on total institution (TI) theory, we explore the nature of organizational control practices in employer-provided camps and investigate how they affect worker identity and mental health. Combining qualitative (i.e., interviews, n = 24) and quantitative (i.e., surveys; n = 479) approaches, our results show that control practices manifest in FIFO camps in profound ways via stringent rules, surveillance, and treating everyday aspects as privileges. These practices encroach on workers’ identity through identity suppression and identity duality. Our results further indicate that the control practices are overall detrimental to worker mental health, and that this impact operates mostly through identity suppression and less through identity duality. We advocate for further research to explore the impact of these sorts of organizational control practices on outcomes beyond mental health as well as within other non-work contexts. Practically, we encourage organizational leaders to balance control practices alongside safety and productivity interests in ways that safeguard worker mental health.