Browsing by Author "Sandell, Daniela"

Aims. The aim of this study is to add knowledge about how the COVID-19 crisis has affected the working life of newly graduated university students and on the relationship between them and their employers. In this study, the COVID-19 crisis is compared with previous economic crises during recent centuries. Previous research shows that newly graduated university students’ opportunities in working life have been affected by economic crises. The psychological contract is used as a theory to find out how the relationship between employers and employees has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Method. Seven newly graduated university students participated in the study. They had completed a master’s degree in Educational Science during the spring and autumn of 2020. The study used qualitative research methods and the material was collected through semi- structured interviews. The empirical material was analysed with theoretical content analysis. Both the empirical material and Rousseau’s (1995) theory of the psychological contract guided the analysis. Results. The results showed that the COVID-19 crisis affected the working life of the newly graduated university students and the relationship between them and their employers. The COVID-19 crisis had an impact on the companies in which the informants worked by affecting: their employment contracts, career opportunities, tasks and working methods. The opportunities for career development and permanent employment were experienced as affected by the COVID-19 crisis. This contributed to fixed-term employment being the most common type of employment among the newly graduated university students. The COVID-19 crisis had also affected the relationship between employees and employers. The informants experienced feelings of uncertainty and ambiguity but also concurrently a more open communication. Uncertainty and ambiguity affected the image of the employers as safe and reliable. Due to distance work, the communication between the employers and employees became more open, which strengthened their relationship. The results showed that most of the informants had a balanced or relational psychological contract.