En helt vanlig vardag! En kvalitativ studie av LSS chefernas tankar om balansen mellan brukarnas levnadsvillkor och personalens arbetsmiljö.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to look into how middle managers of Swedish LSS housing are balancing their responsibility to provide their clients with good living conditions and their responsibility to fulfill their employees’ right to a good working environment. We conducted one focus group with three middle managers from one municipality participating and then five semi-structured interviews with middle managers from another larger municipality. We were supposed to conduct two focus groups but the circumstances forced us to change our plans. All interviews were conducted through digital meetings because of the corona pandemic. We studied our results from two opposite views that have a lot of influence on the managers' work: New Public Management (NPM) and the view of good living conditions. Whereas NPM works to put a price tag on every aspect of the clients' life the Act Concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (LSS-lagen) works to improve the client’s life situation without concerns for the cost. The Act states that good living conditions means that the clients get compensatory support so that they can enjoy the right to live a life like anyone else. The client’s right to influence and self-determination is greatly emphasized in both the Act, by our informants and previous research. The middle managers are governed by the political administration elected by the municipalities’ residents and have to follow the political goals and budget they provide. The middle managers have their discretion to help to balance their work and it is especially in two cases the responsibilities towards the clients and the employees collide; when the budget is too restricted or when the clients are aggressive and act out. The clients 'self-determination and wishes are from time to time overseen mainly due to the budget not being sufficient for a higher staff density. The middle managers are trying to find ways to ensure the clients' good living conditions despite restrictions but it is not always possible since they are restricted by the employees’ wellbeing as well as political goals and restrictions from the administration. The employees document almost everything that they do with the clients. The documentation is both as a way to ensure efficiency and budget control and as a way to follow up on the clients to ensure they have good living conditions. When it comes to the risk of violent situations the middle managers have to make ethical considerations and compare the risk for the clients with the risk for the employees. If it’s not a matter of life and death for the client then they can’t expose the employee to an overwhelming risk of violence. They use risk calculations and action plans to find ways to work safely with all the clients.