Helsinki, Finlandia
The aim of the study was to compare the performance targets among Finnish occupational health nurses working in the public and private sector. To our knowledge, the performance management has not been studied in occupational health nursing. Design and methodsThe Finnish Association of Occupational Health Nurses (FAOHN) carried out an electronic questionnaire study in 2018.ResultsPublic health sector OHNs consider the set performance targets reasonable compared with the private sector nurses. About half felt the performance targets inappropriate to their work. The performance targets were not based on the goals agreed with the clients, actual workload, or quality of the work. The performance targets should be reasonable, personalized, and based rather on achieving the goals with the clients than optimizing the financial return. Direct participation in the target setting, personal goals, and rewards when the goals are met, can increase OHNs’ well-being at work.