Researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Purdue University, Indiana, have confirmed employees’ long-held suspicions: busy working days take a toll on your health. Their study combined observations of workers at Danish private sector firms with data on individuals’ health, and found that, when companies’ export volumes increased, staff were working longer and taking fewer sick leave days – but levels of sickness rose.
“Wages rise as the demand for output increases, so, in the economics of health, we anticipated better health and wellbeing as a result of an export boom,” says researcher Chong Xiang. “When we found totally different results, we were initially puzzled.”
The study revealed particularly significant results among female employees. Women working at the firms experienced illness at roughly the same rate as male workers, but a 10 per cent rise in exports increased their rates of severe depression by 2.1 per cent, and the rate of hospitalisations as a result of heart attacks or strokes by 15 per cent.
When calculated relative to the wage gains from rising exports, the welfare loss from higher injury and sickness rates was 4.9 per cent for the average man and 17.3 per cent for the average woman. The discrepancy has been attributed to the different responses to stress commonly exhibited by men and women: women tend to feel sad and guilty, whereas men often feel restless and angry.
“When employers want to increase the workload for their workers, they should be aware that these changes will have an impact on their health, and make sure they accommodate the possible responses to avoid their employees unexpectedly falling sick,” says Chong.
Executives are most likely to discriminate over age
Research into discrimination among UK executives has produced surprising results on the way top-level employers respond to age at work. The survey of 500 executives from The Career Management Organisation found age discrimination was cited as the most common form of discrimination among executives, followed by gender and, to a lesser degree, disability, race and sexuality.
Male executives are the most likely source of any kind of discrimination and are more likely to discriminate against men and women on the grounds of age, but female executives are more likely to exhibit age discrimination towards other women than they are towards men, the study found. The majority of both male and female executives also believe people complain about discrimination when it hasn’t actually taken place – a finding that could have significant implications for the way discrimination complaints and tribunals are handled at work.
As recent figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that almost 10 million workers aged 50-plus are now in employment in the UK, organisations need to lead the way in addressing discrimination, says researcher Fiona MacRoberts: “HR needs to be at the forefront of this – pointing out the bare facts and creating conditions where older people’s experience and value are not just appreciated, but rewarded.”
Poor team spirit could be causing high absenteeism
High absenteeism rates could be the result of a lacklustre team spirit, according to a new report by a Dutch-Canadian research team.
The study found that sick employees who worked in teams with high absence rates were more likely to call in sick than those whose teams had average or low absence rates. However, the majority of ill people in teams with high absence rates decided to come into work anyway.
The 19 per cent who called in sick said they had a transactional working relationship with their team, while those who felt ill but came in anyway said they were part of a strong and positive team.
The finding confirms a common theory based on social exchange: that a culture of absence could be neutralised if a team has a positive and a trusting relationship.
The researchers also found that employees were less influenced by high rates of absence when their work was highly interconnected and interdependent. This suggests that when a task is made very difficult by the absence of a teammate, individuals become more aware of that cost and less prepared to inflict it on a colleague.
“Transparency and trust are key to a well-functioning team,” says researcher Lieke ten Brummelhuis. “Organisations could invest in team-building exercises to create more trust and cohesion. If supervisors set an example of open communication, it is more likely that team members will adopt this style.”