The next time someone tells you, “my job is killing me,” it may not just be a figure of speech.
At a time when large employers now spend almost $900 per employee per year on wellness programs, one can only wonder whether stressful work environments have produced the very problems companies are trying to fix.
And now there’s new evidence that some workplace factors like job strain and shift work actually shorten life expectancy. A recent study attributes as much as 10 to 38% of premature death to harmful aspects of work. High-strain situations correlate to greater rates of unhealthy behaviors like overeating, less frequent exercise and more use of harmful substances. Workers faced with high demands, low control and low social support experience significantly higher rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, independent of traditional risk factors. Workers in high-strain work environments also have been shown to develop two times as many new cases of clinical depression and anxiety disorders compared to those in low-strain environments.
This paints a sober picture of the modern workplace—one where workers can suffer serious consequences from psychological duress.
Ideally, every work setting would enhance your health and life. Many companies can and do work towards this goal. Realistically, however, culture and management changes do not come quickly or easily, especially for companies with long-standing, hierarchical structures. The realities of business often distract executives from making a supportive work environment their highest priority.
So what ethical responsibilities do companies have to protect employees from exposure to known hazards? For basic safety issues, employers have a duty to either reduce exposure or equip employees with preventative skills and tools to minimize risk. For psychological safety, should workers expect the same protection? If organizations cannot reduce work demands or increase individual job discretion, perhaps organizations can help employees cope better and thrive under difficult circumstances.
It’s not surprising that resilience training is now the fastest growing health program among employers. Resilience moderates the effects of high job strain, improving job satisfaction and performance. Not unlike training workers to use proper lifting techniques to protect their backs or to apply protective gear to avoid injury, resilience teaches people to challenge and adjust negative thinking patterns that can be caused or worsened by stressful work settings.
“The impact of chronic stress on personal performance is multidimensional,” says Michael Thompson, Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers, who has over 25 years in healthcare and employee benefits strategy development and implementation, design, financing, pricing, operations, and analysis. “Demands and pressures can come from all directions. By helping people learn the skill of resilience, we are helping them to be at their best at work, at home and in life; it’s a positive step forward toward their greater well-being and a positive return for the organization.” Like programs that prepare workers for specific physical tasks, resilience training is similar to protective gear for the brain.