How workplace stress contributes to cardiovascular disease

September 15, 2016

Science Daily/University of California, Irvine
A model has been created that illustrates how economic globalization may create stressful employment factors in high-income countries contributing to the worldwide epidemic of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Peter Schnall and Marnie Dobson with UCI and Dr. Paul Landsbergis with SUNY Downstate published their findings online in the current edition of the International Journal of Health Services in the article titled "Globalization, Work and Cardiovascular Disease."

Cardiovascular disease, a global epidemic, is responsible for about 30 percent of all deaths worldwide. While mortality rates from CVD have been mostly declining in the advanced industrialized nations, some risk factors -- including hypertension, obesity and diabetes -- have been on the increase everywhere. Researchers investigating the social causes of CVD have produced a robust body of evidence documenting the effect of the work environment, including through the mechanisms of psychosocial job stressors. These stressors can produce chronic biologic responses like hypertension and promote unhealthy behaviors, which increase CVD risk.

The researchers also offer a theoretical model that illustrates how economic globalization influences the labor market and work organization in high-income countries, which in turn exacerbates job characteristics, such as unreasonable demands, low job control, effort-reward imbalance, job insecurity and long hours.

"Given the high costs of medical treatment and the economic impact on employers and society of ill health, lost productivity, and sickness absence, it is in the interest of all to seriously consider improving work organization," said Landsbergis, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate.

The authors make the following recommendations:

•    Implement national surveillance of occupations, industries and workplaces to identify elevated levels of hazardous work characteristics;

•    Pass regulations and laws limiting psychosocial stressors on the job;

•    Establish upper limits of weekly and yearly work hours (to reduce CVD risk);

•    Mandate vacation time for all employees to facilitate recovery;

•    Pass regulations to mandate a "living wage" that provides sufficient support so that workers are not forced to work excessively long hours;

•    And pass legislation that increases the economic security of precarious workers.

"We conclude from more than 30 years of epidemiological research that CVD is a disease of modern industrial society and not the natural result of aging," said Schnall, who is with UCI's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health and a clinical professor of medicine and public health. "It is related to forms of production that emerged with industrialization and that have expanded with economic globalization: long work hours, repetitive work, high demands, lack of control, long hours, and job insecurity."

"Global economic policies and the rise of the new flexible labor market have caused an increase in precarious employment in advanced industrialized countries," added Dobson, an assistant adjunct professor in Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. "These work stressors in turn contribute to CVD risk factors such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160915163807.htm

High status job means you are less likely to respond to treatment for depression

September 20, 2016

Science Daily/European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP)
A high status job means that you are less likely to respond to standard treatment with medications for depression, an international study has found. These results may have implications for clinicians and their patients, employers and public policy.

Up to a third of patients who receive drug treat for depression do not respond to treatment. Knowing which groups don't respond could help clinicians understand which treatments are appropriate to which person. In the case of workers, it may also enable employers to take steps to ease stressful conditions. Although there is a wealth of research showing that low social and economic status is associated with a greater risk of depression, there has been little work focusing on how occupational levels respond to treatment.

A group of international researchers from Belgium, Italy, Israel and Austria enlisted 654 working adults attending clinics for depression, and classified their work according to occupational level. 336 (51.4%) held high occupational level jobs, 161 (24.6%) middle-level, and 157 (24%) low level. Around two-thirds of the patients were female (65.6%), which reflects the normal gender difference in reported depression. Most patients were treated with SRIs (Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), although other pharmaceutical agents were also used, as well as psychotherapy. Those in the higher levels were found to have received fewer SRIs and more psychotherapy.

On analysing results after treatment, they found that 55.9% in the highest occupational group were resistant to treatment. In contrast, only 40.2% of the middle-level workers remained treatment resistant, and 44.3 of the low-level workers. This difference was also reflected in the degree of remission, with only around one in 6 in remission in the higher status group, as against around one in 4 for the other groups.

Commenting, Professor Siegfried Kasper (Vienna, Austria) said "Though these findings should be considered preliminarily, they indicate that high occupational levels may be a risk factor for poor response to treatment. A number of variables may explain these findings. For example, there may be specific working environment demands and stressors; people may find it difficult to accept or cope with illness, or to continue with medication; or there may be other factors, related for example to cognitive, personality and behavioural differences."

Co-worker Professor Joseph Zohar (ECNP Past-President, Tel-Hashomer, Israel) said; "This shows that the need for precise prescribing is not only related to the symptoms and genetics but also to occupational level; one might need to prescribe different medication for the same disorder and need to take into account the occupational level in order to reach optimum effect."

Professor Eduard Vieta (ECNP Executive Committee member and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona), commented:

"The results of this study might sound counterintuitive, but people with highly demanding jobs are subject to a lot of stress, and when they breakdown with depression it may be particularly difficult to cope with their previous life. An alternative explanation, which cannot be ruled out given the naturalistic design of the study, is that high-status job patients may be more prone to request psychosocial treatments without the support of pharmacotherapy. The ideal treatment of depression is, in general, the combination of both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160920083017.htm

On the job: Is it better to fit in or stand out?

November 14, 2016

Science Daily/University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business
Is it better to fit in or stand out at work? A new study suggests that the answer depends on your position in your network structure and your degree of cultural alignment.

If you're the kind of person who stands out culturally -- you don't follow the same norms as the others in the office -- in order to succeed you will need to fit into your organization structurally, by being part of a tight-knit group of colleagues. And if you stand out structurally -- you aren't a member of any one clique at work but serve as a bridge across groups that are otherwise disconnected from each other -- then you better fit in culturally.

In the paper, "Fitting in or Standing Out? The Tradeoffs of Structural and Cultural Embeddedness," published in the American Sociological Review, co-authors Sameer Srivastava of UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and Amir Goldberg of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business explore the relationship between fitting in, standing out, and success within an organization. The paper is written in collaboration with Christopher Potts, professor of linguistics at Stanford, and Stanford graduate researchers Govind Manian and Will Monroe.

"Most people recognize that, if they fail to differentiate themselves from their peers, they are very unlikely to get ahead," says Srivastava. "Yet fitting into a company creates a larger, motivating sense of identity for employees and enables them to collaborate with others in the organization."

The result is a conflicting pressure on workers to fit into an organization and, at the same time, stand out. Srivastava and his colleagues wanted to learn more about that tension and find ways to resolve it.

Examining the language used in corporate emails provided useful, raw data. The researchers studied a mid-sized technology company's complete archive of email messages exchanged among 601 full-time employees between 2009 and 2014. For privacy and confidentiality, only emails exchanged among employees were analyzed and identifying information and actual message content were stripped from the data. The team created an algorithm that could analyze the natural language in emails, focusing on the extent to which people expressed themselves using a linguistic style that matched the style used by their colleagues.

"Some of the most informative language categories were ones whose use is governed by cultural norms -- for example, using emotional language when communicating with colleagues. People who fit in culturally learned to understand and match the linguistic norms followed by their colleagues," says Srivastava.

To learn how this relates to an employee's success, the researchers studied employee age, gender, and tenure, and identified all employees who had left the company and whether their departure was voluntary or involuntary. That data enabled them to correlate professional success with fitting in and standing out. The researchers theorized that employees in the firm can be characterized by their levels of cultural assimilation, as well as their attachment to various network cliques. This led them to identify four organizational archetypes: "doubly embedded actors," "disembedded actors," "assimilated brokers" and "integrated nonconformists."

What the researchers call a "doubly embedded" employee -- is someone who is both culturally compliant and part of a dense network. Such a person is unlikely to get exposed to novel information and will struggle to break through the clutter in proposing ideas of his own. The researchers found that such workers were over three times more likely to be involuntarily terminated (i.e. fired) than those identified as integrated nonconformists, people who are part of a tight-knit group but still stand out culturally.

Those most likely to get ahead are called "assimilated brokers," meaning people who are high on cultural fit and low on network cliqueness. Their mirror images, the integrated nonconformists, also gained more job success.

"The assimilated broker has connections across parts of the organization that are otherwise disconnected. At the same time, she knows how to blend in seamlessly with each of these groups even if they are quite different culturally," says Srivastava. Clearly, both fitting in and standing out are important for career success, but the lesson, says Srivastava, is that if you blend in both structurally and culturally, you risk being seen as bland and unremarkable. At the same time, if you try to serve as a bridge across groups but lack the capacity for cultural conformity, you can wind up being perceived with suspicion and mistrust.

The goal is to find a balance between the two.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161114082432.htm

'Nice' women earn less than their more assertive counterparts

New confirms that nice women finish last

November 21, 2016
Science Daily/American Friends of Tel Aviv University
A new study finds that the nicer, or more agreeable, a woman is at work, the lower her salary is likely to be. The new research examines status inconsistencies between men and women through the lens of traditional male and female characteristics.

Dominant, assertive women, who clearly express their expectations and do not retreat from their demands, are compensated better than their more accommodating female peers. According to the researchers, the same goes for dominant men versus their more conciliatory male counterparts -- but even dominant women earn far less than all of their male colleagues, dominant or otherwise.

The study was conducted by Prof. Sharon Toker of the Tel Aviv University Coller School of Business Management, Dr. Michal Biron of the Department of Business Administration at the University of Haifa, and Dr. Renee De Reuver of the Department of Human Resource studies at Tilburg University in The Netherlands.

Sugar and spice and everything nice?

"We have witnessed dramatic changes in the definition of traditionally male and female qualities over the past several decades. But some people still really cling to the idea that some qualities are exclusively male and exclusively female," Prof. Toker said. "Some professional women are still afraid to exhibit a trait that's incongruent with presumed notions of female character. The result is financial retribution."

"We found that women aren't aware that more agreeable women are being punished for being nice," said Dr. Biron. "The nice women we polled in our study even believed they were earning more than they deserved."

For the purpose of their study, the researchers surveyed 375 men and women at a Dutch multinational electronics company with 1,390 employees. The subjects were selected at random from all 12 of the company departments.

The researchers used both objective and subjective criteria for the study. For objective data, they analyzed tenure, education, and performance data relative to income and promotion statistics. For subjective data, they examined how the individual perceived the fit between their education, experience, and performance on the one hand, and their income and rank on the other.

More effort for less return

"We found that women were consistently and objectively status-detracted, which means they invest more of themselves in their jobs than they receive; and are compensated less than their male colleagues across the board," Dr. Biron said.

"But dominant women were not punished for reflecting such female-incongruent traits as extroversion and assertiveness," Dr. De Reuver said. "In fact, we found that the more dominant a woman is at work, the less likely she is to be status-detracted. We found a similar pattern among men -- the more dominant a man is, the more likely he is to be better compensated. But alarmingly, dominant women were still found to earn less than even the most agreeable men who aren't promoted."

In the subjective part of the study, nearly all the employees responded that they felt dissatisfied with their input-compensation ratio, but agreeable and non-dominant women answered that they felt they earned too much.

"This blew our minds," said Prof. Toker. "The data shows that they earn the least -- far less than what they deserve. And they rationalize the situation, making it less likely that they will make appropriate demands for equal pay."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161121165245.htm

Workplace fun is fundamental for learning on the job

December 13, 2016

Science Daily/Penn State
All work and no play may dull on-the-job learning at workplaces, according to a team of researchers.

In a study, having fun at work was significantly related to informal learning, which includes most unstructured, non-classroom forms of learning, said Michael Tews, associate professor of hospitality management. Informal learning is a common way employees pick up lessons that can improve their job performances.

"Most learning at the workplace occurs independently at the desk, or with a few other people, not necessarily in a classroom," said Tews.

He added that it may not be the fun activities themselves that instill the new lessons, but how fun creates a better learning environment. People in fun work environments are more inclined to try new things and not fear possible mistakes, for example.

"You might not think there is this connection between informal learning and fun in the workplace," said Tews. "It's easier to make the connection between fun and retention, or fun and performance to the extent that it leads to creativity, but fun and learning doesn't seem connected at the face of it. The gist of this argument, though, is that when you have a workplace that is more fun, it creates a safe environment for learning to occur."

The study looked at fun activities supported by management to enhance wellbeing -- team-building activities or celebrations to recognize achievements, for example -- and the manager's overall support for fun on the job.

A manager's support for fun actually mattered more than his or her support for learning, according to the researchers, who reported their findings in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, currently online.

"There's a lot of talk in the literature about a manager's support for learning, or creating a climate for learning, and how that makes a culture for learning where workers learn from one another," said Tews. "What we're showing is that this fun on the job actually matters as much as -- or even more -- than that support for learning."

Fun can also bring coworkers together, which, in turn aids learning between workers.

"It creates this group cohesion," said Tews. "So, when there's fun, then the co-workers may be able to get to know each other, have better connections, and be more apt to help each other."

While fun is often looked at as a distraction by managers, it may improve a worker's resiliency and optimism, leading to better attention with tasks, according to Tews, who worked with John W. Michel, associate professor of business and management, Loyola University, and Raymond A. Noe, professor of management and human resources, Ohio State University.

However, fun is not a cure-all for workplace productivity and learning, Tews cautioned. In earlier research, he found that fun had a favorable effect on promoting employee retention, but could cause productivity to suffer. Managers, then, should be selective in how they use fun to encourage learning and productivity.

"With most management tactics, there are always going to be pros and cons," said Tews. "There's never going to be a perfect workplace, there's never going to be a perfect management intervention, so you have to choose your battles."

The researchers recruited 206 managers from a chain of 80 casual dining restaurants. The restaurants are decentralized with limited opportunities for classroom learning and rely on informal learning opportunities to improve knowledge and skills.

Participants were asked to rate fun activities, their own bosses' support for fun, their attitude and informal learning at their restaurants.

Tews said future research is needed to validate the study's findings with other groups of employees. However, the current findings are promising to support the notion that fun has instrumental value in the workplace, he added.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161213113152.htm

Researchers uncover why morning people should not work at night

December 16, 2016

Science Daily/National Research University Higher School of Economics
It has been known for a long time that early risers work less efficiently at night than night owls do. But researchers have uncovered new and distinctive features between the night activities of these two types of individuals. At night, early risers demonstrate a quicker reaction time when solving unusual attention-related tasks than night owls, but these early risers make more mistakes along the way.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/12/161216115532_1_540x360.jpg
At night, early risers demonstrate a quicker reaction time when solving unusual attention-related tasks than night owls, but these early risers make more mistakes along the way.
Credit: © nirutft / Fotolia    

Sleep deprivation and a relative increase in the time spent awake negatively impact the brain's attention system. Nicola Barclay and Andriy Myachykov conducted a study that is the first experiment investigating the influence of sleep deprivation on people with different chronotypes. Specifically, the researchers found out how an increase in time spent awake affects the attention system of early risers and night owls. The study is available in the journal Experimental Brain Research.

Twenty-six volunteers (13 male, 13 female) with an average age of 25 participated in the study. Participants were required to stay awake for 18 hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., and adhere to their normal routine. At the beginning and end of their time spent awake, the participants completed an Attention Network Test (ANT) and a Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire to help assess their chronotype.

The researchers did not find any important differences between the results of the ANT test the early birds and night owls completed in the morning, but the evening test showed a more pronounced contrast. The early birds completed tests quicker than the night owls, which was a rather unexpected and contradictory outcome, though the researchers did find an explanation for this. This may have been because of the different approaches the two groups took towards managing the task. Evening people tended to take a more serious approach when it came to tasks requiring more time and attention during their favorite hours, i.e., in the late evening or at night. 'To deal with the most difficult test -- resolving a conflict of attention -- it was necessary not only to concentrate on the main visual stimulus, but at the same time to ignore accompanying stimulus that distract from the core task,' Andriy Myachykov explains. Completion of this task requires increased concentration. 'An interesting fact is that although night owls spent more time finishing than early birds, their accuracy in completing the task was higher,' the researcher added.

Overall, the evening people turned out to be slower but more efficient compared to the early risers, according to the second ANT taken at 2:00 a.m. after 18 hours of being awake. 'On the one hand, it's known that night owls are more efficient in the late hours, but how this influences the speed and accuracy with which attention-related tasks are completed remains unclear. Our study demonstrated how night owls working late at night "sacrifice" speed for accuracy,' explained Andriy Myachykov.

The results of this study could challenge the education system and human resources management in certain areas. For pilots, air traffic controllers, drivers, etc., attention, the ability to deal with large sets of data, and reaction time are all very important. During emergencies, these features could play a vital role. The results of this study could also be very useful for people who work night shift.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161216115532.htm

Employers need to do more to encourage staff to switch off at home

January 5, 2017

Science Daily/British Psychological Society (BPS)
Less than half of UK businesses and organizations provide employees with guidance on how to switch off from work when they go home.

This is one of the findings from a survey conducted by Dr. Almuth McDowall (Birkbeck, University of London) and Professor Gail Kinman (University of Bedfordshire) who will present their results today, Friday 6 January 2017, at the British Psychological Society's Division of Occupational Psychology annual conference being held in Liverpool.

Dr Gail Kinman said: "From January 1st, French workers have the right to disconnect from email to avoid the intrusion of work into their private lives and protect them against burnout. We wanted to know what are UK organisations doing to protect employees against the risks of being always on?"

Over 370 UK organisations across a range of sectors took part in the survey. Findings revealed that less than 50 per cent of organisations surveyed provided their employees with guidance on how to switch off. Surprisingly, more than half also had no formal policies in place to help their employees balance work demands with personal life in general.

While some respondents acknowledged that using devices such as smartphones could improve communication at work and boost productivity (24 per cent), the negative effects of technology on relationships at work (21 per cent) and wellbeing (27 per cent)) were also highlighted.

Dr Gail Kinman commented: "Our findings clearly show that organisations are not helping their staff accommodate to the changing world of work which is likely to have a negative impact on their wellbeing, their work-life balance and their effectiveness. Many individuals we surveyed clearly feel under great pressure not to switch off, leading to intense pressure, poorer performance and worry about what the immediate future holds.

"It's time to take a more proactive approach to helping employees and organisations become more 'e-resilient' and to manage technology in a more healthy and sustainable way."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170105213128.htm

Exercise, sleep are key to keeping employees from bringing home work frustrations

February 7, 2017

Science Daily/University of Central Florida
A brisk walk or a long swim may be the key to preventing a bad day at the office from spilling over into the home. A study tracked participants' sleep patterns and daytime physical movements found employees who recorded more than 10,900 steps each day were less likely to perpetuate abuse at home.

A study published this month in the Journal of Applied Psychology tracked participants' sleep patterns and daytime physical movements found employees who recorded an average of more than 10,900 steps each day were less likely to perpetuate abuse at home than those recording fewer than 7,000.

"Research shows employees who are mistreated at work are likely to engage in similar behaviors at home," said University of Central Florida's College of Business management professor Shannon Taylor, who teamed up with researchers from Illinois and Wisconsin for the study. "If they've been belittled or insulted by a supervisor, they tend to vent their frustration on members of their household. Our study shows that happens because they're too tired to regulate their behavior."

The study concludes sleep and exercise are intervention points that can be leveraged to prevent the spread of harmful behavior. Study participants included 118 MBA students with full-time jobs who took a survey and then wore activity monitors for a week. A follow-up survey was then sent to the participants' cohabitants.

Taylor said the study found that burning an additional 587 calories can reduce the harmful effects of mistreatment and help prevent it from carrying into the home. For the average American man, these gains can be achieved with an hour of swimming or a brisk 90-minute walk.

"The findings are particularly compelling given recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the American Heart Association to walk between 8,000 and 10,000 steps per day," Taylor said. "I also think the study gives us a new perspective on the importance of getting an adequate amount of sleep and exercise. It's not just good for you, it's good for your spouse, too."

Taylor is an associate professor and Ph.D. program coordinator in the management department at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. His research examines rude, abusive, and unethical behaviors of employees and leaders. His work has appeared in journals in business and applied psychology and has been featured by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox News and NPR. He also serves as research director at Knowtro Inc.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170207191902.htm

Does stress lead to lengthier periods of sick leave?

May 30, 2017

Science Daily/Deutsches Aerzteblatt International
The duration of a person’s unfitness for work is determined by more than his/her primary diagnosis. Patients often report psychological problems and a feeling of being burnt out. Researchers analyzed whether an association exists between such psychological symptoms and the length of sick leave, even if patients received their sick note because of purely physical symptoms, such as back pain.

The researchers studied the data of 225 patients, from 14 general practices, who had been issued with a sickness certificate. The diagnoses that prompted the sick leave varied. Respiratory disorders and disorders of the musculoskeletal system were the most common diagnoses. The longest mean periods of sick leave were documented for patients with diagnoses of skin diseases and mental disorders. All study participants completed a questionnaire that included the Maslach Burnout Inventory, General Survey, and Patient Health Questionnaire, with the scales depression, somatization, and anxiety. Patients' characteristics such as sex, age, relationship status, and educational attainment were also captured.

For the total study population, doctors' sick notes were associated with longer periods of sick leave in patients with a lower level of educational attainment (less than 10 years of schooling), independently of the primary diagnosis. An association existed between the length of the sick leave period and emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, depression, anxiety, and somatization. When study participants were excluded whose unfitness for work was primarily due to psychological and psychiatric diagnoses, the sick leave period correlated with emotional exhaustion, somatization, and -- almost statistically significantly -- with depression. Sex and relationship status were not relevant.

In a secondary analysis, age and formal education were associated with the duration of sick leave. Each year of increase in age led to an increase in the length of the sick leave period by 1.7%. In persons with higher levels of education, the length of sick leave was reduced by 40%. In terms of the psychological burden, an association of anxiety symptoms with the duration of unfitness to work was primarily noted.

The authors conclude that a holistic approach in patient-centered communication, such as is applied in case of depression and anxiety, may be helpful in psychological or physical symptoms of unknown origin during the consultation with the primary care physician.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170530095835.htm