Who's the boss? Health and control in the workplace
Take Home Messages:
Employee health is positively associated with a sense of workplace control and social support.
Interventions that help improve a feeling of workplace control include:
- The formation of employee committees to identify workplace stressors and methods to reduce them;
- Individual health promotion;
- Interventions to increase employee physical activity or reduce stress through meditation; and
- Ergonomic interventions.
Policies and interventions should aim to increase job control and autonomy amongst workers for positive health effects.
Why the study matters:
The “demand-control-support” model has been used by researchers and policy makers for many years. It is based on the belief that employee health is positively associated with a sense of workplace control and social support, and negatively associated with excessive job demands.
Previous studies have shown that the combination of high job demand and low control adversely affects health. The 2004 English public health strategy recommended increasing job control to improve population health.
Evaluation of interventions to increase work control assists in identifying ways to improve employee health and reduce health inequalities. Interventions can be targeted at an individual or organisational level.
What the study involved:
The researchers looked at published studies which reported on the health and psychosocial effects of workplace interventions. A total of 18 studies were analysed and the findings of the studies summarised.
Summary of study findings:
The researchers found that interventions that successfully improve employees’ sense of control have positive health effects.
These effects were found to be:
- Reductions in sickness absence;
- Decreased psychological demands;
- Improved perceived workplace support;
- Improved overall health status; and
- Decreased perceived job demands.
Interventions which improved employees’ sense of control:
- Formation of employee committees to identify workplace stressors and methods to reduce this;
- Individual level health promotion
- Individual level education targeting changes in behaviour
- Interventions to change behaviours (e.g., to increase physical activity, training in relaxation and stress reduction); and
- Ergonomic interventions.
The researchers believe participation in interventions may especially benefit low grade workers and employees belonging to ethnic minorities.
Original research:
The psychosocial and health effects of workplace reorganisation. 1. A systematic review of organisational-level interventions that aim to increase employee control.
Egan M, Bambra C, Thomas S, Petticrew M, Whitehead M, Thomson H.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007 Nov;61(11):945-54.