Job insecurity, workplace reorganisation, redundancy and precarious employment status detrimentally affect workers' physical and mental health, according to new research by the Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
The study - Employment Status and Health - found that temporary workers are more likely to suffer from fatigue, backache and muscular pain than permanent staff. However, they are less likely to take sick leave than their permanent, full-time colleagues. And this is the case "across job categories, economic sectors and countries".
The working conditions of temporary staff are worse than for permanent employees. Temporary workers are more exposed to "painful positions, intense noise, repetitive movements and short repetitive tasks" and they have less freedom to manage their work and time. Permanent workers are more exposed to high-speed work, says the foundation.
Although it is only a partial solution, the support of co-workers, supervisors and trade unions can reduce the negative effects of job insecurity. Being kept informed about changes that are to take place also helps temporary workers, as can having a feeling that they have a modicum of control over events, it says.
Despite this, temporary workers receive less consultation than permanent workers, says the foundation. They also receive less training and are less likely to receive support from other workers, management or union representatives.
Employers and unions should consider the impact of business decisions on health and human resources, while governments should carry out periodic health impact assessments on their labour market policies, says the report.
This is becoming increasingly important given the changing world of work in which fixed-term contracts, agency work, part-time work, freelancing and self-employment are becoming more and more part of the industrial and post-industrial world, says the Loughlinstown-based workplace think-tank.
International competition, new technologies, de-industrialisation and the privatisation of state-owned companies have led to reorganisation, restructuring and downsizing. Such workplace reorganisation can have a direct and negative impact on health, it says.
Some research suggests that the "impact of job insecurity on physical health may be more pronounced for men than for women".
Other studies indicate that the "negative effects of job insecurity on physical health may increase with time and that the perceived intensity of employment insecurity is strongly associated with psychosomatic symptoms, aches and pains".
Psychological health and emotional wellbeing diminish "in the period leading up to organisational change", while some research found that women who were anticipating job change smoked more and took less daily exercise.
People who have previously been unemployed or who are on short-term contracts are more likely to perceive their employment as insecure, says the foundation. Meanwhile, workers at "the lower levels within organisations and who have little knowledge about the likely effects of organisational change tend to have little decision latitude (control) and to be most at risk of ill-health".
Workers whose jobs are insecure will be healthiest if they have high self-esteem and an "internal locus of control". But people with low self-esteem and an external locus of control cope less well with job insecurity. While people with "positive affectivity" fare better than the self-doubters, even psychologically robust workers will be affected by "acute" job insecurity.
Discussing organisational change with temporary workers will greatly assist them and, presumably, help them to work better. However, precisely the opposite occurs. Temporary workers are less consulted about change and they discuss work problems less with other workers, managers or their union representatives, says the foundation.
One study suggested that "downsizing can lead to increased levels of certified sick leave", particularly if the jobs of a significant proportion of the workforce are made redundant and where a high proportion of the workforce are over 44 years, says the foundation.
However, "carefully managed downsizing can actually lead to clearer roles and responsibilities for workers and result in increased worker participation. In addition, the personality characteristics of optimism and having a strong sense of mastery of one's environment have been found to be important in the process of perceiving job threat and the coping strategies employed by survivors of downsizing. These characteristics appear (within limits) to be able to offset the negative psychological effects of the downsizing experience," it says.
Voluntary redundancy with "a good financial package, exit counselling and training for future employment" has a very different impact on workers than compulsory redundancy, short notice and limited financial remuneration. But the foundation notes that "poor quality re-employment can actually be more detrimental to psychological health than unemployment".
Employment Status and Health will soon be posted on the European Foundation's website: www.eurofound.ie
