Monday, August 28, 2006

Justice at work

No fairness in the workplace? No surprise...it's bad for your health. Investigators from Finland and England suggested employers ponder this:

An indicator of justice at work is whether people believe that their supervisor considers their viewpoints, shares information concerning decision-making, and treats individuals fairly and in a truth manner.

Previous studies have confirmed that undervalued is way worse than overworked when the longterm effects on health and wellbeing are considered. This particular study reported last year in the Archives of Internal Medicine followed 6500 British civil servants over nearly 9 years, correlating incidence of coronary heart disease with perceived justice in the workplace. They found that the level of justice was a significant predictor of future heart disease even when numbers were adjusted for conventional risk factors such as hypertension and smoking.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've seen a lot of unhappy workers in my office recently. Certain local government offices here in Denver are not only endangering the daily satisfaction but also the future health of their employees.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are so right. I just left a job in private industry after months of terrible stress (incompetent management, no standard of fairness, no active listening, passive-aggressive behavior). My blood pressure has been up and down for months, I've put on weight, no energy. My doctor told me that leaving was the right decision, that staying on would negatively affect my long-term health (I'm 60+). I think people have no idea how much stress brings them low until they get out of a toxic work environment. I'm feeling so much better after a few days.