6 Workplace Factors that Impact Employee Health

We all want a work environment that strengthens and complements our health and wellbeing. And this is to be expected because we spend at least one-third of our lives at work. We don’t just want an absence of harmful conditions; we want an environment where we can flourish.

We want to work for an organisation where we’re accepted for who we are and where our contribution is valued. And it follows that a workplace like this is one where performance and productivity are high, and employees relish the thought of coming to work every day.

What needs to be in place to have a healthy workplace?

• We want to be supported in the pursuit of whatever healthy lifestyle we choose.
• We want a physical work environment that supports healthy choices and that actively encourages healthy behaviour.
• We want management to put healthy policies in place – no smoking, flexible work, support for physical activity and a safe, non-injurious environment.

The World Health Organisation describes a healthy workplace as follows:

A healthy workplace is one in which workers and managers collaborate to use a continual improvement process to protect and promote the health, safety and well-being of all workers and the sustainability of the workplace by considering the following, based on identified needs:

• Health and safety concerns in the physical work environment;
• Health, safety and well-being concerns in the psychosocial work environment, including organisation of work and workplace culture;
• Personal health resources in the workplace; and
• Ways of participating in the community to improve the health of workers, their families, and other members of the community.

However, for many employees, this is not the case, and it is made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic. Employees are reporting a variety of mental and physical health problems including stress, anxiety, depression, alcoholism, hypertension, and other negative conditions.

This has, in many cases, resulted in workplaces packed with demotivated, stressed-out, and sickly people. And this has resulted in increased absenteeism, lower productivity, reduced innovation and a negative employer reputation. Nobody wants to work for an organisation like this.

Here are six factors that directly impact the health of employees on the job:

1. Job control

Healthy employees want to control how and when they work. A great deal of research has been conducted on employees who have little control over their work. These environments produce mediocre uninspired employees. This becomes worse for employees in high-pressure jobs when they have little control over how their workday unfolds. This is often the case in a high-task, low-relationship organisation.

A high task environment is where employees are given very clear instructions on what to do and how to do it. There is little room for personal initiative. A low relationship environment is characterised by detachment or emotional remoteness, and a disregard for the employee’s view of the situation. For organisations in the challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, leaders can no longer afford to be remote from their team and rule by executive authority.

Organisations can give employees greater control over their jobs by creating roles with more fluidity and autonomy, and by eradicating the micromanagement of competent employees.

2. Number of hours worked and overtime

One of the managerial hangovers from the last century is the notion that the longer you work, the more productive and effective you are. Morten Hansen undertook a study of about 5,000 people and found that performance is not positively related to longer work hours. The reality was that the greater the number of work hours, the lower the productivity delivered per hour worked. Furthermore, regular, long work hours were associated with adverse health, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and disability.

Employers should encourage workers to leave after their workday is done to enjoy time with family and friends. Leaders should avoid teasing employees with the ‘leaving early’ taunt.

3. Providing social support

Social support is a particularly important factor, especially in this time of Covid-19. Social support can have a direct effect on health and buffers the effects of various psychosocial stresses that can compromise our health. However, some high task workplaces make it harder to build relationships and provide support.

Internal competition, continual tight timelines, and nit-picking all work together to reduce collaboration and teamwork. With this mindset, people are seen as factors of production and the emphasis is on making people work hard without the emotional connection between people and their place of work.

A management style that sets people against one another weakens social ties among employees and reduces the social support that produces healthier workplaces. Leaders should encourage greater participation with and within teams and move from a transactional management style to a transformational style of management.

4. Recognising the whole person

Employees are multi-sided individuals – they have jobs, families and other interests. And sometimes these cannot be kept in separate compartments. An employee should never have to feel guilty about taking a child to the doctor, or a few hours off for a school soccer game.

For many people in some organisations, these events are stressful because the corporate culture is such that personal life should not intrude into the workplace.  This can create a climate of fear where employees are split between loyalty to the organisation and taking care of the family.

Employment policies should acknowledge that family and other personal commitments are an important part of life. Employees who feel valued will bring their best selves to work every day.

5. Fairness at work

Workplace satisfaction, commitment, trust and reduced levels of turnover characterise the best organisations.  Employees want fair remuneration, equal opportunities, fair treatment, and safe spaces to speak their minds.

Leaders who act kindly and firmly, and who treat their teams with respect, will be much more successful; than those that do not.

6. Economic insecurity

The Covid-19 epidemic, as well as the economic downturn have put the security of jobs under pressure. This is particularly stressful for employees who are worrying about whether their jobs are safe.

Retrenchments are often regarded as the only option when times get tough, although evidence suggests that the longer-term damage to the organisation is considerable. Living under the fear of losing your job results in poor morale, poor performance and makes for a negative workplace – just the opposite of what you want in a downturn.

Enlightened companies consider short time, salary deductions, indefinite leave and other innovative options, to ensure that employees enjoy some level of security.

Consider your current workplace. How does it stack up against the six criteria we have discussed above? No workplace is perfect, but you deserve an environment where you feel safe and affirmed.

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