Employmentweb_low

EmpLoymEnT, work, And HEALTH inEquALiTiES - a global perspective
working conditions following civil service restructuring predicted
increased rates of sickness absence (Head et al., 2006). Intervention
studies can provide the best evidence for a causal link between
working conditions and health. In addition, intervention studies may
offer indications of how best to implement improvements to working
conditions. So far, intervention studies that evaluate the effect of
changing working conditions on health have tended to be conducted in
small samples, and findings have not been conclusive. More recently,
findings from workplace intervention studies have demonstrated that
interventions aimed at improving psychosocial working conditions lead
to short-term reductions in sickness absence and reduced mental
health problems. Further research is needed in this area, including
evaluation of the development and implementation of workplace
interventions, as well as their effectiveness.
Workplace trends in developed countries resulting in part from
economic globalisation, such as the growth of job insecurity,
contingent (temporary and part-time) work, and new systems of
work organisation, appear to be increasing work stress (Kompier,
2006). European surveys show continuing increases in work
intensity and job demands between 1990 and 2005, but no changes
or slight declines in job control or autonomy (Eurofound, 2006),
suggesting an increase in the prevalence of job strain. Overall the
body of evidence on psychosocial working conditions and health has
led to recognition by policy-makers of work stress as a workplace
hazard and calls to begin discussions on setting reference values
(Benavides, Benach, & Muntaner, 2002) similar to standards already
existing in many countries for physical workplace hazards.
Case study 39. Managerial pressure and mental illness: an avoidable achievement. - carles muntaner and haejoo chung
the workers of hitech rcd Korea have the typical "bad luck" with traditional holidays that they share with their fellow
citizens. some of them received letters indicating their dismissal right before the new year's holiday in 2003 (lee, 2005).
this is a common practice among employers, where getting fired during holidays is a common company strategy designed
to minimise negative reactions in the community.
two years later, hitech management did it again. on the day before the 2005 chu suk holiday, the biggest holiday in
south Korea, workers received word of the decision that they would be denied compensation for a work-related debilitating
illness (park, 2005). once again, on a holiday during which workers had looked forward to spending time with their families,
it was instead an occasion for anger and sadness. the debilitating illness that was the subject of the compensation decision
was "adjustment disorder," a disease recognised by the american psychiatric association (apa) and the Who as “ad, with
co-morbid depression”. the question was, can it be caused by the work environment according to the apa's diagnostic and
statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm-iv), ad is a maladaptive reaction to identifiable stressful life events, such as
divorce, job loss, physical illness, or natural disaster. this diagnosis assumes that the condition will remit when the stress
ceases or when the patient adapts to the situation. it is our observation that ad can be produced by working conditions,
particularly in a country with such strong anti-labour legislation as south Korea’s.
actually, in occupational health, it is widely known that mental disorders such as depression or adjustment disorders are a
common consequence of work stress (see, for example, the ilo encyclopedia of occupational safety and health). two disciplines,
psychiatric epidemiology and sociology of mental health, study the effects of work organisation on mental disorders. by "work
organisation" we mean the social organisation of work involving aspects such as autonomy, workload, management style, or
worker-management relations. For example, manual workers often show high rates of psychiatric disorders. the use of this job
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