Stress/Wellness/Healthcare Mgmt/Work-life Balance

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Stress/Wellness/HealthcareMgmt/Work-life Balance
Definition Stress occurs when an individual
cannot adequately respond to job or
organizational stimuli without damage (e.g.,
fatigue, worry, heart disease). Established
Research Performance
Stress
(giving a speech, studying for a test)
Conclusion Nearly all work-induced stress is
undesirable, not a bell-shaped curve
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REASONS FOR MANAGING STRESS

• Corporate self-interest
• ? 1 Fringe benefit?
• ? Popular prescription drugs?
• ? How did stress get linked to
• health care costs? Control Data
• 2. Liability workers compensation
• 3. Key people most affected
• 4. Moral/ethical/humanistic reasons

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Corporate Self-Interest Reducing Health Care
Costs

• Control Data Corp. 1987 case
• 2007 Overweight ? 11.65 claims/100 FT
• Avg. weight ? 5.80 claims/100 FT
• Wellmark Has offered financial awards for some
  lifestyle activities
• Selection practices. Do not hire those who
  consume alcohol or smoke (e.g., Pella,
  Lucullans, Wellmark)
• Choice of carrot vs. stick

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LIFESTYLE POLICIESCOMPANY
POLICY
Gannett, General Mills, Pepsi, Monthly
surcharge for smokers Sauer-Danfoss, Iowa
Telecom Macys, Gannett, GE
Hy-Vee 10 Health Insurance reduction for
nonsmokers GuideOne Discounts
for not smoking or drinking extra coverage
when volunteering church attendance
Alabama, South Carolina 25/month Health
Insurance surcharge for use of tobacco
products or excessive weight
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LIFESTYLE POLICIESCOMPANY
POLICY
AmeriGas Get check-up or lose health
insurance Mohawk Industries 100/mon
th penalty for not participating in a
health risk assessment
Michelin Meeting healthy standards for BP,
glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides,
waist size (35 women, 40 men) earn 1000
toward deductibles Turner
Broadcasting First to not hire smokers
Union Pacific (where legal to do so)
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Sidebar on Employees Who Smoke

• Smoking on decline in U.S 18.9 of U.S.
  adults, 23 of Iowans, but growing world wide
• Center for Disease Control says smoking costs the
  nation 167 billion
• Federal studies show smokers cost an average
  business 3400 more per year because of increased
  medical expenses and absenteeism
• Over a lifetime, employees who smoke incur
  16,000 more in medical bills

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Sidebar on Employees Who Smoke

• Growing evidence that financial incentives can
  induce people to quit smoking
• GE 878 employees received info on smoking
  cessation. Divided into non-compensated and
  compensated groups.
• One group got 100 for completing cessation
  program, 250 if they stopped w/in 6 months of
  being in the study and 400 if they remained
  smoke free 6 months later

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Sidebar on Employees Who Smoke

• Results
• Smoke-Free
• Compensated Not Compensated
• End of First Year 14.7 5
• At 18 months 9.4 3.6
• The ship has sailed with respect to smoking
  bans at work and in the community. Can obesity
  management be far behind?

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Sidebar Obese Employees

• Conference Board Data
• One in 3 adults is obese (BMI gt 30)
• Surgeon General says obesity costs the nation gt
  100 billion
• Obesity accounts for 5-7 of health care costs.
  For a company of 1000 employees, an extra
  395,000
• Programs to combat obesity on the rise (e.g.,
  Google Caterpillar put healthy food in vending
  machines, cafeterias charge less for healthy
  food)
• Alabama and S.C. will charge employees w/BMI gt 35
  25/month for insurance that is otherwise free

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Reducing Liability and Workers Compensation Costs

• Railroad origins
• Extension of safe working environment (Health
  Safety Work Act of 1974)
• Stress accounts for as much as 14 of
  occupational disease claims
• Examples
• Firms with less stress have fewer worker
  compensation claims

• As work becomes increasingly mental
  service-oriented, as opposed to manual, what will
  happen?

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Key People Most Affected

• Loss of highly valued senior people
• Relations to stock prices and public confidence
• Impact on negotiations
• Hypothetical cost figures (next slide)

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Stress Costs Heart Disease Estimate

• (1) Number of employees 4,000
• (2) Employees aged 45 to 64 (.25 of line 1) 1,000
• (3) Estimated deaths due to heart disease per
• year (.006 x line 2) 6
• (4) Estimated premature retirements due to
• heart problems per year (.003 x line 2)
  3
• (5) Personnel losses Sum of lines 3 and 4
  9
• (6) Annual replacement costs for experienced_____
• employees (24,887 x line 5)
  223,983

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REASONS TO MANAGE STRESS

• 1. Corporate self-interest health care costs
• 2. Liability workers compensation
• 3. Key people most affected
• Moral/ethical/humanistic reasons
• 1985 27 firms offered stress mgmt
• 1996 40
• 2007 68 but now labeled wellness

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Occupational Stress Rankings
Job Stress somewhat predictable.
High Stress Top 20
Low Stress 230-250 U.S. President Music
instrument repairer Firefighter
Florist Corporate
Executive Actuary Taxi
driver
Computer Programmer Surgeon Fork Lift
Operator Real Estate Agent Medical records
technician Stockbroker Janitor Traffic
Cop/Highway Patrol Criteria Overtime, quotas,
deadlines, competitiveness, physical
demands, hazards, initiative required,
stamina, win-lose situations, and
working in the public eye Source Wall Street
Journal, 1996 based on 250 jobs updated by Jobs
Rated Almanac, 11/28/12
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TYPES OF STRESS
1. Origins of stress 2. Non-work stress 3.
Work stress a. Air traffic controllers
b. NASA workers c. OSHA layoff studies
d. Accountants
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A Managerial Model of Stress
Antecedents Intermediary
Health (Stressors/stress creators)
Stress
Outcomes
Consequences

• Physiological
• Cholesterol
• Triglycerides
• Blood pressure
• Blood glucose
• Catecholamines
• Free radicals
• Behavioral
• Job satisfaction
• Career satisfaction
• Life satisfaction
• Performance
• Absenteeism
• Turnover
• Accidents
• Grievances

• Physical Environment
• Individual Factors
• Work overload
• Role conflict
• Role ambiguity
• Responsibility
• for others
• Underutilization
• of skills
• Resource inadequacy
• Group Factors
• Cohesion
• Conflict
• Satisfaction
• Org. Factors
• Climate

Perceived and Objective Stress Measures

• Coronary heart disease
• Rheumatic
• arthritis
• Ulcers
• Allergies
• Headaches
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Apathy
• Nervous
• exhaustion
• Alcoholism

• Individual Differences
• (cognitive/affective)
• Type A/B
• Locus of control
• Tolerance for
• ambiguity
• Need for achievement
• Self-esteem
• Corporate Practices
• On-site child care
• EAPs
• Wellness programs

• Individual Differences
• (demographics behavior)
• Heredity
• Age, Sex
• Education
• Occupation, Hours worked
• Health status
• Alcohol and tobacco use
• Exercise and diet
• Family support

• Non-Organizational
• Family relations
• Economic status
• Work/family conflict

(moderator factors)
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Antecedents of Stress (Stressors) where Managers
Can Intervene (Column 1)

• Physical Environment
• Individual factors
• ?Work overload ? ? Stress
• Quantitative
• Qualitative (KSAs)
• ? Role conflict ? ? Stress
• ? Role ambiguity ? ? Stress
• ? Responsibility for others ? ? Stress
• ? Underutilization of skills ? ? Stress
• ? Resource inadequacy ? ? Stress

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Individual Differencesand Corporate
Interventions

• Cognitive/Affective Differences
• Type A/B
• Locus of control
• Tolerance for ambiguity
• Need for achievement
• Self-esteem
• Corporate Interventions
• On-site child care
• Employee assistance programs (EAPs)
• Wellness programs

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PERSONALITY TRAITS
Type A High achievement orientation
Aggressive Restless impatient Constant
sense of time urgency Type B No time urgency
or resulting impatience Feels no need to
display/discuss achievements Plays for fun
and relaxation Can relax without guilt
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CORRELATES OF TYPE A/B
1. As report more work overload 2. As work
more hours 3. As have higher serum cholesterol
ratings in college students 4. The A
trait best predictor of CHD among those less
than 49 years 5. Most damaging components of
A are being distrustful and hostile
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TYPE A and B EMPLOYEE BEHAVIORS
A
B Fast workers

Patient Emphasizes quantity
Tactful Works long hours
Reflective Rarely creative

Creative Sometimes makes poor
Make careful decisions because
they decisions
work too fast
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APPROACHES TO STRESS REDUCTION
1. Dissipation/Health Promotion a.
Exercise b. Bio-feedback massage c.
Overload/role conflict reduction via concierge
and go to meeting d.
Newsletters 2. Selection Placement 3.
Training (conflict mgmt, time mgmt, lunch
learns, ADR, omsbudpersons) 4. Job Redesign
Work Scheduling (lessen role ambiguity, role
conflict, reduce underutilization of skills)
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Schaubroeck et al. Article

• In a rare 7-year longitudinal study, the effects
  of job complexity and Type A personality are
  evaluated among police and fire dept. employees.
• What are the 2 types of job complexity discussed?
  What is the dependent variable?
• Re-state the central hypothesis of the study in
  every day language

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Schaubroeck et al. Hypothesis

• ?Job Complexity
• psychological
• task-person

• ? Job Complexity
• psychological
• task-person

? Cardiovascular disorder
Type A/B Personality (true for As but not
Bs) (moderator variable)
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Schaubroeck et al. Article

• Sampling 303 firefighters police in 1982
• 251 provided usable data
• Surveyed again in 1989, 171 (71) return
  surveys
• 110 provide usable data (had to keep same
  job)
• Measures (1) 5-level Type A/B (high scores more
  
• Type A), (2) Survey items on cardio
  disorders and
• psychological complexity, (3) Control
  variables like
• body mass, and (4) Task-person complexity
  by DOT
• What were the results (Table 1)?
• Was the hypothesis supported (Table 2)?

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Schaubroeck et. al.
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DeVries(2010)

• Poses the Q Could Americans poor health
  displace us as a world leader in productivity?
•  
• Reports survey results indicating that employers
  w/health programs have less sick leave,
  disability, lower health care usage.
•  Review 6 wellness tools wireless technology,
  integrated solutions, telephone health coaching,
  programs to enhance participation, incentives,
  expanded programs

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Galinsky Matos (2011)
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Perryman et al. (2010) Take-Aways

• Discusses CEO health and corporate well-being.
  Issues of personal privacy, corporate disclosure,
  succession planning fiduciary responsibility of
  the board to shareholders may collide.  
• The frequency of CEO resignations for health
  reasons is unknown.
•  
• The representational function of the CEO often
  results in s/he perceived as the embodiment of
  the firm. If the CEO is perceived healthy, so is
  the firm and vice versa

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Perryman et al. (2010)

• As public figures, CEOs may not have the same
  privacy rights as others. Authors imply they
  favor voluntary and prompt disclosures of CEO
  medical problems.
•  
• The SEC requires disclose of material
  information that can affect the market in
  publicly-held firms. Does CEO health qualify as
  material information?
• Brenda Barnes Sara Lee
• Being healthy can be seen as a BFOQ for the CEO
  job.

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Perryman et al. (2010)

• To prepare for unexpected health problems, have
  (1) a list of true potential internal and
  external successors and (2) a list emergency,
  interim successors. Not clear but the 2nd list
  seems to be temporary CEOs.
•  
• They offer guidelines clearly favoring more
  disclosure, based on idea that if CEO death
  depresses stock prices (shareholder wealth), CEO
  illness will do the same. Perhaps even worse
  because poor health entails uncertainty.