Sustainable Development and Psychological Health in the Work Environment

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Sustainable Development and Psychological Health
in the Work Environment

• International Economic Forum of the Americas
• Montreal, Canada
• 8-11 June 2009
• John Howard
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and
  Health
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Washington, D.C.
• jhoward1_at_cdc.gov

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What Does This Picture Say to You?
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Major Points

• Stress is a physical reaction to known stimuli
  and results in adverse physical effects and
  workplace injuries.
• Stress can arise from risk factors at work.
• A poor psychosocial work environment makes an
  enterprise less sustainable.
• Intelligent management of worker and enterprise
  health leads to sustainable development.

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1. Stress is Physical

• Stress general alarm in a homeostatic system
  producing physiological activation
• Increased heart rate
• Increase in blood pressure
• Production of stress hormones
• Increase in muscle tension
• Stress is a evolutionary protective mechanism
• When sustained, response can lead to disease
• Cardiovascular, Neuropsychological,
  Musculoskeletal

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2. Stress Can Arise from Work

• Changes in Recent Years to Work
• Increase in working hours work intensity
• Increase in use of technology
• Change in employment relationships
• Different organizational practices
• Demographic changes
• Aging workforce and global labor supply
• Multi-generational workforce
• Ethnic and cultural diverse workforce

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3. Stress Affects Sustainable Development

• Impact On Workers
• Review on employment instability found evidence
  of associations with downsizing, job insecurity
  temporary work with measures of psychological
  physical health, and workplace injuries rates.
• 30 of workforce report jobs to be often or
  frequently stressful over the last two decades
• Stressful work associated with 2x increase in
  depression
• Prevalence of depression can be as high as 11 in
  some occupations
• Absenteeism is 3-4x greater for depressed workers

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3. Stress Affects Sustainable Development

• Impact on Organizations
• Disability time for stress is 3-4 weeks, 4x
  longer than median absence for other work
  conditions
• Stress is 1 reason workers say that they would
  leave an employer or plan early retirement
• Productivity losses through absenteeism and
  presenteeism
• Increase healthcare costs
• Workers reporting high levels of stress had 50
  higher healthcare costs
• Workers reporting high levels of stress and
  depression had 150 higher healthcare costs
• Stressful working conditions account for 7-9 of
  the variance in payments for prescriptions and
  outpatient visits

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3. Stress Affects Sustainable Development ?Impact
on National Economies (France)
Cases Deaths
Percent of total

• Cardiovascular disease 152,000 6
• Depression 158,000 7
• Musculoskeletal / back pain 1,600 10
• Bejean and Sultan-Taïeb (2005)

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3. Stress Affects Sustainable Development

• Economic Costs of Stress (France)
• Medical Costs 413,272,000
• Lost Productivity
• Sickness Absence 279,154,000
• Premature Death 474,798,000
• Total Costs 1,167,224,000
• Bejean and Sultan-Taïeb (2005)

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4. Manage for Sustainability

• Absenteeism Presenteeism
• Harrassment Complaints
• Healthcare Costs
• Worker Comp Claims
• Product/Service Quality Loss
• Customer Satisfaction
• Equity Share Valuations

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How Well Do You Know Worker Costs?
Median Costs Per Eligible Employee (43 Companies,
946,000 lives)
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Who is Responsible for Taking Action?

• Worker?
• Physician?
• Healthcare Insurer?
• Workers Compensation Insurer?
• Government?
• Employer?
• Operations Managers?
• Human Resources?
• Senior Management?

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What You Can Do (ABCDs)

• Assess All Stressors
• Include absence of WorkLife buffering
• Base Control Strategies on Assessment Findings
• Involve Workers in Developing Strategies
• Change Organization Practices
• Develop ways to maintain and sustain changes

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Future Knowledge Needs

• Practical resources on prevention practices
• Toolkits to investigate stress at work
• Intervention success cases
• Best practices to guide interventions
• Development of a comprehensive worker well-being
  management system

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Sustainable Enterprises Think About their People
Asset
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References

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