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Work Issues
Written and researched by Bob Murray, PhD
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Program to Ease Depressives Into Work
September 4, 2002
Officials of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan plan to implement the program on a trial basis at a ministry-affiliated facility in Chiba city. The program, designed to assist people suffering from depression triggered by stress in the workplace, aims to help sufferers who want to return to their jobs and who are deemed well enough to return by a psychiatrist.
Many people diagnosed with clinical depression find it difficult to readjust to working life because they try to work too hard, officials said. The program aims to prevent this by urging employees to gradually ease themselves back to work.
A lack of understanding and support from colleagues is another problem, officials said. To stop this, the ministry program calls for counsellors to periodically meet with recent returnees to discuss their progress and offer advice to their supervisors. The program urges participants to cope with the cause of their depression. For example, participants who struggled to get along with colleagues would be urged to improve their human-relation skills. Participants will follow a stress-management course concurrently, officials said.
Individuals who complete the program will be encouraged to return to their workplace gradually, working limited hours at first, such as only mornings.
Some large companies have programs for depressed employees, but most medium- and small-sized firms do not.
Depression causes US industry billions of dollars annually in lost days. Most "sick-days" and even workplace accidents are due to underlying depression. We have had considerable success with the Uplift Program in enabling depressive people to get back to work and indeed, as part of a grant given to us by the Ford Foundation, we are developing a program specifically for small and medium-sized companies which, by easing the burden of depression, will greatly improve their productivity and their bottom line. We are anxious to hear from any companies in the Sydney, Australia, or Tampa Bay, Florida area who would be interested in participating in this project. BM
Read more in Intelihealth
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Wives' Employment Increases Marital Stability
Marital unhappiness frequently drives wives into the workplace, says Dr Robert Schoen, the Hoffman Professor of Family Sociology and Demography at Penn State.
Schoen and his fellow researchers used longitudinal data from the National Survey of Families and Households to study the impact of employment on marital happiness. Their findings were recently presented at the Population Association of America conference in Atlanta.
The study measured marital happiness and involvement in full-time employment between two different time points. For couples that reported unhappiness at the first time point, the likelihood that the wife would be in the full-time labor force was significantly greater than it was for couples reporting happiness at that time.
"Marital quality predicts wives' subsequent labor force participation," says Schoen,. "Wives who are unhappy in their marriages at Time 1 are more likely to enter or remain in the full-time labor force between Times 1 and 2 than are wives in marriages where both spouses are happy at Time 1.
"Interestingly, wives' full-time employment is elevated even in marriages in which the wife is happy and the husband is not," he adds.
Views on wives' full-time employment often suggest that wives entering the full-time work force are preparing for divorce, but the researchers found that wives' full-time employment tends to have the opposite effect.
"We see no consequences of wives' full-time employment for marital happiness, but wives' full-time employment decreases the risk of subsequent marital disruption," Schoen explains.
"We do not know the motives that lead unhappy wives to enter or remain in full-time employment, but it appears that they are not simply preparing for a marital dissolution," he says.
The researchers also found that having a child between Times 1 and 2 reduced the likelihood of wives' employment by 55 percent. Women with one child were also less likely to work full-time than wives with two or more children and wives with no children.
We've observed in our Uplifts and clinical practice that men often feel more secure and happy at work than at home. We have hypothesized that at work the "rules and roles" of relationships were clear. In other words, at work they knew what was expected of them, and knew that they could meet these expectations. At home, on the contrary, they felt lost as to what was wanted, and also failures because they couldn't "fix" their partner's emotional problems. Now we see that women feel this need for clarity and structure as well. And, of course, they need a wider range of relationships than just partners and children.
The Uplift workshops, tapes and books show people how to create clarity and functional structure in the relationships they have, and to broaden the number of people with whom they interact, thus fulfilling what is obviously a need in both men and women. In addition, the Uplift Program shows people how to make the most of relationships at work so that they meet these expectations and needs. AF
Read more in Penn News
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Women Doctors Face Higher Suicide Risk
May 3, 2002
Work by the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University found women doctors were twice as likely to take their own lives than women in the general population. However, male doctors were less likely to kill themselves than other men.
General population statistics show that suicide rates among men are significantly higher than among women. The study also found that those doctors most at risk were community health doctors, anaesthetists, psychiatrists, and GPs.
The researchers calculated that the suicide rate among women doctors was 12.6 per 100,000 for the years 1991 to 1995. Over the same period, the rate for female suicides in the general population was just 6.3 per 100,000. Among male doctors, the rate was 14.28 per 100,000 -- a third less than the 21 per 100,000 rate among the male population.
The research team found that anaesthetists were almost seven times, psychiatrists five, and GPs over 3.5 times as likely to commit suicide than other doctors.
Community health doctors were especially vulnerable, being eight times more likely to commit suicide than other doctors, while men in this specialty were 12 times as likely as their female colleagues to do so.
The researchers said: "The increased risk in female doctors is of particular concern in the light of the steadily increasing number and proportion of women in the medical workforce." They are calling for more effective ways of tackling stress and mental health problems among doctors.
Professor John Ashton, co-editor, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, which published the research, said that nobody knew why female doctors were so apparently vulnerable. But he said: "The nature of the work of a doctor can be stressful. It can be very busy and hectic, and it is difficult to reconcile conflicting demands. It may be that the sort of women who go into medicine are high performing, very bright perfectionists who tend to become frustrated. It is known that people who are conscientious to a fault may have a tendency towards depression."
Separately, several medical schools are considering lowering entrance standards for male students because of the overwhelming proportion of female entrants.
Read more in BBC News
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Sons Succeed Better in Fathers' Careers
May 3, 2002
Following in father's footsteps pays dividends -- at least for boys. Arnold Chevalier at the London School of Economics, UK, has found that men who join the dynastic career are five to eight per cent better off in their first decade of work than those who do not. There is no similar premium for girls, he says -- though he could not find the data to do a similar study of girls following in their mother's footsteps.
It is a time-honoured practice for farmers and actors, politicians and doctors to slipstream the old man into employment. Roughly a tenth of British university students are in the same occupation as their father a decade after graduation. But the big question is why the pay premium occurs. Is it pure nepotism or are other forces at work? Might it be down to genetics, or the accumulation of inside knowledge at the family hearth, or the reassurance that the family tradition offers to prospective employers?
Nepotism might seem to be the answer. Past studies of doctors' sons show they do no better than anyone else at medical school, but still progress in their careers faster than their peers. But the pay premium for following one's father increases with experience, according to Chevalier. And he suggests that this makes nepotism an unlikely factor. "The effect of nepotism on pay should be at its maximum with young graduates entering the labour market," he argues. "With time the true quality of the graduate would have been revealed."
He plumps instead for the argument that the sons are intrinsically better at their jobs, for reasons of genetics or upbringing -- what he calls "the transmission of human capital" from father to son.
The obvious conclusion is that children have idiolized their parents and therefore naturally want to follow them in their careers. We have said for a long time that one of the most dangerous question you can ask a youngster is "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The very suggestion that they can't be like their parents is disruptive. Later they can make their own choice. Of course some of the problem lies in the absurd status and pay differentials we give to different professions. Thus parents tend to want their sons to be doctors or lawyers. Why should a trash collector, who is vital to society, be paid less or be of lower status than a lawyer (or pop star) who is not? BM
Read more in New Scientist
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Absence Makes the Spouse "Grow Sadder"
March 11, 2002
Frequent business trips abroad could leave the "home alone" spouse with more than an aching heart, research suggests. A study by the American-based World Bank indicates that spouses left at home are much more likely to come down with mental health problems than those whose partners do not travel. In fact their level of stress-related and psychological problems was three times as high.
The researchers say their findings reveal just how delicate the home/life balance has become -- with frequent travel demands affecting both worker and spouse.
Researchers looked at the medical insurance claims made by spouses of World Bank employees over a 12-month period. They found that 16% more claims came from those whose spouses frequently travelled abroad. Twice as many people whose spouses spent time away cited psychological problems as those whose partners stayed at home. When the business trips overseas reached four or more, the number of claims made by spouses for psychological stress and related disorders tripled.
Women outnumbered men in terms of numbers of claims made by two to one -- but more business travellers were men.
The authors suggest repeated, intermittent trips away seemed to have a worse effect on people than longer but more infrequent separations. This is because short frequent absences were more likely to disrupt family life and destroy the chance to establish routines.
One of the authors, Dr Lennart Dimberg, said: "It is beginning to be understood that the boundary between the workplace and the home is permeable." It's when partners are separated that anxiety grows and relationships can start to break down He said earlier research showed business travellers themselves suffered increased rates of mental health problems.
Elaine Douglas, a chartered psychologist who works on the Isle of Man, said the strain on spouses is down to the lack of control. She said: "It's not as if the spouse can say 'I don't want you to go,' because it is their partner's job. The person on the business trip can get the buzz of going off somewhere -- there's no frisson of excitement in doing the mundane things at home. Keeping in touch by telephone or e-mail is not the same, the spouse is left to make all the day-to-day decisions by themselves."
Of course the absent spouse may be absent because his/her partner has failed to say, in concrete terms, that they have a need that the absent one not be absent. Many people do not believe that they have the right to articulate such a need, or they put it in such a way as it can be brushed aside (e.g. the way the need is put is too general), or they have not thought through what consequence they might bring to bear if the absent one insists on being absent despite the deserted one's need being given. If, for example, you feel physically safer if your spouse is around, then it is no wonder that you will get stressed or depressed if he/she is absent. Physical safety is the strongest of all the four basic relationship needs (the others are emotional security, attention and importance. (For more relationship tools see Alicia's article "The 3 Essentials for Successful Relationships", our audio-workbook "Transform Your Life and Your Relationships", or come to our Uplift Program) BM
Read more in Occupational Health and Medicine
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Report Shows Americans Have More Labor Days
September 4, 2001
A report issued by the International Labor Organization found that Americans added nearly a full week to their work year during the 1990's, climbing to 1,979 hours on average last year, up 36 hours from 1990. That means Americans who are employed are putting in nearly 49 1/2 weeks a year on the job.
Americans work 137 hours, or about three and one-half weeks, more a year than Japanese workers, 260 hours (about six and one-half weeks) more a year than British workers and 499 hours (about 12 1/2 weeks) more a year than German workers, the report said. The Japanese had long been at the top for the number of hours worked, but in the mid-1990's the United States surpassed Japan, and since then it has pulled farther ahead.
"It's unique to Americans that they continue to increase their working hours, while hours are declining in other industrialized nations," said Lawrence Jeff Johnson, the economist who oversaw the labor organization's report. "It has a lot to do with the American psyche, with American culture. American workers are eager to make the best impression, to put in the most hours."
Among the reasons for the large differences between the United States and other countries are that Europeans typically take four to six weeks of vacation each year while Americans take two to three weeks. And while American employers kept adding overtime during the 1990's, in France the government reduced the official work week to 35 hours.
Juliet Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College and the author of The Overworked American, said one reason for the nation's longer average work year was that American workers seemed to be increasingly squeezed during booms and busts alike. "All the direction seems to be for longer hours," Ms. Schor said. "In expansions, companies keep giving more work to their workers, and in recessions, there will be downsizing and fewer people working, but the workers who remain have to work longer hours to retain their jobs."
A few years ago the magazine American Demographics did a survey of American attitudes to work. They found that although Americans say they want more leisure time and more time with their families what they do in fact is the exact opposite. It may be that the increasing hours that people in the US work may well have something to do with the collapse of relationships and the social alienation people feel outside of the workplace. There is also ample evidence to support the contention that humans who work longer hours are more prone to spousal and child abuse, both of which are rising in the US. BM
Read more in The New York Times
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It's Not The VDU That Gives You Eye Strain, It Could Be Your Boss!
A just-published study claims that one third of eye strain complaints attributed to computer monitors actually stem from stress. The study was performed by Dr Francisco Mocci, Institute of Occupational Medicine, University of Sassari, Italy, and colleagues.
Job stress strongly predicted eye strain, accounting for almost a third of the complaints. Job stress included lack of social support, group conflict, low self esteem, low levels of work satisfaction and underuse of skills. But where employees did feel supported, they were a third less likely to report eye strain.
Lighting did not seem to affect levels of eye strain, but noise and environmental tobacco smoke did. The authors conclude that a proportion of eye strain complaints are psychological in origin, and are an expression of workplace stress rather than having any true organic cause. They suggest that stimulating an emotionally supportive environment could alleviate the effects of stress.
Reported in Uniscience
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Children Programmed for Unemployment
January 5, 2001
An interesting study reported in the December issue of Prevention and Treatment confirms something that we have been saying for a long time. That is that we tend to recreate our family patterns when we become adults.
The study, carried out at the University of Jyvskyl in Finland, confirmed previous research that shows, specifically, that aggressive children "select environments that further strengthen (i.e. reinforce) their behaviors." The study, which is ongoing, followed about 400 people from the age of 8 to 36. The study classed aggressive children as those who had a tendency to physically hurt others. This aggression, the study found, was a powerful predictor of poor school grades, alcoholism and of long-term unemployment.
The researchers conclude that the most powerful factor in preventing the cycle of aggression/poor school grades/unemployment and overcoming any genetic predisposition to aggression, was good and supportive parenting practices. This has also been one of our theme songs for a long time -- there is a direct link between the home environment and a child's later school and employment record.
Read the report in the the American Psychological Association's online journal Prevention and Treatment
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Bullying Can Make You Sick
January 25, 2001
A Finnish study, from the University of Helsinki, was reported in a recent issue of Psychology Today. The researchers found that 66% of the victims of bullying developed chronic disease. Not surprisingly they called in sick 50% more than their co-workers. Bullying, like other forms of abuse, tends to lower the immune system and disease can a result. In fact the illness can be a protective mechanism which, in the case of bullying in the workplace, prevents the victim from going in to face more abuse. Childhood illnesses can have a similar protective 'secondary gain'.
The University of Helsinki study was reported in Psychology Today
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Anti-Stress Policies in the Workplace
January 3, 2001
Attempts to tackle stress at work may actually make the problem worse for some employees, according to research by Dr Rob Briner, a senior lecturer in organisational psychology at Birkbeck College in London. "A plethora of stress management policies had been introduced by employers in recent years, yet none of them actually work", he said.
At the same time, a survey by the British Trades Union Congress last year found that stress was the number one concern among employees. The TUC claims that British industry loses 90 million working days a year because of stress at work.
As part of the Uplift Program's workplace outreach we have developed programs which actually empower employees, reduce workplace stress and leads to less time lost to 'sickies' (read about our Corporates Seminars.)
Read more about Dr Rob Briner's research as reported on BBC News
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About the Author
Dr Bob Murray is a widely published psychologist and expert on emotional health and optimal relationships. Together with his wife and long-term collaborator Alicia Fortinberry, he is founder of the highly successful Uplift Program, and author of Raising an Optimistic Child (McGraw-Hill, 2006) and Creating Optimism (McGraw-Hill, 2004).
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