Researchers at University College London (UCL) who have been studying the same cohort of Civil Service employees since 1985 announced this major finding last week and I believe this constitutes a real call to action for UK employers.
This type of long-term research provides a unique and reliable insight into how work conditions impact us over time to produce certain health outcomes, so we have to take its conclusions seriously. The research documented how workers felt about their jobs, monitored heart rate variability, blood pressure, and the amount of the stress hormone cortisol that was in the blood. They also collected information about diet, exercise, smoking and drinking. They then looked at out how many people had developed coronary heart disease (CHD) or suffered a heart attack and how many had died as a result.
The results showed that chronic work stress was associated with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) – particularly in men and woman under 50. And because the measures were taken over many years and included a full range of lifestyles (i.e. good and bad), there is no dodging the conclusions – in fact, the researchers controlled for the effect of lifestyle and still the link was proven.
For many years, this link between workplace stress and CHD has been suggested, but never has it been so starkly demonstrated. Business psychologists often talk about the links between well-being and the bottom-line business outcomes to convince organisations to tackle stress at work – well, forget productivity and absenteeism as outcomes, it doesn’t get much more bottom-line having a heart attack and dying!
These kinds of conclusions are forcing employers to sit up, take notice and carefully consider their responsibilities for providing a workplace environment where stress prevention is second nature, but also one where active steps are taken to promote well-being. So, not only do employers meet their statutory responsibilities as an employer, they also improve their business and ensure that their success is sustainable.
You can see the full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2498217.stm
