Author:Mateja Kržan
FACTS
According to the well-being indicators revealed in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) study, people’s health is one of the most valued aspects of people’s life. Surveys in many countries found that people put their health condition, together with jobs, on the top of what affects their living conditions. People’s health status matters in itself, but it promotes also other aspects of well-being, such as having good jobs and good income, being able to participate as a citizen, to socialize with others, to attend school and having access to adult education. When considering these indicators, we can speculate that the healthy work environment is one of the important factors, which affects the health of working people. Studies in recent years have shown that the remarkable increase in chronic diseases is largely dependent on the environment and the emotional patterns of the individual responding to this environment. The fact that the genetic material does not change over the course of human life, but changes over several generations can also prove that the environment is a more important factor than the genetic design of the individual, which can also be a consequence of changes in the environment. Mate Gabor, author of When the Body Say No, recently translated to Slovenian language is discussing this particular issue in relation to early childhood trauma and causes for all forms of addiction. Can we find any correlation between healthy job places and health conditions of the working population?
EMPLOYEE- A MAN OF SENSE?
One of the most famous Slovenian antropologists, Professor dr. Anton Trstenjak, on several occasions said that the man is the only creature in nature who is seeking for his purpose of life. What has this assumption have to do with the work environment? The findings of the study entitled ‘Shorter Work Week: A Radical and Pragmatic Approach’ by Autonomy last year in cooperation with the 4 Day Week Campaign, shows that people are expected to work in 2020 significantly less than they did in 1999. * The introduction of new technologies allows faster communication and automation in production, which means that on average an employee would work part-time and would do the same amount of tasks as he had done before, except that he would spent less time to actually do the work. Of course, under the premise that the payment for his work would still remain sustainable. Why there are no public discussions about the option of a shorter working week?
REALITY OR A DREAM – A SHORTER WORKING HOURS FOR BETTER EMPLOYEE’s HEALTH?
In most cases, Slovenian employers are convinced that a full-time employee should work at least 8 hours, although some Slovenian companies, such as DONAR d. o. o., the furniture producer, have assessed that the mandatory 40-hour working week is not a profitable measure, which would improve worker’s efficiency and help increasing company’s profit. Looking back in time, changes in working hours have taken place since the beginnings of industrialization. Other studies show that today, with the introduction of digitalization, more and more work is being accumulated, which does not make sense, since automated computerized data processing could only reduce the volume of work rather than increase it. For example, continuous writing of long messages to colleagues or subordinates does not contribute to better communication between employees nor does it contribute to better efficiency per employee, as it is contrary to the basic paradigm of a person who strives for creative and meaningful work. Today, ‘pointless’ work is artificially created, and this is especially true for public sectors, with the aim of giving an appropriate workload to the employee who is paid for 40 hours a week. In some European countries, working hours are already shorter than 40 hours per week, for example, in France the employee has to work 37.3 hours, in Austria 36.5 hours, in Sweden 36.4 hours, therefore shortening working hours is not an invention in sense of social experiment.
IMPACT OF THE LENGTH OF WORKING WEEK ON EMPLOYEE’S HEALTH
Source: A historical chart of the trend in average hours worked annually (De Spiegelaere & Piasna, 2017, p. 12; Huberman and Minns, 2007), mentioned in the study: The shorter working week: a radical and pragmatic proposal, Published 2019 by: © Autonomy, Autonomy Research Ltd.)
What does the work schedule have to do with employee’s health? In the age of digitalization, predominantly manual work has turned into predominantly mental and sedentary work. What are the implications for mental health, where an employee is sitting and staring at a computer screen for 8 hours? In most cases, chronic pain in the neck, back, and upper and lower extremities occur after a certain period. Why does the body react to the stationary position in this way for 8 hours? The answer is simple. The body is created for movement, the mind is created for solving challenges and interesting tasks, assuming that basic biological needs are provided for e.g. food and water and obviously the need for emotional security that allows ideas to develop and meet new challenges.
Source: A historical chart of the trend in average hours worked annually (De Spiegelaere & Piasna, 2017, p. 12; Huberman and Minns, 2007), mentioned in the study: The shorter working week: a radical and pragmatic proposal, Published 2019 by: © Autonomy, Autonomy Research Ltd.)
OLD MANAGERS, NEW LEADERS
According to Travis Bradberry’s opinion, who is co-author of the book entitled Emotional Intelligence
- 0, there is a big difference between the two leadership styles: the old management style and the new leadership style. In management, however, there can be no development, no surpluses, no real profit in case it merely maintains a virtual image, and in a long run it means stagnation of the company or institution. We can observe lack of leadership in the current situation. How can a good leader create the conditions for growth of a healthy working environment, what is his role? First and foremost, a person in leadership should be personally mature and open to change and exceptional in communication, and above all, he must respect every individual in the team, he needs to know him personally as well as his work done and provide him with all the tools and assistance to help him achieve better results. Successful work means success for the employee, which enhances his awareness and motivates him to align himself for professional as well as personal development. In short, the leader of a company or institution must set high standards for the work and well-being of each individual in the collective by his example. In the last decade, a special situation has arisen in Slovenia, which is quite difficult to grasp, namely, the working environments in which employees are on sick leave are growing, especially for the reasons of chronic and mental health conditions. These absences are mostly due to stress and discrimination at workplace. Consequently, pressure on the health and pension funds is increasing considerably.
DECISIONS 4 CHANGE
Going back to starting point, the key question is why is the number of patients suffering from the new work diseases, because of stress, overload and other types of violence at work occurring in recent years, increasing rapidly? Undoubtedly, the population is aging and the retirement age is postponing, but in my estimation, the key to this door is that work environments have become toxic and in the end are detrimental to human health. Toxic environments are actually environments that do not trigger in the human brain endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin, but trigger the release of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which means that the human body is exposed to 8 hours of showering with hormones that harm human health, if they are present for too long and too large. Translating this into the work environment of an employee, if a person is merely a manager with an underdeveloped personality (including emotional intelligence) and not a leader and the employee is required to communicate and interact with him 8 hours a day, this is a source of extreme stress. Although this may not be obvious, but such a post is a dangerous zone for an employee, because it puts him at risk by triggering chemical reactions in a person that are not beneficial to his health, both physical and mental. If a person exposed to such a work environment is unable to withdraw from the environment or has no option to fight, then this causes an even greater conflict for the body, as it cannot respond to the negative hormonal flood in the manner recorded in its genes . Third, the least favorable solution to a person’s health is the suppression. This choice is the least favorable because a person has constantly high levels of stress hormones in the body, but does not relieve or release hormones from the body. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 60-70% of employees in developed countries say they are not satisfied with their current job. This, of course, indicates that not only Slovenian employees, but also the majority of the developed world employees have problems with their toxic work environment. The health of employees who, in most cases, cannot ‘escape’ or have no opportunity to ‘fight’, also affects the broader social environment. The stress and suppression experienced by employees in workplace is translated to other social circles for example in families, it is supported by the data on increasing number of divorced families and single parenthoods and it explains increasing number of dysfunctional families.
CHANGE IN MINDSETS IS NECESSARY TO DEVELOP
As a progressive modern society, we are obliged to ask ourselves some questions. In accordance with the paradigm of capitalism for increasing profits and productivity, are we going to choose: the accumulation of things and capital as our goal or will we set as our goal more efficient work processes, accepting the help that is offered by modern technology, choosing true leaders (so-called trendsetters/change lovers) rather than managers (so-called followers/change haters), and creating an environment for a successful, satisfied and healthy individual, leaving employees time to think and develop their own creativity? If we decide for a second option, one of the side effects would be a better-preserved environment for our ancestors. Slimmer nations, like is the case of Slovenia, will only survive if we are able to make a dissociation, the term I learned from neo tango dance (thank you, Blaž & Andreja!). Something different, something performed in a different way, something unexpected. Pure discovery. Bear in mind that, by performing this position, both one and the other dancer must be completely independent, focused on their own axis, and must simultaneously cooperate with each other in this moment of space and time. We can start by changing toxic work environments into healthy, ‘human-friendly’ environments. The health fund spends more and more money on the annual budget for sick leave, medicines and long-term treatments. Why not start the ‘treatment’ of top management and thus counteract the creation of toxic work environments, unnecessary emptying the State health and pension funds and in this way contributing to the nation’s health? Therefore, dear employers, I am not looking for a job, but a healthy work environment. Good luck and don’t delay New Year’s and new decade’s vows, change is here and now. You can be that change.
Ljubljana, 10.1.2021