The effect of adverse employment circumstances on physical pain: Evidence from Australian panel data.

Physical pain is a common health problem with great public health implications. Yet evidence on whether adverse employment circumstances shape physical pain is limited. Using longitudinal data from 20 waves (2001-2020) from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia Survey (HILDA; N = 23,748), a lagged design, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions as well as multilevel mixed effect linear regressions, we investigated the association between past accumulated unemployment and recent employment circumstances with physical pain. We found that adults who spent more years unemployed and looking for work subsequently reported greater physical pain (b = 0.034, 95% CI = 0.023, 0.044) and pain interference (b = 0.031, 95% CI = 0.022, 0.038) than those who spent fewer years unemployed. We also found that those experiencing overemployment (working full-time while wanting to work fewer hours) and underemployment (working part-time while wanting to work more hours) reported greater subsequent physical pain (overemployment: b = 0.024, 95% CI = 0.009, 0.039; underemployment: b = 0.036, 95% CI = 0.014, 0.057) and pain interference (overemployment: b = 0.017, 95% CI = 0.005, 0.028; underemployment: b = 0.026, 95% CI = 0.009, 0.043) than those content with their working hours. These results held after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, occupation, and other health-related factors. These findings are consistent with recent work that suggested that psychological distress can influence physical pain. Understanding how adverse employment circumstances impact physical pain is crucial to the design of health promotion policies.

Underemployment, overemployment and deterioration of mental health: the role of job rewards.

OBJECTIVES: Working more (overemployment) or less (underemployment) than preferred has been associated with poor mental health in cross-sectional studies, but longitudinal evidence is scarce. We investigate whether under- and overemployment is associated with 2-year changes of mental health and whether associations vary by job rewards (i.e. high earnings, job security, promotion prospects and occupational prestige). METHODS: We used two waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), with information on mental health collected in 2006 and 2008. Workers in paid employment (3266 men and 3139 women) who did not change jobs between 2006 and 2008, aged 20-60 years were selected. Under- and overemployment was assessed using the discrepancy between the actual and preferred working hours. Mental health was assessed using the Mental Component Summary (MCS) score, a subscale from the Short Form 12 Health Survey. Questions on rewards at work were added and divided into tertiles. Conditional change models were estimated to predict change in MCS. RESULTS: Findings indicate that overemployment and low reward at work (for men and women) were linked to a reduction in mental health. Underemployment was not related to a reduction in mental health. Albeit associations between under-/overemployment and mental health slightly differed across levels of reward, interactions did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that overemployment was related to negative mental health change, and that this relationship held true both for people with high and with low reward at work.

The relationship between working time mismatch and depression according to actual hours worked.

OBJECTIVES: The effect of the combination of working hours and working time mismatch on depression is unknown. This study was undertaken to confirm the relationship between working time mismatch and depression with respect to hours worked. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The data of 45 514 adult workers that participated in the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS-VI 2020) were reviewed. Depression was defined using the World Health Organization 5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5) cut-off score of 50. Working time mismatch was defined as a difference between actual and desired working hours. To identify associations between working hour mismatch and depression according to weekly hours worked, stratification analysis was conducted by dividing the study subjects into 3 groups based on actual hours worked weekly (<40 h, 40-<52 h, or ≥52 h). Multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for potential confounders was performed to calculate odds ratios of depression. RESULTS: In the <40 h, 40-<52 h, and ≥52 h groups, the odds ratios (OR) of working more hours than desired were 1.51, 95% CI: 1.20-1.92 (<40 h), 1.70, 95% CI: 1.58-1.84 (40-<52 h), and 1.55, 95% CI: 1.41-1.69 (≥52 h), respectively, compared to a matched actual versus desired working hours group (the matched group). On the other hand, the odds ratios of working fewer hours than desired were 1.17, 95% CI: 1.07-1.27 (<40 h), 1.38, 95% CI: 1.20-1.60 (40-<52 h), and 1.98, 95% CI: 1.24-3.17 (≥52 h), respectively. The risk of depression was found to increase significantly with working time mismatch within all 3 working hour groups. CONCLUSIONS: Working time mismatch increases the risk of worker depression regardless of hours worked. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(6):788-97.

Association between depression or sleep problems and working time mismatch among Korean workers.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between South Korean workers' working time mismatches and their depression and sleep disorders. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study used raw data from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS), which sampled 50,205 workers. FINDINGS: The risk of occurrence of sleep problems among workers was shown to be proportional to actual working time. The risk of occurrence of depression increased along with the degree of working time mismatch. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: To improve the health and welfare of workers, making a policy and labor culture that relieve working time mismatch is important.

The relationship between long working hours and weight gain in older workers in Europe.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have been performed on the relationship between working conditions and health. Numerous parameters still require further study, including working hours and obesity among different groups, specifically older workers in national, regional, and international levels. OBJECTIVE: Working hours have considerable effects on the socio-cultural, psychological, and economic aspects of people's lives and health. While long working hours increases income level and raises living standards, it increases the risk of certain health problems. This study investigated whether working hours are associated with obesity in upper-middle-aged workers. METHODS: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) dataset was used for the analyses. Analyses were carried out by means of a Cox regression of the panel dataset created with the data in question, surveyed by European Commission to 12,000 participants. RESULTS: The survey was performed in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Ireland. We found that in most countries, especially Sweden and the Netherlands, upper-middle-aged employees working > 59 hours per week are more likely to gain weight than their counterparts working < 59 hours. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings raise awareness of obesity in older workers, and highlight the need to regulate working conditions and hours in the European Union and other countries.

Congruence is not everything: a response surface analysis on the role of fit between actual and preferred working time arrangements for work-life balance.

Working time arrangements that match employees' preferences have been proposed as determinants of employees' well-being, an assumption rooted in person-environment fit theory. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of fit and misfit between actual and preferred working time arrangements (length of working hours, control over the beginning and end of workdays, and workplace segmentation) for employees' satisfaction with work-life balance. We analyzed data from 8,580 employees from the BAuA-working time survey - a representative study among the working population in Germany - by means of polynomial regression and response surface analyses. Analyses did not point toward congruence effects but revealed significant main effects: Satisfaction with work-life balance was higher in case of shorter actual and longer preferred weekly working hours, and it was decreased if employees worked longer than they preferred. Moreover, more supplies and lower preferences in terms of control over the beginning and end of workdays, more workplace segmentation supplies, and lower workplace segmentation preferences were related to higher satisfaction with work-life balance. Overall, this study sheds light on the roles of fit and misfit between actual and preferred working time arrangements for employees' work-home interface. Findings suggest that while employees' preferences should find entrance into the design of work schedules, congruence is not a precondition for achieving a good work-life balance. Most importantly, for a good work-life balance, working hours should not be longer than preferred, and employees should have some control over their scheduling and possibilities to segment work and private life.

"Because Work Time Is Life Time" - Employees' Perceptions of Individual Overemployment, Its Causes and Its Consequences.

Many employees would prefer to reduce work time and can be defined as overemployed. However, the concept of overemployment is poorly understood. The purpose of this article is to define overemployment from employees' point of view, to explain why people work more than they prefer, and to understand the individual consequences it has. We investigate 26 overemployed employees using a Grounded Theory approach. We find that overemployment is a four-dimensional experience consisting of work time length, work time competition (with time outside work), work time distribution on tasks, and work density. A self-reinforcing circle of personal and situational drivers seems to explain the persistence of overemployment. Regarding the psychosocial consequences of overemployment, our findings show large variations, whereby work time sovereignty seems to play a moderating role. This study provides a multidimensional framework of overemployment that provides a basis for understanding employees' perceptions and behavior regarding overemployment and for deriving appropriate actions to reduce overemployment.