Helsinki (30.08.2002 - Hilkka Kotkamaa) According to a new study**, an unfair boss at the workplace poses a clear risk to employee health. Male employees who considered themselves to have been treated well had a 52 per cent lower risk of taking sick leave than those complaining of unfair treatment.
A similar disparity was also found for female employees. In respect of minor psychiatric disorders the gap was even wider, at 73 per cent. Women led by poor supervisors took one third more days in sick leave than those with better supervision. The corresponding disparity for men was 20 per cent.
The researchers noted that their findings bring an unfair boss up to the more familiar health risk levels caused by unhealthy lifestyles.
Indeed, the results surprised us. The health impact of management quality was greater than we had ever imagined," says Marko Elovainio, co-author of the study and researcher at Finland’s National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health (Stakes).
The study focused on large workplaces that had undergone radical restructuring, and was based on a sample of 3,570 female and 506 male employees in regular and temporary employment at hospitals. The researchers conclude that their findings are also relevant to jobs in the local government and technical sectors. Elovainio says that it would likewise be interesting to study the applicability of these conclusions to industrial workplaces.
Why is it that some workplaces manage change swiftly and eagerly, while at others the staff are paralysed by novelty and take extensive sick leaves?
"The issue is not how radical the changes have been, but how well people feel at their workplaces. Structural changes make employees sensitive to their treatment by management."
Happy employees are efficient workers
The study demonstrates that supervisors do well to listen to their subordinates. They also appreciate friendship, honesty, reliability, respect and coherence.
So why does it pay bosses to treat their subordinates in a friendly manner, even when others are clamouring for an opportunity to take over from dismissed employees? The mood of the employees does not matter to the boss, or does it?
"It does. An employee who feels well treated is efficient at work and takes sick leave only when this is absolutely essential. Good social habits and sophisticated behaviour are ways for managers to achieve the best results from the team at work," Elovainio responds.
This does not mean that unfairly treated employees down tools. They will continue to toil at the accustomed style and tempo, but will lack commitment to the work. They are unwilling to engage wholeheartedly in the work, are not creative, and do not remain healthy.
Employees quarrel under poor management
Experience has demonstrated that intimidation at the workplace dramatically increases the rate of sick leaves. Intimidation often arises from the unfair treatment of employees. Parents understand that if you are indifferent to your children, then they will take it out on one another, not on you.
"Unfair treatment of subordinates by their supervisors is symptomatic of dysfunctional social relationships within the team at work. Naturally some people will suffer more than others when there is a bad atmosphere, but everybody will feel it in one way or another. Both men and women fall victim to intimidation."
"This point in our findings also surprised us. In cases of unfair treatment we expected women to suffer more than men, but actually the reverse is true. Women proved more flexible than men, whose initial sensitivity to unfair treatment was more keenly felt. However, we are wary of drawing far-reaching conclusions in this matter. All employees expect fairness from their bosses and justice in all social interactions", Elovainio concludes.
Bad treatment causes stress
"A further surprise for us was to notice that fair treatment was at least as important at higher organisational levels as at lower levels. It may even be the case that the injury sustained in falling from a high position in the hierarchy is worse than that suffered in similar misfortunes at lower levels."
While the subjective experience of fairness was not age-specific, age influenced the length of sick leaves. Young employees often took sick leaves of two or three days, while older employees stayed off work for longer periods, suggesting that their illnesses were more serious.
"We know that bad treatment at the workplace can trigger depression. Bad feeling and stress can also be expressed through physical dysfunction. A bad mood impairs the immune system, causing a predisposition to all manner of illnesses."
Human nature insists on justice
"Justice is one of the basic demands of human nature. It conveys a message about the individual’s importance to the community," Elovainio says, drawing support from several studies.
"If employees are not listened to, this means that they are of no value. One can only afford to treat insignificant people in an unfriendly, dishonest and unfair manner. Justice is one of the major pillars of self-awareness and self-esteem."
Although working communities have always had internal problems, radical changes have exacerbated these in the last few years. Work is now done in a new way, using new machinery, and often with less material and human resources. At the same time productivity demands have risen.
"The tempo of working life seems only to accelerate. This means that greater attention must be paid to justice. The negative impacts of change can be ameliorated if employees at least feel that they are treated fairly."
"It is important to recognise that social relations at workplaces clearly have a major health impact," Elovainio stresses. He hopes that the new study will promote a debate on contemporary changes in working life. The importance of this study is reflected in the fact that the reputable science magazine "American Journal of Public Health" (www.ajph.org) reviewed it in January 2002.
"Nowadays everything is judged according to its economic outcome. Our study shows that fair treatment of employees is also a financially intelligent approach," Elovainio notes.
*The article has been published in several Finnish trade union magazines. The writer is a freelance journalist.
**M. Elovainio, M. Kivimäki, and J. Vahtera. "Organizational Justice: Evidence of a New Psychosocial Predictor of Health." American Journal of Public Health, January 1 2002; Volume 92, Issue 1: 105108.
Principles of fair management
A recent study on the health impacts of fairness by bosses defined the principles of fair decision making as follows:
- Employees have the right to be heard in matters concerning them.
- Coherent rules must govern the workplace, meaning that employees must be treated according to identical principles, and that the rules must remain in place both today and tomorrow.
- Policymaking should seek the most accurate factual foundation.
- Decisions must be corrected when this proves necessary.
- Policymaking at the workplace must be governed by clear principles that are familiar to the employees concerned.