The Psychosocial Work Environment and Perceived Stress among Seniors with Physically Demanding Jobs:The SeniorWorkingLife Study

Background: Poor psychosocial work conditions are known to foster negative health consequences. While the existing literature on this topic focus mainly on white-collar workers, the influence of different aspects of the psychosocial work environment in physically demanding jobs remain understudied. Likewise, senior workers represent a population of the workforce at increased risk of adverse health outcomes and premature exit from the labour market. This study investigates the association between psychosocial work factors and perceived stress among the senior work force. Methods: Utilizing cross-sectional findings, this study reports associations between psychosocial factors (organizational justice, cooperation and collegial support, decision latitude, clarity of tasks, and quality of leadership) and the outcome of perceived stress quantified by Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS). Currently employed senior workers with physically demanding jobs were included in the analyses (n = 3386). Associations were modeled using general linear models with weights to make the estimates representative. Results: For all individually adjusted psychosocial variables, the category of “good” was consistently associated with lower stress scores compared to the categories of both “moderate” and “poor” (all p < 0.0001). Likewise, in the mutually adjusted analysis, the category of “good” was statistically different from “poor” for all included variables, while the category of “moderate” remained different from “poor” for “clarity of tasks”, “cooperation and collegial support”, and “decision latitude”. Conclusions: Among senior workers with physically demanding jobs, poor ratings of organizational factors related to the psychosocial work environment are consistently associated with high stress scores. Blue-collar occupations focusing primarily on physical risk factors are recommended to increase awareness on psychosocial aspects that may be relevant to the local work environment

Psychosocial benefits of workplace physical exercise:cluster randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background While benefits of workplace physical exercise on physical health is well known, little is known about the psychosocial effects of such initiatives. This study evaluates the effect of workplace versus home-based physical exercise on psychosocial factors among healthcare workers. Methods A total of 200 female healthcare workers (Age: 42.0, BMI: 24.1) from 18 departments at three hospitals were cluster-randomized to 10 weeks of: 1) home-based physical exercise (HOME) performed alone during leisure time for 10 min 5 days per week or 2) workplace physical exercise (WORK) performed in groups during working hours for 10 min 5 days per week and up to 5 group-based coaching sessions on motivation for regular physical exercise. Vitality and mental health (SF-36, scale 0–100), psychosocial work environment (COPSOQ, scale 0–100), work- and leisure disability (DASH, 0–100), control- (Bournemouth, scale 0–10) and concern about pain (Pain Catastrophizing Scale, scale 0–10) were assessed at baseline and at 10-week follow-up. Results Vitality as well as control and concern about pain improved more following WORK than HOME (all p < 0.05) in spite of increased work pace (p < 0.05). Work- and leisure disability, emotional demands, influence at work, sense of community, social support and mental health remained unchanged. Between-group differences at follow-up (WORK vs. HOME) were 7 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 3 to 10] for vitality, −0.8 [95% CI -1.3 to −0.3] for control of pain and −0.9 [95% CI -1.4 to −0.5] for concern about pain, respectively. Conclusions Performing physical exercise together with colleagues during working hours was more effective than home-based exercise in improving vitality and concern and control of pain among healthcare workers. These benefits occurred in spite of increased work pace. Trial registration NCT01921764 at ClinicalTrials.gov . Registered 10 August 2013

Strong labour market inequality of opportunities at the workplace for supporting a long and healthy work-life:The SeniorWorkingLife study

Most European countries are gradually increasing the state pension age, but this may run counter to the capabilities and wishes of older workers. The objective of this study is to identify opportunities in the workplace for supporting a prolonged working life in different groups in the labour market. A representative sample of 11,200 employed workers &ge; 50 years responded to 15 questions in random order about opportunities at their workplace for supporting a prolonged working life. Respondents were stratified based on the Danish version of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). Using frequency and logistic regression procedures combined with model-assisted weights based on national registers, results showed that the most common opportunities at the workplace were possibilities for more vacation, reduction of working hours, flexible working hours, access to treatment, further education and physical exercise. However, ISCO groups 5&ndash;9 (mainly physical work and shorter education) had in general poorer access to these opportunities than ISCO groups 1&ndash;4 (mainly seated work and longer education). Women had poorer access than men, and workers with reduced work ability had poorer access than those with full work ability. Thus, in contrast with actual needs, opportunities at the workplace were lower in occupations characterized by physical work and shorter education, among women and among workers with reduced work ability. This inequality poses a threat to prolonging working life in vulnerable groups in the labour market

Sammenhæng mellem ny teknologi i seniorarbejdslivet og beslutningen om at forlade arbejdsmarkedet før eller efter folkepensionsalderen

Den demografi ske udvikling med en aldrende befolkning og den lovbestemte hævelse af pensionsalderen har medvirket til, at især spørgsmålet om seniorers deltagelse på arbejdsmarkedet fylder meget i den offentlige debat. Sideløbende gennemgår arbejdsmarkedet, og den måde vi arbejder på, grundlæggende forandringer i disse år, hvor en stigende grad af automatisering og digitalisering i vid udstrækning – og på tværs af brancher – forandrer arbejdets indhold og organisering. Artiklen, der tager udgangspunkt i Arbejdslivsundersøgelsen (survey blandt 10.776 seniormedarbejdere) i projektet SeniorArbejdsLiv, undersøger hvorvidt indførsel af- og uddannelse i ny teknologi har betydning for seniorernes beslutning om at forlade arbejdsmarkedet før eller efter folkepensionsalderen på tværs af tre distinkte jobfunktionskategorier (arbejde med symboler, arbejde med mennesker, arbejde med produktion).Background: Demographic changes are resulting in an ageing population and increasing labour market participation among older workers is, therefore, a political priority. Along with demographic changes, the labor market, and the way we work, is undergoing fundamental change in these years. This applies to an increasing degree of automation and digitalisation where the implementation of new technologies to a large extent – and across industries – is changing the content and organization of the work. This may mean that the working population, including senior employees, must show even higher levels of adaptability to meet the future working life and its challenges. Aim: To investigate the association between implementation of new technology and the intention to leave the labour market before or after statutory retirement age across job function. Methods: The study is based on the employee survey in the project SeniorWorkingLife where 10,776 senior workers (+50) in 2018 answered questions about implementation, and education and training in new technologies in the workplace. Logistic regression was used to model the odds of either leaving the labor market before or after statutory retirement age due to new technology as a function of 1) strata (job function category: work with symbols, work with people, work with production) and 2) factors related to the introduction of technology (involvement in the introduction of the new technology, adequate training in the use of the new technology, the need for new skills as a result of the new technology, and whether the new technology either increases or deteriorates the quality of the work). Results: The fully adjusted model showed higher odds of leaving the labor market before retirement age due to new technology (push) and lower odds of staying in the labor market until after retirement due to new technology (stay) among senior employees working with people. In addition, new technology at work contributes less to stay among women, while neither push nor stay due to new technology seems to be associated with the age of the seniors. In addition, factors such as involvement in the introduction of the new technology, adequate training in the use of the new technology, needing new skills as a result of the new technology, and whether the new technology either raises or deteriorates the quality of work are important for whether the technology is perceived as a push or stay factor. Discussion: The introduction of new technology into working life appears to be a factor that infl uences seniors’ intention to leave the labor market before or after retirement age. In particular, implementation of new technology seemed to have an impact on the seniors who work with people who are more likely to be pushed out of the labor market due to the new technology.&nbsp;Importantly, employee involvement in the implementation process along with education and skills development have an infl uence on whether technology is perceived as a factor that can extend or shorten working life