“The trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning you’re on the job.”
Slappy White
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests reports unemployment currently around 10 percent.
According to a survey by Mental Health America, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Depression is Real Coalition, workers in the US who are not employed are four times more likely to experience mental illness as their employed counterparts.
So, what is worse for our psychological health and physical well-being given the two choices below?
- Being unemployed
- Employed and working for a competent jerk boss
Does Unemployment Make you Sick?
Apparently working for a bad boss makes you absent from work due to illness.
Being unemployed and poor lifestyle practices seem to be significantly related to both financial stress and loss of control. A 2-year longitudinal study of 756 people experiencing job loss showed that loss of personal control was a “pathway” through which economic challenge translated into chronic problems of poor psychological and physical health ((Price, R. et al. (2002). Links in the chain of adversity following job loss. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 4, 302-312)).
Gender also seems to be important. The recession has been an equal opportunity stressor for both men and women although financial strains for women seem to have increased relative to their male counterparts. The American Psychological Association’s “Stress in America†survey last year revealed that women reported less work stress but more financial stress than their male counterparts (73 percent of men reported money as a significant stressor, compared with 79 percent of women). Women also reported an increase in stress compared to men over the last five years (49 percent of women versus 39 percent of men).
New research suggests that for both Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, men with children were more likely to perceive unemployment as a defeat than women with children; and women with children were more likely to perceive unemployment as an opportunity than men with children ((Forret, M., Sullian, S., & Mainiero, L. (2010). Gender role differences in reactions to unemployment: Exploring psychosocial mobility and boundaryless careers. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 647-666)).
There is quite a bit of strong evidence that being unemployed creates havoc with our immune system. In a well documented 2007 study, researchers found (natural killer cells) linked directly to unemployment compared to a steadily employed group ((Cohen, F. et al. (2007). Immune function declines with unemployment and recovers after stressor termination. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69, 225-234)). The good news was that immune function capacity quickly began to recover when the participants got a new job.
Of course, people who are resilient (hardy), less neurotic and have an internal locus of control tend to do better with loss (job or any type).
Can leaders directly affect the health of their talent? Can bosses actually kill?
Can Bad Bosses Contribute to Hypertension?
A recent study by Wagner and her colleagues recently showed how working for jerks can directly cause a significant increase in blood pressure and how these leaders can be a potent workplace stressor which has a long term clinically significant impact on cardiovascular functioning ((Wagner, N., Feldman, G. & Hussy, T. (2003). The effect of ambulatory blood pressure of working under favourably and unfavourably perceived supervisors. Occupational Environmental Medicine, 60, 468-474)).
Their field study of female health care assistants explored blood pressure as it related to perceptions of supervisor interaction style. Ambulatory blood pressure was measured every 30 minutes over a 12-hour period for three days. Statistically significant SBP differences were observed for those working for supervisors perceived to be less favorable. You can probably guess the direction of the blood pressure for those working for competent jerks sometimes called bosses.
Can Bad Bosses Cause you to be Absent?
Apparently, working for a bad boss is associated diretly with absenteeism at work.
A recent prospective study of 506 males and 3,570 females measured “perceived justice†(supervisory practices and positive leadership behaviors) and absenteeism due to illness and self-reported health ((Elovainio, M. et al., 2002. Organizational Justice: Evidence of a New Psychosocial Predictor of Health American Journal of Public Health, 92, 105-108)).
The rates of absence due to sickness among those perceiving low justice were 1.2 to 1.9 times higher than among those perceiving high justice. These associations remained significant even after statistical adjustment for behavioral risks, workload, job control, and social support. Indeed, talent working for bosses who are perceived to be difficult directly leads to greater absenteeism.
Can Bad Bosses Kill You?
In one of the most startling studies longitudinal studies recently published, 6,442 male British civil servants were asked to rate supervisory practices (perceived justice at work) and were followed for cardiovascular events for 10 years. Those employees who perceived their supervisors treated them fairly had 30% lower CHD incidents even after adjustment for other known coronary risk factors ((Kivimaki, M. et al., 2005. Justice at Work and Reduced Risk of Coronary Heart Disease Among Employees: The Whitehall Study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 165, 2245-2251)).
A 3-year prospective study on 3,122 Swedish workers showed that transformational leadership behaviors was significantly associated with lower cardiac risk ((Nyberg. et al., 2008. Managerial leadership and ischaemic heart disease among employees: The Swedish WOLF study. British Medical Journal, 10.1136.2008.039362)).
It appears that bad bosses can actually kill their talent or just make them miserable by making them redundant (“voting them off the islandâ€)…..I guess I better keep trying to write high quality Blogs or I might be next….Be well….
Ken Nowack
Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)
