Work, Stress and Occupational Mental Health - An Important Conversation

There's a hint of light!  Now, we need someone willing to lead conversations like this up here...

Media Advisory: Work, Stress and Health Conference Spotlights Combining Protection with Promotion of Workers' Health and Safety

 

Presentation topics range from economic issues to high risk jobs

What

The 10th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health: Work, Stress and Health 2013: Protecting and Promoting Total Worker Health™. Keynote address, “Work & Mental Health: Developing an Integrated Intervention Approach,” Thursday, May 16, 4:30 p.m. PDT, by Anthony LaMontagne, ScD, MA, MEd, associate professor and principal research fellow, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Among the presentation topics:

• Job Insecurity and Accident Under-Reporting
• The Relative Impact of Cyber and Face-to-Face Incivility on Employee Outcomes
• Daily Work-Family Conflict and Aggression Toward Family and Friends
• Financially Fragile Families: Implications for Work-Family Conflict?
• Effectiveness of Job Search Interventions
• Comparisons of Cardiovascular Health in Police Officers, U.S. General Population and U.S. Employed Population
• Life Expectancy of Police Officers
• Nonstandard Work Schedules: Implications for Impoverished Mothers and Their Infants

Who

Convened by APA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology. Conference participants include health and social science professionals, business and labor leaders, researchers and others with interests in occupational health and safety.

When

(All times are PDT)

• Thursday, May 16, 8 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
• Friday, May 17, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Saturday, May 18, 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, May 19, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Where

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites
404 South Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90071

Background

The Work, Stress and Health Conference series addresses the changing nature of work and implications for the health, safety and well-being of workers. The conference covers topics of interest to labor, management, practitioners and researchers, such as work and family issues; new forms of work organization; changing worker demographics; and best practices for preventing stress and improving the health of workers and their organizations (see complete list of conference topics and conference program [PDF, 625KB]).

 

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 134,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.

 

Conference Topics

00. Total Worker Health™: Effects of integrated (health protection plus health promotion) interventions, including both health/safety and organizational (e.g., economic, productivity) outcomes; The contribution of occupational and non-occupational factors to health and safety problems in today’s workplace (e.g., stress and mental health, obesity); Strategies and best practices for implementing and evaluating integrated prevention programs; Future challenges and directions relating to integrated prevention strategies; Training needs to advance research and practice relating to Total Worker Health.

01. Economic Issues and Concerns: Influence of the economy on management and employment practices, the organization of work, job security and income disparity; Economic consequences of stressful working conditions and stress-related disorders for employers, employees and society at large, including costs of illness, injury, disability and organizational productivity and performance losses; Economics of stress prevention and workplace interventions, including economic barriers to their implementation.

02. Best Practices in Creating Healthy Workplaces: Organizational, individual and multilevel interventions; Policy and legislative developments; Organizational learning; Corporate social responsibility; Program evaluation studies; Model programs; Practitioner toolkits; Evidence-based practice.

03. Collaborative and Participatory Approaches: Labor–management initiatives; Government–labor–business–university community partnerships; National and international collaborations.

04. Workplace Diversity, Minority and Immigrant Workers, Health Disparities: Differential exposures and susceptibilities; Race/ethnicity-related stressors; Stress and immigrant status; Workplace multiculturalism; Culturally-tailored prevention and intervention programs; Cultural competencies.

05. Workplace Mistreatment: Sexual harassment; Violence by customers, clients, patients, coworkers, etc.; Incivility; Violence prevention programs; Personal and organizational responses; Characteristics of perpetrators and victims; Bullying; Discrimination (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, disability).

06. Changing Employment Arrangements: Contract and temporary work; Self-employment; Under- and over-employment; Job insecurity; Psychological contracts; Part-time work.

07. Human Resource Management and Benefits: Health, pension, and other benefits; FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) issues, disability benefits; Pay equity and discrimination; Workers’ compensation programs; Return to work; Job accommodations.

08. Work Scheduling: Shift work; Overtime/extended hours of work; Flexible/compressed schedules; Schedule design; Telecommuting.

09. Work, Life, and Family: Work-life balance; Work-family conflict; Child and dependent care; Formal and informal family supports; Positive spillover; Intimate partner violence.

10. Organizational Practices: Lean production; Downsizing and resizing; Globalization; Outsourcing; Continuous improvement; Process reengineering; Emerging technologies.

11. Job and Task Design: Worker control; Work pace and work overload; Emotional labor; Physical demands.

12. Social and Organizational Environment: Organizational climate and culture; Social support; Supervision and leadership; Group dynamics; Communication.

13. High Risk Jobs and Populations: Younger and older workers; Hazardous work environments; High-risk occupations (e.g., agriculture, construction, emergency responders, health care, manufacturing, military, mining, transportation).

14. Traumatic Stress and Resilience: Assessment, prevention, mitigation, and treatment of traumatic stress; Resilience; PTSD; Treatment seeking and the barriers to obtaining treatment; Stigma associated with seeking treatment; Available resources and access to resources; Psychological first aid; Essential workers and emergency response; Ability and willingness to report to work.

15. Psychological and Biological Effects of Job Stress: Depression and stress; Musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and immune system function; Gender-related health concerns; Obesity; Alcohol and substance abuse; Physiological and psychological pathways to health outcomes; Burnout; Suicide.
16. Sleep, Fatigue, and Work: Effects of work schedules on sleep; Sleep disorders and medications; Health and productivity implications of sleep disruptions.

17. Aging and Work Stress: Job design for aging workers; Work capabilities and limitations; Attitudes toward aging workers; Implications of an aging workforce; Job retention and retraining; Disability management and accommodations; Health benefit implications.

18. Health Services and Health and Productivity Management: Health promotion;EAPs [Employee Assistance Programs]; Vocational rehabilitation; Career and work adjustment counseling; Return to work; Disability management; Stress management; Integrated prevention models.

19. Safety Climate, Management, & Training: Management commitment to safety; Safety motivation and leadership; Safety communication; Hazard identification and elimination; Barriers to eliminating or mitigating workplace hazards; Safety climate and culture.

20. Professional and Educational Development: Graduate and undergraduate training in Occupational Health Psychology; Teaching innovations; Employee training programs; Career development programs.

21. Theoretical and Conceptual Issues in Job Stress: Personal, organizational, and cultural antecedents of stress; Moderators of stress-outcome relationships; Measurement of stress; Theoretical developments.

22. Research Methodology: Innovative research designs; Mixed-method research; Multidisciplinary research; Measure development; Case studies; Econometric analysis; Culturally-competent methods.

23. Prevention / Intervention Methods and Processes: Field intervention design; Engaging organizations in safety and health issues; Barriers to safety and health initiatives; Gaining access to organizations; Disseminating research findings to organizations; Intervention evaluation methods and standards; r2p (research-to-practice).

24. Global Concerns and Approaches: Surveillance strategies, methods, and programs; Job stress, risk factors, and interventions; Government and NGO initiatives; National policies and guidelines; International networks and collaborations.

25. Positive Psychology and Engagement in the Workplace.

26. Individual Factors: Personality; Coping styles.

27. Job Attitudes, Turnover, & Retention: Attraction; Withdrawal intentions and behaviors; Turnover; Motivation; Presenteeism; Absenteeism; Commitment; Organizational citizenship behaviors.

28. Emerging Risks, Opportunities, and Issues in Work, Stress, and Health.

Justice For Mental Health

No one should be meant to feel they need to suffer in silence.

 

Think your life is hard?  Suck it up - it's a tough world.  Boss too hard on you?  Maybe you're just not up to the job.  Trouble at home getting you down?  Nobody cares - leave your baggage at home, where it belongs.  Never tell people how you really feel, 'cause nobody cares; if you do, they'll just avoid you.  The people you deal with annoying?  Maybe you're being to soft on them. 

 

That's common wisdom in on our streets, in our places of business, in our homes and on the playground.  Emotional responses are for weak-kneed, bleeding hearts and rage-o-holics.  Those aren't the kind of people you want working for you - right?  The worst employment advice I've ever received was also the most practical - when someone asks how you're doing, always answer "living the dream."  They aren't asking because they are sympathetic, but because they want to judge your usefulness in that moment.

But here's the thing - everyone has limits.  When they are pushed, something gives.  Nearly every majorly successful person I know has suffered a collapsed family, harbours deep-rooted narcissistic self-doubt or partakes in substance abuse.  Frequently, it's all of the above.  This shouldn't come as any surprise, because stress is stress, whether physical or mental.  We have designed our society from top-to-bottom to facilitate work, not people.  The something that's giving is why we have a growing mental health crisis on our hands - and it's costing us.

 

This is most observable among two groups - those with mental illness who are coming into contact with the Justice system on the one side, and First Responders on the other.  Police, Nurses, EMTs, Paramedics, Teachers, parents, spouses and yes, bullied children are the canaries in the cognitive coal mine.  People are chafing, falling, dying because we refuse to realize how harmful our social "suck it up mentality" is.

 

But it doesn't have to be this way.  There are tools, internal and external, that can be applied.  There are mental exercises people can do to nurture resiliency and better manage stress.  Simple things like stopping and counting the positive things in your life can reshape your thought patterns, resulting in more broadly positive attitudes.  There are external solutions like drugs, walks, music and laughter that salve emotional strain.  There's nothing corny about this - it's scientific fact.  Just as eating junk food is bad for your physical health, constantly thinking negative thoughts is harmful for your brain.  The reverse is also true - the entire field of positive psychology was developed around this concept.

 

There are also environmental changes that can be made - innovative workplace designs and work schedules that not only reduce stress, but enhance productivity.  It's the next labour revolution and it's already begun to happen - some players are just ahead of the curve.   

 

We get that planned physical exercise strengthens, but sudden blows or repetitive stresses are harmful.  Some people are designed to be faster or taller or more prone to illnesses than others, physically; the same applies mentally.  

 

Sometimes, pushing against a closed door even harder isn't the solution - sometimes you need to try and give it a pull instead.  That's not being lazy, or weak, or a quitter; it's being smart.

 

Mental health is a pull door that we are still collectively pushing on, to our own detriment.  It's time we stop working against our cognitive natures and proactively, collectively pull the door open.  There's a whole world of opportunity on the other side - we just need to be conscious of this.

 

Respect, Consequence and Success

"I'm accountable to people of faith, and people of no faith. I'm accountable to all parents, and I think the fact that I know we have something in common as parents -- we want to make sure our kids are accepted and respected for who they are."

   - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

As the GSA saga has unfolded, it’s come as no surprise that the “respect adult authority” meme has been bandied about.  Thomas Cardinal Collins has suggested Premier McGuinty isn’t respecting the moral authority of the Catholic Board Trustees.  Not mentioned is that the Board doesn’t seem to be respecting the moral authority of their own teachers, who are in favour of empowering youth to choose a name for their association that suits their objectives, even if it uses the word “gay.

More than a couple commentators have thrown out “spare the rod, spoil the child” – suggesting that allowing our youth to define themselves and engage in conversations about how to understand and get along with their own individual peers is somehow watering down their moral fibre.

On public transit I hear teenage boys talking about respect and how they aren’t getting it or what they could/should do to get it.  Lots of song lyrics carry the same message.  Despite the negative impact on mental health, productivity and the bottom line of this approach being applied in workplaces, employer/employee respect is still perceived as a rock that rolls uphill rather than a reciprocative interaction.  Jason Kenney made a compelling argument that the Liberal Party of Canada was not respecting the New Canadian community and taking their votes for granted to devastating effect (for the LPC).

Here’s the thing: these folk who want “their” youth, “their” employees or “their” constituents to do as they’re told; the people who talk derisively to politicians or planners who disagree with them or refer to their staff as “dead wood” don’t really give a rat’s ass about respect; what they care about is dominance.  Respect, they see, is something received, not given.  These adults will yell, stomp their feet or ask aggressively to get their way – in essence, throwing tantrums, or bullying to quash challenges to their perceived authority.  Sometimes this leads to one partner tucking it’s tail between its legs and backing away.  More often than not, it results in escalation, serving nobody’s best interests.  Where do our kids learn such behaviour?  By watching us, is how.  That’s the example we set.

When you tell a child that they have to do as they are told, period, you are attempting to undermine their position, which will almost always be legitimate for them and might actually add value to a conversation.  I have a 4 year-old who challenges me all the time; he will seek clarification on a position, offer alternatives and will make some pretty decent arguments on his own behalf. 

My wife and I actively encourage this behaviour; it helps him develop critical thinking, to get into the head space of the person with whom he is speaking and teaches him resiliency.  This also makes him more proactive and collaborative – my knows how to stack the deck in his favour.  It’s both cool and a little bit disconcerting to watch a 4 year-old lay out multi-move strategies, but I always proud of him for it.  By showing my son respect, by giving him skin in the game and a stake in the end result, we’re preparing him for a life of success and contribution in the real world.

Employers may feel they have no responsibility other than wages to their employees – they are tools to be leveraged for labour, nothing more.  When you don’t respect your workers, though, you not only atrophy their capacity to make you money, you actively push them away.  Same thing with any team, any constituency – the whole is only as strong as the weakest.  In a social environment, you don’t get very far by culling “weak links” – instead, success comes from empowering each of your team to reach their full potential.

People like Thomas Cardinal Collins might be uncomfortable with the word “gay” – a latent  homophobia for a word that, when time was, meant happy.  They might feel that allowing students to use the term in Catholic schools (the Church’s schools, apparently, not the students) makes them uncomfortable and is therefore disrespectful  to their moral authority.  What they’re really doing is passing the message on that the Catholic Church doesn’t respect the views of youth, which is not a wise image to portray.

Poor Catholic Church Board has backed themselves into a corner.  They need a way out of their untenable position.  Here’s some advice they can turn to from within their own cannon that will make it easier for them to do the right thing:

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Mark 10: 13 – 16

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18: 2 – 6

 Such is the nature of belief systems.  I would be happy to sit down with them, hear their arguments out and together, we could come us with a comprise that suits both our interests and allows us to move forward.

Because that's what true, mutual respect allows.

Jim Flaherty, Work, Social Value and Mental Health

“There is no bad job. The only bad job is not having a job,” noting he once drove a taxi and refereed hockey.”

This is an interesting insight into Jim Flaherty’s thinking.  It fits with his pattern of snipping at opposition, snipping at the provinces, snipping at anyone that disagrees with him, frankly.  I’ve see this time and again – people who have struggled don’t think others should have support.  Is this because the person being asked truly feels that it’s better to suffer through hardship, or is it that they don’t want others to have advantages they themselves missed out on?

Each generation should strive to make life better for the one that follows.  This generation is the first in Canadian history that won’t see that trend continued.

I think the underlying problem of the Flaherty approach – and the generational gap we’re facing – is that when you put your own interest first, everything gets weighed against the value for the person.  That’s limited thinking.  We have so many shortages of specialization in Canada – why on earth would we want to force people to cling to the bottom rung?  Given Flaherty's commitment to supporting people with mental illness and combatting the stigma around mental health, this must be a difficult issue for him; his approach to work runs directly contrary to current understandings about the impact of work on mental health.

The solution isn’t sink-or-swim, nor is it keeping everyone afloat – it’s about teaching people to fish.

If Jim Flaherty disagrees, he should ask himself this – is Canada better off having him as a politician or a taxi driver?

What Can ORNGE Teach Us About Proactive Mental Health?

Yachetti said the Star and “others have suggested that (Mazza) is avoiding the process. That is simply not true as it is his current condition which prevents him from participating.”

He left ORNGE on Dec 21 and the now former board of directors became worried Mazza was suicidal. He has been under a doctor's care since then and may be an in-patient at a hospital or clinic in Ontario.

Well, now this is interesting. 

Nationally, there is a call for an expanded, integrated mental health strategy.  By its very nature, this calls for a national general health strategy.  Study after study proves that the socio-economic impact of mental illness is huge – and therefore is contributing to our debt crisis, our training deficit and all other sorts of social woes.  Now, here's further proof of that - a fellow who is on suicide watch appears to have behaved in a socially irresponsible manner without thought as to consequences.  The financial consequences and public trust impacts of ORNGE are enormous - and rightly so, Premier McGuinty is worried about what else might be going on out there. 

It must be asked, as we look at proactive mental health, at improved training and opportunity and a focus on accountability - would a more proactive approach to mental health have prevented the challenges at ORNGE?  Could they have prevented "personality" problems that led to e-Health, or Walkerton, or the death of Dudley George?

There's plenty of evidence to suggest the answer is yes; given the right, proactive accommodations and conscious thought as to consequences, we could have planned better in each one of these cases.  Social-Emotional learning, EQ development, etc. can help foster consciously pro-social development.  But do we believe that, seriously?  Are we ready to accept that difficult personalities (and charming personalities) are reflective of neurochemistry and environmental factors?  Can we get past the “suck it up” and “get over yourself” mentality still prevalent and really invest in understanding who we are and how we exist as a societal system?

My guess is no.  Or at least, not yet.  Most (I say again – most) backroom political operators I know see mental health as a policy widget, period.  They fundamentally don’t believe in “move forward together” – they practice “every man for himself.”  A bit over a year ago, I had a chat with a guy in the know about what the next steps should be on mental health; the reply came back “we already allocated funds” as though that meant the right demographic had been assuaged, so it was on to the next thing.

Problem is, that kind of survival-of-the-fittest mindset is the exact same thought process that landed the system with Chris Mazza.  Mazza, by every account I’ve read of him, is a big-thinker, fast-talker, charming to the nines.  He’s the kind of person you just feel is somehow ahead of the curve – his very demeanour inspires confidence.

What if that demeanour, that behavioural pattern, is the exact same starting point for the mess that ORNGE got itself into?  What if Mazza has, like so many people in politics and business, an undiagnosed “mental health” condition that, because it caused him to excel, people were willing to overlook until the cracks started to show?

Political operatives can tell you countless tales about seeking the perfect candidate and apparently finding them, only to run into a whack of “personality-challenges” down the road.  You could sit in any Legislature in Canada and probably assess rather quickly a number of people who could be slapped with a diagnosis (and some already have one).  The problem is, these manic, delusional, obsessive people – when harnessed the right way – are the ones who move the ball forward.  They are our innovators, our social outliers, the people who think around corners and inspire other to follow.

Conversely, the ones who are quieter, less confident, or seek greater direction are seen as “dead wood” – without consideration ever being paid to the environmental factors of work.  Again, it’s subconscious “survival of the fittest” at play, meaning it’s the most aggressive and competitive, not necessarily the most talented, who rise to the top – until they over step themselves.  Our approach to proactive occupational mental fitness is feeding into our broader health and economic crisis.   It’s like we’re wringing our hands over the complexity and cost of treating lead poisoning without looking upstream for a leaky pipe.

We should watch what happens in the case of Dr. Chris Mazza closely.  How much his case will incite some introspection on the part of policy makers and institutional leaders will be most telling of how quickly we can start embracing the changes our society needs to keep growing forward.

Work, Stress, Illness - and Reduced Productivity, Increased Healthcare Usage, etc.

From Workopolis on a theme I have discussed, elsewhere:

Study: Why the majority of working Canadians are stressed on the job


I ran into a former colleague at the subway recently and after we chatted about mutual colleagues and our lives, she casually mentioned that she was looking for other opportunities. Her last job had been causing her an unhealthy amount of stress, she hadn't been able to sleep or even enjoy her time off because of anxieties about work.

She's not alone. A study by Statistics Canada found that six out of ten employed people said that work is their main source of stress. What the study also found is that workers who are stressed about their jobs tend to be well-educated and have white-collar jobs. Three-quarters of them had a college or university education and over half held jobs in management, professional and technical occupations.

What are the reasons for job stress?

Lack of Job Security

Outsourcing, layoffs and downsizing all contribute to high stress levels. These actions affect everyone in a company. People who are insecure about whether they'll have a job in the next few weeks won't be able to focus and often suffer from a lack of confidence, efficiency and a lack of energy.

This category also includes contract and temporary work. Not knowing your work situation when you're on contract can be stressful especially when the company waits until the last minute to either renew your contract or terminate your employment.

Office Politics and Bullying

Whether it's the mean group at work or a boss who likes to play favourites, office politics is a top cause of job stress. This can intensify if workers have no outlet to complain or feel that there is no recourse to deal with the situation.

No Recognition

If you're not recognized for your work contributions this can lead to resentment which could lead to a drop in job performance and stress. This becomes a vicious cycle and soon you're hating your job and stressing out about it.

We're not talking monetary recognition, which is always nice, but simple recognition by a boss for a job well done can go a long way. A lack of recognition also hurts a company as top talent leaves for better corporate cultures.

This category also includes a lack of feedback, good or bad. People want to know they're doing the job correctly. Not telling them leaves them trying to guess and stressing out about their performance.

A Lack of Control

An employee who has no say about their work situation is not a productive employee. He is a stressed employee who feels adrift because all decisions that affect him are made by someone else.

Micromanagement and over-management are also sources of job stress. They leave no room for the employee to be creative, make decisions or make mistakes. Instead, people quit or go on stress leave.

The StatsCan study says that mental health problems which includes stress cost employers an estimated $20 billion annually. That's $20 billion. Think about that. It's much cheaper to ensure that employees are happy and ideally stress-free. Not only is it good for them but ultimately good for the company and the economy.