Behavior/Humans

More Flexible Workplace Means Healthier Employees

They have a healthier behavior

By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor

13th of December 2007, 09:28 GMT

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Which is the way to get the best from the employees? Tough programs won't work; it seems that it is rather about workplace flexibility and if this is perceived as real by the employees, whose lifestyles and health will improve in this case, as shown by a new study carried on by Dr. Joseph G. Grzywacz, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and published in "The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine". In the end, health issues can mean great losses in productivity and its quality...

"People who believe they have flexibility in their work lives have healthier lifestyles. Individuals who perceive an increase in their flexibility are more likely

to start some positive lifestyle behaviors. This study is important because it reinforces the idea that workplace flexibility is important to workplace health", said Grzywacz.

Workplace flexibility has been suspected to increase worksite overall health, but this is a first study to tackle this.

"The goal of my study is to improve understanding of the potential effect of workplace flexibility on worker lifestyle habits", said Grzywacz.

He employed data from Health Risk Appraisals (HRAs) and he focused on the employees of a large multinational pharmaceutical company. The investigated company was admitted by "Working Mother" magazine as being one of the most family-friendly employers in the US, due to its flexible programs derived from compressed workweeks, flextime, job sharing, and remote or telework.

The research included a wide variety of jobs and employees, from executives and administrative support staff, to warehouse and production workers.

"This isn't just about high-level office workers - these people perform a wide variety of tasks within the company", said Grzywacz.

He looked to see how lifestyle behaviors varied in employees with different levels of perceived flexibility and how variation in flexibility over a one-year time period impacted health behavior, like frequency of physical activity, participation in stress management programs and health education activities, healthful sleep habits, and satisfaction with own life.

"Overall, the results showed that nearly all the health behaviors examined in this study were associated with perceived flexibility. These results suggest that flexibility programs that are situated within a broader organizational commitment to employee health may be useful for promoting positive lifestyle habits", said Grzywacz.

TAGS:

health | work | behavior

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