Jobs that literally make people sick

23 May Jobs that literally make people sick

While effective human resource management aims to create motivating jobs, poor

leadership coupled with difficult circumstances can result in jobs that are so

unpleasant that workers’ mental health begins to suffer. Researchers at the

Australian National University analyzed data about working conditions and mental

health in more than 7,000 adults over a seven-year period. They found that the

mental health of workers in the worst of these jobs was no better than—and

sometimes worse than—the mental health of unemployed adults.

The job characteristics that were mostly strongly associated with mental health

were the job’s complexity and demands, job security, the perceived fairness of pay,

and control over the job (for example, ability to decide how to perform tasks). In

highly demanding jobs with low security, unfair pay, and little control, workers

experienced declining mental health. Unemployment also had an impact on mental

health, but it was not as severe.

People differ in what kinds of work they consider unbearable, but many would

have that attitude toward working in an Alabama fish-processing plant. The rooms

have to be kept cold, and they are wet as well. Some people would likely object to

smelling fish all day long. Workers stand for at least 10 hours a day, making

repetitive cuts. For all this, they earn minimum wage and limited benefits. In spite

of these conditions, employers were able until recently to fill these positions with

immigrant workers. But after Alabama passed a law requiring police to question

individuals who they believe could be in the United States illegally, many of those

workers left the state. Employers report difficulty filling jobs such as these with

U.S. workers (Noe, 2013).