WORKPLACE TOXICITY
THE TOXIC WORLD OF WORK!
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Dr. Muneer Muhamed see pitfalls in poisonous offices
Two years ago, the death of a Uber software engineer drawing a salary of over US$ 170,000 made headlines in the US. He apparently shot himself due to workplace stress. Over a period of four months in 2010, nine employees at Foxconn killed themselves. The presumptive cause was poor working conditions.
There are more examples: the Global Managing Director of Tata Motors, Chief Operating Officer of Encyclopaedia Britannica India, CEO of SAP India and over 46 employees of Orange (formerly France Télécom).
Meanwhile, occupational stress related heart disease is the No. 1 killer in Sri Lanka, exceeding the total number of fatal industrial accidents.
Depression, anxiety and stress prevail among 50 percent of employees in the private sector globally. Demanding work schedules, pressure to meet key performance indicators (KPIs) and that ‘always on the mobile phone syndrome’ are the top three culprits.
The harmful side effects of what we call ‘management toxicity’ are affecting a growing number of executives across the world.
You don’t have to work in a coal mine or chemical plant to be exposed to health hazards. Blue-collar occupational hazards have been largely eliminated following the introduction of stringent health and safety processes in most companies. Organisations tend to pay attention to workplace fatalities and incidents such as falls or chemical spills where bodily harm can be readily ascertained, and benchmarked globally.
But for white-collar workers, the invisible stress at work is intangible and isn’t measured. The top two sources of stress are money and work, according to an American survey.
A number of recent studies indicate that performance is not positively related to working hours.
The higher the work hours, the lower the productivity for every hour worked. Simply working more doesn’t
accomplish much.
There is strong evidence that long work hours are hazardous. A review of 27 empirical studies found that long work hours are associated with adverse health including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and disability. Working overtime was associated with a 61 percent higher injury rate.
A meta-analysis of 21 studies reported significant positive mean correlations between overall health symptoms
and hours of work.
While organisations encourage management practices that literally sicken and kill employees, they also suffer because toxic management practices
do not improve profitability. Unhealthy workplaces diminish employee engagement, increase staff turnover and undermine job performance, even as they drive up health insurance and healthcare costs.
Ironically, most companies have developed elaborate measures to track their progress on environmental sustainability while little thought is given to employee sustainability. Creating workplaces where people can thrive, and enjoy physical and mental health, is important.
If anything is to change, a combination of the following will be required.
Employees must comprehend what constitutes health risks in their work environment. That includes omnipresent psychosocial risks that are more damaging than physical injuries. They must choose employers at least partly based on stress related dimensions of work that profoundly influence their physical and mental health.
Moreover, employers will need to determine and measure the costs of toxic management practices, in terms of both direct medical costs and indirect costs, through lost productivity and increased employee turnover. That will be a necessary first step toward change.
Governments must acknowledge and take measures on externalities created when enterprises retrench people
who are physically and psychologically damaged at work.
The cost of privately created workplace stress has already prompted policy makers’ attention and action in the
UK and Scandinavia. It is in the economic interests
of governments to reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
Societies need social movements that advocate human sustainability and better work environments, which are as important as environmental sustainability. Dumping pollutants into the air, water and ground have been rampant but lately, people have woken up to fight for a better environment – and they’ve made companies pay for the damage. Because of public pressure, governments across the world have passed laws and developed norms to restrict pollution.
Employees will have to learn how to say ‘no’ when needed instead of continuing to exhibit
a servile mentality.
The world seems to be creating ‘lose-lose’ work environments in which people fall sick for no other reason than to demonstrate commitment. They literally risk their lives and health for employers.
So get serious about building healthier societies – the time to act is now! It isn’t worth dying for a higher salary!
Why are we not taking this issue more seriously? Can’t we have our lives back and enjoy the work?
Running a rat race, working unholy hours and simply losing life for a better salary is not worth it at all. The authors are absolutely right!
It is pretty scary that workplace hazards for white collar workers are silent killers like diabetes. What is the best way to create a change?
Insightful and intriguing. How can we all miss the cause of our troubles? The big question is who will bell this cat.
We manage market economy in a competitive world. The scientific management concepts are steered so far to project successful ventures after learning from many failures. This has ignored the need for social sustainability and has been facilitated by unequal societies. It is a transnational picture – the developed nations & the rich exploit the poor. Workplace toxicity and unsustainable workplaces are therefore here to stay unless we consciously work for social equality and equity across the globe by taking advantage of artificial intelligence. This, of course, would be clear in a decade or two.
I agree with the views expressed on the need to make employers more responsible. I also agree with the comments that we need to spend time with our loved ones. One has a choice to enter or not enter a rat race. Many of the premature deaths mentioned could be attributed to a definition of success which is self-destructive. People wear masks when there is air pollution. We need to equip ourselves to detect and take preventive action against this toxicity too.
I agree that workplace toxicity is another deadly lifestyle disease. Workplace practices for contractors and consultants are even worse than that of full-time employees. I am curious to know if people stay at work because life outside work is not that enjoyable either. Emergence in terms of visibility seems to get more rewarded than effectiveness where leadership roles are concerned. That could also be a reason for some amount of self-imposed long hours.
Wow! The no.1 killer in our country is heart ailments. This is a big menace and the government should bring in regulations to curtail the costs of healthcare and preventive healthcare. How can employees fight for social sustainability?
Workplace toxicity is a reality. How many of us have wondered whether we are spending enough time with our loved ones? How do we balance life with work?
Society needs to take up this issue of silent killers in a big way and make employers more responsible instead of the slave drivers they are today. As the authors say, we should all learn to say no to more work than what was contracted for. We do have a life beyond the workplace and we need to fulfil the roles of parent, child and spouse. It is time that a social war be declared on toxicity at workplaces.
Wonderful article. Absolutely eye opening. Astonishing facts that make us wonder why we’re all working harder and losing happiness in the process. Kudos to Jeffrey and Muneer.