With employee health problems and associated employer costs on the rise, many companies are looking for novel ways to improve employee wellness. A study at Cornell University examined the effect of tying 10% of manager compensation to employee wellness and found that managers were more likely to promote employee wellness when incentivized to do so, and managers also expressed a preference to work for companies with such incentives in place.
Key Topics: Workplace wellness; Employee health; Performance evaluations; Management compensation
In many sectors, particularly those with primarily low-skilled jobs, the use of temporary and often migrant workers is on the rise. While there are certain benefits to companies in using temporary migrant workers, their use may come at a cost. A study of the UK food manufacturing sector examined employee absence rates and the tools companies use to reduce absence issues. The results showed that companies were predominantly using punishment rather than reward techniques to combat absence. This study also found that settled migrant workers had similar absence behaviour to native workers, while newer transitory type migrant workers had less job commitment and were more likely to be absent from work.
Key Topics: Absence management; Temporary workers; Migration
Balancing home and work life is a constant challenge for many employees and as such the prevalence of family-friendly company benefits programs, such as childcare and employee assistance programs, has increased as companies seek further avenues to competitive advantage. A study examining the relationship between employee satisfaction, family-friendly benefits programs and employee turnover in U.S. federal agencies found that satisfaction with family-friendly programs reduced turnover levels, although the turnover effect differed by benefit program.
Key Topics: Benefits; Family-friendly programs; Employee turnover; Employee satisfaction
Presenteeism is a phenomenon that has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years due to it numerous detrimental effects. A Belgian study sought to examine the relationship between various job content and psychosocial work factors and presenteeism. Both psychosocial work factors and job content related factors were found to be significantly related to presenteeism. The results found that high effort, high job demands, low rewards, and low support were all linked to presenteeism. Additionally, a significant relationship was found between presenteeism and both bullying and work-to-home conflict.
Key Topics: Job stress; Presenteeism; Psychosocial risk factors; Bullying; Work-family conflict; Reward
Globally, longer working hours are becoming more typical and accepted, but what is the cost? A study of South Korean workers examined the role of long working hours and low salaries in public sector employees’ well-being characteristics, such as job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Study results found that long working hours were not related to employee wellness, while salary was found to be related to wellbeing, with those on higher salaries displaying greater well-being.
Key Topics: Job satisfaction; Well-being; Low salary; Long working hours
While once seen as not the employer’s problem, many companies are now seeing the value in prioritising the health of employees. Despite this, income inequality is on the rise and research suggests this can have negative health implications. A recent study in Germany found that employees who perceived their income to be unjustly low have significantly worse physical health. The study also found that women and those in lower social classes were more likely to perceive their income to be unjustly low.
Key Topics: Justice; Physical health; Compensation; Income inequity |
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