New Study Links Workplace Gender Issues
to Stress, Health Risks, and Rising Health Care Costs June 2004
(Newstream) -- One in three Americans may be making themselves sick
just by going to work each day. Results from a new landmark study
show that differences in the way men and women are managed -- fueled
by the differences in what they value most at work -- puts both
genders at risk for cardiovascular problems, depression and a higher
susceptibility to infectious diseases.
The study indicates that gender-based differences in workplace
values can create a company culture of underlying stress and conflict
that affects the physical and emotional health of both men and
women. The study also shows that females are at a higher health
risk from workplace stress than males.
Elizabeth Browning, CEO of LLuminari, the national health education
firm that commissioned the study, said that its findings are significant
because they link gender-based medicine with a healthy workplace.
"All companies are looking for solutions to reduce healthcare
costs," Browning said. "The answer isn't just about gyms and healthier
choices in the cafeterias. The study shows that a complete solution
must include addressing corporate workplace culture and its link
to a healthy workforce."
Top Three Gender Based Values at Work
"Men and women emphasized entirely different values as important
in the workplace," said LLuminari expert Marianne Legato, M.D.,
founder and director of the Partnership for Gender-Based Medicine,
Columbia University and one of the study's lead advisers.
Dr. Legato said the study reveals the three values in the workplace
most important to men are pay and benefits; achievement and success;
status and authority. While these values also are important to
women, ranking higher in importance were friends at work and relationships;
recognition and respect, and communication and collaboration.
"Women emphasized the congeniality of coworkers and the friendliness
and relationships that surrounded them," Dr. Legato said. "Men
emphasized how much they were making and how much control or power
they had over what they were doing."
"Organizations that seek to understand their own workplace cultures
and recognize that women and men are fundamentally different in
ways that impact their health, will have a distinct advantage,"
Browning said. "Male and female managers who are sensitive to
gender differences will have the ability to bring out the best
of both genders toward achieving results. The health of the organization
depends on the health of the individual. Since women now represent
half of the workforce, we need to understand how corporate cultures
that have evolved largely based on male models can become healthy
for both genders."
The study, titled Creating Healthy Corporate Cultures for
Both Genders, (www.lluminari.com)
was conducted for LLuminari by a leading expert in the American
workplace, P. Michael Peterson, Ed.D, a professor of health promotion
at the University of Delaware. More than 1,100 men and women from
companies with 1,000+ employees participated in the on-line survey
conducted by Harris Interactive. LLuminari is using the national
study as a benchmark to work with leading companies to create
healthier cultures.
"It's important that managers understand what men value as opposed
to what women value in a healthy workplace environment," Dr. Peterson
said. "Knowing and managing the differences helps to not only
effectively motivate employees and generate consistent, quality
results, but also to foster loyalty and overall physical and emotional
health."
Unmanaged Gender Differences Create Health Risks
LLuminari expert, Alice Domar, Ph.D., director of the Mind/Body
Center for Women's Health at Boston IVF, and assistant professor
of OB/GYN and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School,
said that it is the disconnection between these gender-based values
that creates on-the-job stress which can lead to subsequent health
issues for employees.
"Research has shown that women and men respond differently to
stress. Women also report having more to worry about each day.
Men on average worried about three things on a daily basis (their
immediate family, job and money). Women worried about up to 12
things, including their immediate family, job and money, but also
their extended family, the home, the social and academic lives
of the children, social connections with neighbors and friends,
and more," Domar explained.
"The incidence of cardiovascular disease almost doubles, as does
the use of potentially addictive substances like alcohol, tranquilizers
and mood elevators, if an employee is uncomfortable or not really
at ease in a workplace and if he or she feels stressed in a workplace,"
Dr. Legato said.
Results from the study show that corporate culture -- the values,
beliefs, and attitudes that drive the behaviors, systems and structures
of the organization -- have a major impact on organizational health
and the quality of work life for employees. Workers feel stressed
when their values are not addressed by the culture of the organization.
"The study reveals that 62 percent of respondents don't think
employers try to minimize stress and half felt their employer
didn't care about their well being," Dr. Petersen said. "In addition,
the study indicated that women reported nearly 40 percent more
health problems than their male counterparts and noticeably higher
stress."
Additional Study Results
- 20 percent of respondents said that work regularly interfered
with responsibilities at home and kept them from spending time
with their families.
- 54 percent of respondents said they "often to always" come
home from work in a state of fatigue and almost 50 percent come
into work already in a state of fatigue.
- 40 percent of respondents said they experienced distress due
to too much pressure or mental fatigue at work.
- Almost 50 percent of respondents do not take their allotted
vacation time.
"Lack of communication and lack of decision-making authority,
along with effort-reward imbalances were significant problems
mentioned by survey respondents," Dr. Petersen said. "The conditions
of fatigue and stress noted in the study are fueled in part by
the differences in how men and women manage people."
Dr. Petersen said the top five work related causes of stress
and ill health identified by respondents in the study were: 1)
mentally tiring work; 2) time pressure; 3) too many changes within
the job; 4) not getting enough feedback; 5) not having enough
influence on their job and how it is done.
"We were trying to determine how employees define a healthy workplace
and discovered that the way a job is designed and how much control
or influence an employee has over their job is a critical component
of a perceived healthy corporate culture."
Conclusions
- Men and women value similar things at work but in a very different
order of priority.
- Women understand what men value much better than men understand
what women value.
- Workplaces may not be equally healthy for men and women.
- Employees do not believe that corporate leaders understand
the relationship between their own health and an organization's
health.
- Corporations can better assess the impact of work and work
culture on employee health outcomes or a culture's influence
on health care costs by examining gender differences.
Dr. Legato said this study uncovered some key health findings
that should be of concern to employers and companies who value
their workers and who are concerned about the ever-increasing
costs associated with health care.
"Prevention is a more cost effective way of dealing with illness
than treating the complications of the illness," Dr. Legato said.
"It's an interesting idea to try and reduce stress in the workplace
-- especially along gender lines -- as a way of improving employee
health and helping to contain healthcare costs. There's no question
that the price we pay for a chronically unpleasant experience
at work is a rising bill for the illnesses that result."
Dr. Peterson said the trends uncovered in the study contribute
to corporations facing higher health care costs for their workers,
increased absenteeism and higher workman's compensation claim
costs. He said employers need to understand that profits gained
at the expense of worker health -- and the influence the corporate
culture plays in the overall picture -- will cost them in the
long run.
Organizations Must Understand Their Own Gender-Based Cultural
Drivers
LLuminari CEO Elizabeth Browning said that information contained
in the new study is especially valuable to organizations interested
in setting the tone for a healthy workplace environment for male
and female employees, given their different views of what's important.
"Managing the workforce of today requires an application of organizational
self-knowledge to maximize both the health and productivity of
workers," Browning said. "The first step for a corporation is
to conduct a thorough assessment of the culture in which their
employees operate. Organizations need to understand how men and
women respond to that culture. Is it a predominantly male-oriented
culture or is it female friendly? Is it an environment where people
think presence equals commitment? Are employees comfortable taking
their vacation time? If employers allow workers to get up and
leave the building to smoke, would they be as comfortable allowing
workers to get up and leave the building to take a walk?"
Browning noted being female-friendly is more than maternity leave
or flex time. She said that an organization that schedules meetings
at seven in the morning or at six at night makes it difficult
for both female and male employees who want to be successful at
work but also are responsible for families.
"Every organization wants to be successful and depends upon its
employees to make it happen," Browning said. "But success should
be viewed over the long term. A healthy organization can go the
distance. If we value our people, the best metric of success should
be the health of the employees."
LLuminari, based in Wilmington, Delaware, is a health education
company comprised of nationally known physicians and health experts
committed to women's health both in the workplace and with families.
Named to evoke the idea of illumination, LLuminari physicians
and health experts translate complex medical information and issues
into powerful and comprehensive formats and points-of-view that
people understand and can act upon to improve personal and family
health.
More information about LLuminari and also about the landmark
study -- Creating Healthy Corporate Cultures for Both Genders
-- is available at www.lluminari.com.
Editors Note: Please go to www.lluminari.com
for downloadable high resolution images including selected charts
from the study and head and shoulder photos of Elizabeth Browning,
Dr. Marianne Legato, Dr. Michael Petersen and Dr. Alice Domar.
---------------
Produced for LLuminari
Contact:
Stephanie Mogavero
LLuminari, Inc.
302-633-6291
smm@lluminari.com
Ted Sikorski
RT&E Integrated Communications
302-652-3211 x 132
tsikorski@rteideas.com
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