Colleges Challenges in work, health and
well-being
Hoorcollege 1
Why would we study this subject?
• Work is an important part of people’s wellbeing, including socio-economic position, prestige
and identity
• Work is a major cause of illness and injury, weighing heavily on the health care budgets of
welfare states
• Health effects of work are an area of growing policy attention in an ageing society
How will you pass the course?
- Portfolio (50% of grade):
➢ Individual: written assessment (Due December 20th, 9:00)
➢ Group: written assignment (January 17th, 9:00)
➢ Group: moderation assignment (each group different week)
➢ Mean score on three assignments is your grade on your portfolio (no resit possibility)
- Final exam (50% of grade):
➢ January 25th 2022, 13:30-16:30, Olympus Hall 3
➢ Made on UU computers
➢ Consists of essay questions covering all materials discussed in the readings AND the
lectures
➢ Resit on February 22nd 2022, 19:00-22:00
What is work?
- Paid and unpaid work
➢ Productive versus reproductive/subsistence labour (c.f. Marx)
- In this course we mainly focus on paid work
- Whether work is paid or unpaid may differ across time and place (e.g. childcare, elderly care)
- In this course we mainly focus on employment
➢ Employment is defined as paid work outside the household, including the informal sector
(International Labour Organisation, ILO, 1982):
➢ Employment: legal relationship that buyers of labor (employers) have to sellers of labor
(employees). This relationship determines the obligations, responsibilities, and
expectations of employers and employees in that relationship (Ahonen et al., 2018)
Jobs
- When we talk about people’s ‘work’, we tend to talk about their jobs. Ahonen et al. consider
jobs to be situated descriptions of employment, that take into account where and how work
is actually performed. This is dependent on, for example:
➢ Occupation: plumber, nurse, etc.
➢ Working conditions: how much do you get paid, is the work dangerous, etc.
➢ Job characteristics: part-time or full-time, high-skilled or low-skilled, etc.
,Health and wellbeing
- In this course, we look at the interplay between work, health and wellbeing
- Health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity but a state of complete physical,
mental and social well-being (World Health Organization)
- Well-being is the combination of feeling good and functioning well; the experience of
positive emotions such as happiness and contentment as well as the development of one’s
potential, having some control over one’s life, having a sense of purpose, and experiencing
positive relationships (Huppert, 2009)
How does work affect health and wellbeing?
- Work affects health and wellbeing in complex, reciprocal, heterogeneous ways (Landsbergis
et al., 2018; Ahonen et al., 2018)
➢ Work affects health/wellbeing differently in different circumstances (and vice versa) –
and work can even be both health-enhancing and health-damaging at the same time
➔ E.g.: Mineworkers physical health is being damaged by working in the mines, but
mental health and well-being is being enhanced because they are earning a salary
and they are part of a community
➢ Causal relations run in both directions: work affect health and wellbeing, but health and
wellbeing also affects work
➢ Work affects the health/wellbeing of different groups of workers differently
What are job rewards/resources?
- Work can have a positive impact on wellbeing and health
- Wellbeing rewards of employment include
➢ Income, social status
➢ Jobs are often tight to their identity
➢ Social networks
- Health rewards of employment include
➢ Better self-reported physical and mental health
➢ Psycho-social resources: fulfilment , connectiveness, etc.
➢ Health insurances & benefits
,How does work cause physical health risks?
- Employment exposes workers to physical and mental health demands or risks
- Some work poses physical demands/risks
➢ Exposure to hazards (e.g. production and use of harmful/toxic substances, operation of
heavy machinery and sharp objects)
➢ Repetitive overuse “wears out” body (e.g. lifting of heavy objects, mouse arm, etc.)
➢ Working conditions (e.g. long hours, night work)
How does work cause mental health risks?
- Some work poses psycho-social demands (stressors), e.g.:
➢ Stress enhancing forms of work organization (insecurity, scheduling, =>psychosocial
stressors
➢ Stressful/traumatic interpersonal encounters
➢ Work pressure
, Costs of sickness – or why we should care about adverse health impacts of work
- When physical or psycho-social risks lead to ill health, this affects both the individuals who
get sick and their families, the employers they work for, and society as a whole.
- Individuals, employers and welfare states incur costs due incapacity to work or illness at
work:
➢ The individual (e.g. lost earnings, health care costs, experience decreases in
wellbeing/quality of life)
➢ Employers (e.g. sick pay, cost to replace employee, reintegration costs)
➢ Society/welfare state (e.g. lower general health and wellbeing, health care costs,
decreased tax base)
Why improve the relation between WHW?
- Welfare states aim ensure the health and wellbeing of its population and attempt to mitigate
the negative effects of employment.
- In ageing societies with high retirement ages, ‘managing health conditions at work’ becomes
an increasingly large area of attention.
- (European) welfare states aim to increase the share of workers capable of performing paid
work
➢ Cost of sickness/disability/unemployment benefits and health care
➢ Delaying retirement in the context of an ageing population (Vickerstaff et al.)
➢ Reinforce pro-work narratives of deservingness
Take away message
- Work and health/wellbeing affect each other in both negative and positive ways
- Employment exposes workers to physical and psycho-social demands (risks) and resources
(rewards)
- Employment and unemployment co-determine workers’ place in societal hierarchies and
networks, which affect wellbeing
- Managing health and illness at work over the life course is an important policy goal for
modern welfare states and work organizations
Health inequality at work
- Employment is associated with physical and psycho-social resources as well as demands
- These demands and resources are not distributed equally or randomly across the population
- There is a broad consensus on the existence of a ‘social gradient’ in health
- The social gradient implies that ‘health inequalities mirror wider social inequalities’
(Vickerstaff et al., 2008; Ahonen et al, 2018)
Distribution of job risks and rewards
- In this case, health inequalities mirror labour market inequalities
- Labour markets are unequal institutions
➢ Social/occupational class theory
➢ Labour market segmentation; insider/outsider theories (c.f. Kalleberg’s good jobs for
insiders and bad jobs for outsiders)
- Paid work or workers is often subdivided into segments:
➢ Blue vs white collar; manual vs non-manual workers
➢ Self-employment vs dependent employment (employee)
