How YOUR high-stress job could send you to an early grave
WORK will be the death of you - if you're a high-flier who has little control over their workload.
Stress at work can put employees at greater risk of poor diet, serious illness and early death, new research has shown.
Those with little control over their workflow die younger or live less healthy lives.
That's compared to those workers who are given more flexibility in the workplace, experts warned.
Professor Erik Gonzalez-Mulé said: "When you don't have the necessary resources to deal with a demanding job, you do this other stuff.
"You might eat more, you might smoke, you might engage in some of these things to cope with it."
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Researchers looked at job demands, or the amount of work, time pressure and concentration demands of a job and job control, or the amount of discretion a worker has over making decisions at work - in determining the risk of early death.
"These findings suggest that stressful jobs have clear negative consequences for employee health when paired with low freedom in decision-making," said Professor Erik Gonzalez-Mulé.
But, he said stress at work can actually be beneficial - for those workers who are given the freedom to make decisions about their roles, and workload.
The study from the University Kelley School of Business, in Indiana, examined 2,363 workers in their sixties over a seven-year period.
Cancer was found to be the leading cause of early deaths among the group - accounting for 55 per cent of early deaths.
Meanwhile, 22 per cent of early deaths were due to circulatory system ailments and eight per cent concerned respiratory system ailments.
A survey found that 32 per cent of early deaths occurred in people with manufacturing jobs.
Meanwhile, agricultural jobs were deemed to be far less deadly.
Professor Gonzalez-Mulé added: "You can avoid the negative health consequences if you allow them (employees) to set their own goals, set their own schedules, prioritise their decision-making.
"Those in high-stress jobs with little control over their workflow die younger or are less healthy than those who have more flexibility and discretion to set their own goals."
When you don’t have the necessary resources to deal with a demanding job, you... might eat more, you might smoke, you might engage in some of these things to cope with it
Professor Erik Gonzalez-Mulé
However, employers do not need to cut back on what is expected of their workforce.
Rather, restructuring some jobs to give workers more say about how their jobs are done, can be beneficial.
Professor Gonzalez-Mulé added: "Stressful jobs cause you to find ways to problem-solve and work through ways to get the work done.
"Having higher control gives you the resources you need to do that. A stressful job then, instead of being something debilitating, can be something that's energising.
"You're able to set your own goals, you're able to prioritise work. You can go about deciding how you're going to get it done. That stress then becomes something you enjoy."
The study has been accepted for publication in the journal Personnel Psychology.