Employers have long suspected the intrinsic link – now organizations finally have the proof
Workplace culture has an impact on an employee's health — this is the long-time assumption a pioneering study has finally validated by using biological data to connect employment-related factors to the risk of chronic health conditions.
Researchers from the University of Louisville (UofL) found employees who reported poor wellbeing, isolation, and negative feelings towards their work environment had higher levels of stress-associated hormones.
These hormones, which signal sympathetic nervous system activity, can indicate chronic stress as well as a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic health conditions. On the other hand, participants who reported greater wellbeing, engagement, and positive feelings towards their environment were found to have lower levels of the stress-associated hormones.
Read more: How to encourage employees to respect their health
"Stress is fine in smaller, short-term doses, and may even help us to finish an important project or solve a big crisis. But if our work culture puts us under constant stress, this study suggests it can affect our health and our risk for chronic conditions over time," says Rachel Keith, one of the researchers of the study.
To link workplace culture and human health, the researchers connected biomarkers for chronic disease risk to four employment-related factors; stress, capacity for work assigned, social environment, and “meaningful” tasks. The report asked its participants to answer questions on their wellbeing, as well as inquiries on how engaged and positive or negative they felt about their work environment.
Read more: Are leaders doing enough for frontliners' mental health?
Brad Shuck, an author of the study and organizational culture researcher at UofL's College of Education and Human Development, says their report's findings will help employers make more informed decisions for their organizations.
"For a long time, we've assumed that workplace culture can impact our health," says Shuck. "This study shows, in biological terms, that assumption is true and improving our understanding of these links could help both employees and employers make better, more informed decisions that keep everyone healthy and happy in their work environments."
The four employment-related factors used in the study were parts of a bigger "work determinants of health" concept, which the study defined as the "organizationally attributable employment-related conditions that influence individual and group differences in health risk and health status."
"Understanding these cultural factors and what contributes to an employee's health and engagement in their work environment is good for everyone," says Shuck. "By understanding the work determinants of health, we can create better and healthier work environments that attract and retain great talent who want to be engaged."
