0
0
A recent study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Pennsylvania State University suggests that implementing workplace flexibility may lead to a reduction in employees’ risk of cardiovascular disease. The study found that workplaces that introduced measures to alleviate conflicts between employees’ work and personal/family lives saw a decrease in cardiovascular disease risk equivalent to a five to ten-year reduction in age-related cardiometabolic changes.
Published in The American Journal of Public Health, this study is one of the first to explore the impact of changes in the work environment on cardiometabolic risk. According to co-lead author Lisa Berkman, Professor of Public Policy and Epidemiology at Harvard, this research highlights the significance of working conditions as social determinants of health. Berkman noted that when stressful workplace conditions and work-family conflicts were addressed, there was a noticeable decrease in cardiovascular disease risk among more vulnerable employees, without any adverse effects on their productivity.
Berkman emphasized that these findings could be particularly meaningful for low and middle-wage workers, who typically have less control over their schedules and job demands, and are more susceptible to health disparities. To conduct the study, researchers implemented a workplace intervention aimed at enhancing work-life balance. This included training supervisors in strategies to support employees’ personal and family lives in conjunction with their job performance. Both supervisors and employees participated in hands-on training sessions to identify new ways to empower employees with greater control over their schedules and tasks.
The intervention was randomly assigned to work units/sites within two companies: an IT company with 555 participating employees, and a long-term care company with 973 participating employees. While the intervention did not have a significant overall effect on employees’ cardiometabolic risk score (CRS), it was found to be beneficial for individuals at higher risk, according to the researchers.
