Long working days can cause heart problems

From "The Guardian", July 14, 2017

According to a major study by a research team at University College, London, a long hours office culture can affect more than just your social life – long days at work can be bad for your heart as well.

It’s been established that too many hours in the office can increase the risk of a stroke. Now it seems that clocking up more than 55 hours a week means a 40% higher chance of developing an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation (AF), when compared to those with a better work-life balance.

The research team analysed data on the working patterns of 85,494 mainly middle-aged men and women drawn from the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Those working the longest hours were more overweight, had higher blood pressure, smoked more and consumed more alcohol. But the team’s conclusions about longer working hours and AF still remained after taking these factors into account.

With the aging of the workforce, the challenge remains for organisations to design work that does not require employees to work excessive hours and to create a culture in which a better work-life balance is encouraged.

Click here for the full article.

Good Work in the Media! The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices in the UK has been published!

Good work: the Taylor review of modern working practices

The British government yesterday published a review considering the implications of new forms of work (think flexible / virtual / remote working, the gig economy etc.) on worker rights and responsibilities, and employer freedoms and obligations. It makes 7 recommendations to address the challenges facing the UK labour market today (see p. 9), and defines quality work as ‘ensuring all work [in the UK] is fair and decent with realistic scope for development and fulfillment’ (p. 10).

The review considers many different aspects under “Good work”, which are also aspects contributing to good work design: wages, employment quality, education and training, working conditions, work life balance and consultative participation and collective representation.

While the report may present a superficial picture of modern working practices in the UK, it does highlight the importance of good work design and quality jobs for the health and productivity of individuals and organisations. By raising awareness of these issues, the design of good work can become instrumental in the development of new national policies and procedures. The importance of continuing to research work design, it’s causes and effects, is clear.

Shocking Job Characteristics for Young Women Working as Bartenders in a Mining Town

When people talk about Western Australia (WA), they often mention the importance of the mining industry for the region, particularly how it has contributed to the economic welfare of the region.

While mining is vital for WA's economy, filmmaker Pete Gleeson was interested in what it means for an outsider to be introduced into this isolated space.

In the documentary “Hotel Coolgardie,” he tells the story of two Finnish girls Lina and Steph who come to Australia with a work-and-travel visa and decide to work as bartenders in a mining city in Coolgardie. Lina and Steph are "[h]arangued by their new boss, relentlessly pursued and pilloried by booze-addled patrons, and prey to the madness and malaise of an environment as claustrophobic as it is isolated" (IMDb). The documentary gives the viewer an idea of what it means for a young woman to live and work in a mining town. It's exhausting.

At the same time, the pains of the locals bubble up in serious, dark, and personal disclosures. In this way, Pete Gleeson has left room in the documentary for the viewer to see glimmers of a human sadness, rather than starkly painting all of the locals as villains. These moments are rare, and don't excuse the inappropriate behaviour that dominates the film. Perhaps that pain is a driver behind their behavior, creating a need to escape through booze and sex.

While this movie is a case study with a small sample size, it makes the viewer ask the question to what extent the work characteristics of this job generalize to other rural cities in WA. How do local norms dictate local jobs for other groups of people? How might these types of jobs change in the future? Or will they remain the same?

For more information about this movie and when it screens, click here.