Howard Kahn

Employee wellness as intellectual capital: an accounting perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify employee wellness as a further component of intellectual capital and to illustrate how it might be possible to account for it in ways that depart from accountings traditional focus on costs and valuations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is discursive in approach, considering a range of ideas relevant to visualising employee wellness as intellectual capital and how to account for it as such.Findings – Employee wellness a component of primary intellectual capital, being something that employees bring to their organisations together with their experience, expertise, know‐how, leadership skills, creativity, etc. It is also a component of secondary intellectual capital envisaged as initiatives designed to promote greater levels of health and fitness among employees. While it is not possible to place financial valuations on employee wellness, individual or collectively, it is possible to develop metrics that will communicate useful information to a var...

Talking about work stress: Discourse analysis and implications for stress interventions

Abstract This study used discourse analysis to explore the way in which employees understand work stress. Twenty-two female clerical workers in a Canadian city participated in focus group meetings where they talked about and made sense of their experiences of work stress. The womens accounts were analysed using discourse analysis methods (i.e. an examination of how talk is constructed). The findings revealed that talking about being stressed provides a socially acceptable way of expressing discomfort and regaining a sense of importance that is lost through feeling under-valued and under-appreciated in the organization. In contrast, admitting to being unable to cope with stress was considered to be ‘abnormal’. The stress discourse fosters a sense of helplessness and ambiguity by not acknowledging external influences on clerical workers’ experiences, such as their place within the power structure of the organization, and by limiting their sense of agency and control over problems experienced at work. The implications of these findings for organizational culture and interventions are discussed. For example, employers are encouraged to be conscious of the messages being sent to employees about how negative emotions or distressing experiences at work are to be addressed (i.e. how ‘stress’ is to be managed). Recommendations are made for future research using discourse analysis, such as the examination of alternative discourses that aim to improve conditions at work.

Training and experience as predictors of job satisfaction and work motivation when using computers: a correlational study

Abstract This paper examines the extent to which the previous work experience and method of training to use computer systems augment the predictability of the motivation and satisfaction of computer users. A sample of 154 computer users are studied, utilizing a version of the Job Diagnostic Survey questionnaire (Hackman and Oldham 1975). The job characteristics model upon which the questionnaire is based contends that the internal work motivation and general job satisfaction of job holders can be predicted from core job characteristics (task identity, task significance, skill variety, autonomy, and feedback from the job itself)- Results show that type of training and previous experience add little more to the job-holders job satisfaction and internal work motivation than is predicted by the job characteristics model. The implications of the results for the management and staffing of computer-based systems are noted. Limitations of the data are recognized.

How Foreign Exchange Dealers in the City of London Cope with Occupational Stress

Two hundred and twenty-five foreign exchange dealers working in the City of London completed the Coping Inventory of the Occupational Stress Indicator as part of an investigation of the mental health, job satisfaction, alcohol intake, and occupational stress of this employment group. Results indicate that dealers make less use of the coping strategies examined than the normative population, and that dealers appear to be a very homogeneous group in their use of coping techniques. The coping strategies adopted by various subgroups of dealers were also examined. Problems with the reliability of the Coping Inventory are highlighted.

Anxiety associated with money market dealers — sex and cultural differences

Abstract This study examines the predictors of two measures of anxiety, viz. free-floating anxiety and somatic anxiety (Crown & Crisp, 1979), in (a) male and female money market dealers, and (b) money market dealers working in organizations of differing national ownership, in the City of London. Previous research suggests that differences in anxiety may be sex-based, and also that takeovers and mergers, particularly by foreign-based organizations, result in particular anxieties. Following interviews, 225 questionnaires were completed by dealers in the City of London. Analysis of questionnaire data indicates that the sources of anxiety are different for the sexes; and that the sources of anxiety are different for dealers working in U.K.-owned and U.S.-owned financial institutions. The implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Towards recognising workforce health as a constituent of intellectual capital: Insights from a survey of UK accounting and finance directors☆

Abstract To date workforce health and wellbeing have not been recognised as one of the key constituents of the human capital component of intellectual capital. In an era when workforces are widely acknowledged as being highly valuable assets, and therefore in large part worth retaining within the organisation by virtue of their contribution to the value creation and delivery process, a healthy workforce would seem to be a doubly important asset to cultivate. This paper presents and discusses the findings of an exploratory questionnaire survey of senior accounting and finance practitioners regarding some of the issues associated with recognising workforce health and wellbeing as an additional constituent of intellectual capital. The study was carried out in the UK, the site of a continuing, costly sickness absence problem.

The potential contribution of information technology to the mental III health, job dissatisfaction, and alcohol intake of money market dealers: An exploratory study

This study explored the potential contribution to the outcomes of mental ill health (specifically, free‐floating and somatic anxiety, and depression), job dissatisfaction, and alcohol intake, of the information technology systems used by dealers (i.e., traders in currency, gilts, swaps, bonds, etc.) working in the City of London. Some 225 dealers completed questionnaires providing data on the independent variables of job‐related stressors, stress‐coping methods, coronary‐prone (Type A) behavior, locus of control, personality, and demographic and biographic factors, and on the dependent variables of free‐floating and somatic anxiety, depression, job satisfaction, and alcohol consumption. The job‐related stressors included six items associated with the computer systems that are basic to the work of dealers. Factor analysis of the job‐related stressors produced a technology‐related factor. Multivariate analyses showed that this factor was a negative predictor only of free‐floating anxiety. It was concluded t...

A comparison of the self-reported mental and physical stress of working and full-time homemaker mothers - A UK pilot study

There is continuing debate over whether employed mothers or mothers who are full-time homemakers experience more stress. The pilot study described in this article compares the self-reported occurrence of physical and psychological stress in two groups of mothers with children of UK primary school age (i.e. children aged 4–11 years of age), namely working mothers and mothers who are full-time homemakers. Seventy of the former and 24 of the latter, all with at least one child attending the same primary school, participated in the study. Physical health, three aspects of mental health (free-floating anxiety, somatic anxiety and depression) and stress-coping strategies utilized were measured. Few differences were found between the two groups of mothers, though full-time homemakers indicate significantly more depression than working mothers. The predictors of physical ill-health and mental ill-health were examined.