Kevin Teoh

Calculating the cost of work-related stress and psychosocial risks

Work-related stress is expensive. Tackling stress and psychosocial risks can be viewed as too costly, but the reality is that it costs more to ignore them. Stress affects performance and leads to absence from work. If prolonged it may result in serious health problems such as cardiovascular or musculoskeletal diseases. All this comes at a cost. This report summarises the studies focusing on calculating costs of work-related stress and psychosocial risks. The main costs for individuals relate to health impairment, lower income and reduced quality of life. Organisations are affected by costs related to absenteeism, presenteeism, reduced productivity or high staff turnover. Health care costs and poorer business outcomes ultimately affect national economies and society.

The cost of work-related stress to society: a systematic review

A systematic review of the available evidence examining the cost of work-related stress (WRS) would yield important insights into the magnitude of this social phenomenon. The objective of this review was to collate, extract, and synthesize economic evaluations of the cost of WRS to society. A research protocol was developed. Included cost-of-illness (COI) studies estimated the cost of WRS at a societal level, and were published in English, French or German. Searches were carried out in ingentaconnect, EBSCO, JSTOR, Science Direct, Web of Knowledge, Google, and Google scholar. Included studies were assessed against 10 COI quality assessment criteria. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. These originated from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the EU-15. The total estimated cost of WRS was observed to be considerable and ranged substantially from US

Exploring commitment, professional identity, and support for student nurses

221.13 million to

The financial burden of psychosocial workplace aggression: a systematic review of cost-of-illness studies

187 billion. Productivity related losses were observed to proportionally contribute the majority of the total cost of WRS (between 70 to 90%), with health care and medical costs constituting the remaining 10 to 30%. The evidence reviewed here suggests a sizable financial burden imposed by WRS on society. The observed range of cost estimates was understood to be attributable to variations in definitions of WRS; the number and type of costs estimated; and, in how production loss was estimated. It is postulated that the cost estimates identified by this review are likely conservative because of narrow definitions of WRS and the exclusion of diverse range of cost components.

The interaction between supportive and unsupportive manager behaviors on employee work attitudes

Problems with the recruitment and retention of nurses globally mean that insight into the factors that might increase retention in qualified staff and students is crucial. Despite clear links between work commitment and retention, there is little research exploring commitment in student nurses and midwives. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study designed to provide insight into commitment using semi-structured interviews conducted with nine pre-registration students and a qualitative survey completed by 171 pre-registration students. Thematic analysis of the data emphasised the impact of placement experiences on commitment via interpersonal relationships. Students typically emphasised their professional identity as the basis for commitment, although many participants also highlighted a lack of acceptance by qualified practitioners, which reduced it. There was evidence that suggested that practitioner workload may impact the student experience due to challenges in making sufficient time to provide support. Implications for retention strategies are discussed.

New directions in intervention: cyber-bullying, schools and teachers

ABSTRACT Understanding the economic impact of psychological and social forms of workplace aggression to society could yield important insights into the magnitude of this occupational phenomenon. The objective of this systematic review was to collate, summarise, review and critique, and synthesise the cost of psychosocial workplace aggression at the individual- and societal-level. A peer-reviewed research protocol detailing the search strategy, study selection procedures and data extraction process was developed a priori. Both the academic and grey literatures were examined. To allow for basic comparison, all costs were converted and adjusted to reflect 2014 US dollars. Twelve studies, from 5 national contexts, met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed: Australia (n = 2), Italy (n = 1), Spain (n = 1), the United Kingdom (n = 3) and the United States (n = 5). The annual cost of psychosocial workplace aggression varied substantially, ranging between

An Action Research Project Exploring the Psychology Curriculum and Transitions to Employment.

114.64 million and

Organizational uncertainty and stress among teachers in Hong Kong: work characteristics and organizational justice

35.9 billion. Heterogeneity across studies was found, with noted variations in stated study aims, utilised prevalence statistics and included costs. The review concludes that existing evidence attests to the substantial cost of psychosocial workplace aggression to both the individual and society, albeit such derived estimates are likely gross under-estimates. The findings highlight the importance of interpreting such figures within their conceptual and methodological contexts.

The First Principal Component of Multifaceted Variables: It's More Than a G Thing

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use social exchange theory (SET) to examine a model where supportive and unsupportive manager behaviors (SMB and UMB) interact to predict employees’ engagement, job satisfaction and turnover intention. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional online survey collected data from 252 UK-based employees of a global data management company. Findings Factor analysis confirmed manager behaviors to consist of two constructs: supportive and unsupportive behaviors. Structural equation modeling indicated SMB predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions, but not engagement. Job satisfaction, but not engagement, mediated the SMB-turnover intention relationship. UMB only predicted job dissatisfaction. Neither job satisfaction nor engagement mediated the UMB-turnover intention relationship. UMB undermined the positive relationship between SMB and turnover intention. Practical implications The behaviors assessed can be integrated into various stages of a manager’s development process to serve as guidelines of good practice. Crucially, findings suggest managers can exhibit both supportive and unsupportive behaviors, and that consistency in behaviors is important. The study also provides evidence that supportive managers can help reduce turnover intention through job satisfaction. Originality/value SET was used as a framework for SMB, UMB and engagement. To the authors’ knowledge this is the first study to examine the interaction between SMB and UMB.

Research-Informed Learning in the Psychology Curriculum: An Initial Evaluation:

Many of the most serious challenges that teachers face through their work in schools are related to violence, bullying and harassment among their students. Indeed, together, these challenges have come to define a growing literature in the psychological and educational sciences. This literature encompasses both physical and psychological variants of these social phenomena. This chapter focuses on bullying. The development of information and communication technology over the last two or three decades has allowed bullying to be even more destructively expressed in the school context by the use of social media. This chapter looks at cyber-bullying in the school context. Its focus is teachers and their role, at the front line, in handling this problem. It begins by discussing what is and what is not cyber-bullying and then presents a narrative review of the evidence on the risk that it poses to student well-being, broadly defined, and performance. It establishes the prevalence of the problem, although the data are very varied, and the nature and magnitude of its effects. In doing so, it notes the growing but small literature on the cyber-bullying of teachers themselves. It argues that teachers need to understand the nature of the risk so that they can deal with it through the use of prevention and management strategies. It provides a brief account of the legal and policy contexts, in the U.K. and U.S., for action at school-level. Finally, it looks at the emergent literature on intervention strategies and concludes with a suggestion for a four-point generic strategy based on the information that is currently available.