Perceived health and work-environment related problems and associated subjective production loss in an academic population
Introduction:
The
aim was to investigate the prevalence of health problems and work environment
problems and how these are associated with subjective production loss among
women and men at an academic workplace. An additional aim was to investigate
whether there were differences between women and men according to age group, academic rank or managerial position.
In
the autumn of 2011, a cross-sectional study using a validated questionnaire was
conducted among employees at a Swedish university. The aim was to assess and
improve the work environment by assessing social and organizational factors and
subjective production loss. All staff who had been employed at the university
on at least 50% of a full time post and for a duration of at least six months
at the time of the assessment, were invited to participate (n = 5143).
The majority (n = 3207) were academic staff, i.e.
researchers or teaching staff. The invitation was sent out by email and was
followed by two reminders. The responses were anonymous for the employer and
were forwarded directly to the research team. Participation was voluntary and
written informed consent was obtained from all respondents. A total of 3515
employees responded. This specific study only includes employees employed as
academic staff (n = 2022), with a response rate of
63%. Administrative staff were excluded from this study.
Prevalence of perceived health and work environment problems
A
total of 819 academic employees (40% of the population) reported having
experienced either health problems, work environment- problems or both during
the previous seven days. The prevalence of the three problems was 21%, 8%, and
11% respectively (Table 1). The prevalence of health problems was significantly higher
among women than men. The prevalence of experiencing both kinds of problems
during the previous seven days was significantly higher for women than for men.
Significant differences were also found between rank. For example, more senior
researchers were less likely to report a combination of problems than were
junior researchers. The highest prevalence of combined problems was found among
teachers.
Table 1
Prevalence of
perceived health problems, work environment problems and a combination of both
problems in an academic population
|
Total population (n = 2022)
|
Health problems (n = 433)
|
p-value
|
Work environment problems (n = 170)
|
p-value
|
Both health and work environment problems (n = 216)
|
p-value
|
|
|
Total, n (%)
|
2022
|
433 (21)
|
170 (8)
|
216 (11)
|
|||
|
Sex, n (%)
|
0.01 1
|
0.251
|
0.00 1
|
||||
|
Men
|
881
|
162 (18)
|
67 (8)
|
65 (7)
|
|||
|
Women
|
1141
|
271 (24)
|
103 (9)
|
151 (13)
|
|||
|
Age, mean
(sd)
|
41 (12)
|
41 (12)
|
0.721
|
41 (11)
|
0.881
|
40 (10)
|
0.121
|
|
Age, n (%)
|
|||||||
|
≤29
|
328
|
71 (22)
|
28 (9)
|
36 (11)
|
|||
|
30–39
|
748
|
167 (22)
|
63 (8)
|
84 (11)
|
|||
|
40–49
|
423
|
86 (20)
|
35 (8)
|
53 (13)
|
|||
|
50–59
|
320
|
57 (18)
|
29 (9)
|
36 (11)
|
|||
|
≥60
|
203
|
52 (26)
|
15 (7)
|
7 (3)
|
|||
|
Manager, n
(%)
|
0.301
|
0.151
|
0.321
|
||||
|
Yes
|
525
|
104 (20)
|
52 (10)
|
50 (10)
|
|||
|
No
|
1497
|
329 (22)
|
118 (8)
|
166 (11)
|
|||
|
Rank, n (%)
|
0.471
|
0.791
|
0.01 1
|
||||
|
Professors
|
247
|
53 (21)
|
18 (6)
|
11 (4)
|
|||
|
Senior
researcher
|
637
|
150 (20)
|
51 (17)
|
50 (9)
|
|||
|
Junior
researcher
|
130
|
23 (18)
|
16 (12)
|
16 (12)
|
|||
|
PhD student
|
731
|
149 (20)
|
57 (8)
|
95 (13)
|
|||
|
Teacher
|
277
|
58 (21)
|
28 (10)
|
44 (16)
|
|||
|
Production
loss due to the problem
|
|||||||
|
Yes
|
–
|
364 (84)
|
–
|
158 (93)
|
–
|
213 (99)
|
–
|
|
No
|
–
|
69 (16)
|
10 (6)
|
3 (1)
|
|||
|
Missing
|
2 (1)
|
||||||
The majority of those who reported problems said that these
affected their ability to perform at work. Almost all employees experiencing
work environment problems and combined problems (93% and 99% respectively)
reported that their work performance was affected. This consequence was,
however, smaller in the group which reported health problems only (84%).
Table
2 presents the prevalence of the
different types of problems by gender. Health problems were more common among
younger women (up to the age of 49) than among men in same age group. Health
problems were also more prevalent among female PhD students, junior and senior
researchers and teachers than among men in the same positions. They were also
more prevalent among women than among men in non-managerial positions.
Table 2
Number of employees perceiving health problems, work environment or both types of problem, presented for men and women separately and by age, rank, managerial position|
Total
population (n = 2022)
|
Health
problems (n = 433)
|
Work
environment problems (n = 170)
|
Both types
of problems (n = 216)
|
||||||||
|
Men
|
Women
|
Men
|
Women
|
p-value1
|
Men
|
Women
|
p-value1
|
Men
|
Women
|
p-value1
|
|
|
Total, n (%)
|
881
|
1141
|
162 (18)
|
271 (24)
|
67 (8)
|
103 (9)
|
68 (8)
|
151 (13)
|
|||
|
Age, n (%)
|
0.01
|
0.29
|
0.00
|
||||||||
|
−29
|
118
|
210
|
17 (14)
|
54 (26)
|
9 (7)
|
19 (9)
|
8 (7)
|
28 (13)
|
|||
|
30–39
|
302
|
446
|
55 (18)
|
112 (25)
|
18 (6)
|
45 (10)
|
27 (9)
|
57 (13)
|
|||
|
40–49
|
196
|
227
|
35 (18)
|
51 (22)
|
19 (10)
|
16 (7)
|
19 (10)
|
37 (16)
|
|||
|
50–59
|
148
|
172
|
25 (17)
|
32 (17)
|
12 (8)
|
17 (10)
|
9 (6)
|
27 (16)
|
|||
|
60+
|
117
|
86
|
30 (26)
|
22 (26)
|
9 (8)
|
6 (7)
|
5 (4)
|
2 (2)
|
|||
|
Rank, n (%)
|
0.00
|
0.23
|
0.01
|
||||||||
|
Professor
|
178
|
69
|
38 (21)
|
15 (22)
|
13 (7)
|
5 (7)
|
7 (4)
|
4 (6)
|
|||
|
Teacher
|
85
|
192
|
14 (16)
|
44 (23)
|
8 (9)
|
20 (10)
|
9 (11)
|
35 (18)
|
|||
|
Researcher
|
305
|
332
|
65 (21)
|
85 (26)
|
23 (8)
|
28 (8)
|
18 (6)
|
32 (10)
|
|||
|
Junior researcher
|
57
|
73
|
8 (14)
|
15 (21)
|
7 (12)
|
9 (12)
|
7 (12)
|
9 (12)
|
|||
|
PhD student
|
256
|
475
|
37 (14)
|
112 (24)
|
16 (6)
|
41 (9)
|
24 (9)
|
71 (15)
|
|||
|
Manager, n (%)
|
0.00
|
0.66
|
0.00
|
||||||||
|
Yes
|
317
|
208
|
61 (19)
|
43 (21)
|
32 (10)
|
20 (9)
|
27 (9)
|
23 (11)
|
|||
|
No
|
564
|
933
|
101 (18)
|
228 (24)
|
35 (6)
|
83 (9)
|
38 (7)
|
128 (14)
|
|||
Differences between women and men in the
experience of work environment problems in the different categories were not
shown to be statistically significant.
Experiencing combined problems was more common
among women than among men. The differences were found in all age groups below
the age of 60, among teachers, senior researchers and PhD students, female
non-managers.
Average level of subjective production loss
Table 3 presents the average level of subjective production loss for
employees according to the different categories. The average health-related
production loss differed significantly between age groups, with the lowest
levels among the oldest employees aged 50 or above. The highest level was found
in the age group 40–49. The level of subjective work environment-related
production loss did not differ significantly between any of the investigated
categories. Significant differences in the average level of production loss
among those experiencing both kinds of problems were found between those in
managerial and non-managerial positions. as well as among different ranks. The
highest level was found among the teaching staff and the lowest level among the
professors. On a scale of 0–100, researchers (both senior and junior and PhD
students) all reported a level of production loss of 40% or higher.
Table 3
Average level of subjective production loss in a working population divided into different categories|
Health-related
production loss1(n = 433)
|
Work
environment-related production loss1(n = 168)
|
Both health
and work environment-related production loss1 (n = 216)
|
||||
|
Mean (sd)
|
p-value
|
Mean (sd)
|
p-value
|
Mean (sd)
|
p-value
|
|
|
Total
|
31 (26)
|
42 (26)
|
41 (23)
|
|||
|
Sex
|
0.072
|
0.912
|
0.272
|
|||
|
Men
|
28 (25)
|
41 (26)
|
38 (20)
|
|||
|
Women
|
33 (27)
|
42 (25)
|
42 (24)
|
|||
|
Age
|
0.02 3
|
0.343
|
0.193
|
|||
|
−29
|
34 (23)
|
43 (26)
|
38 (20)
|
|||
|
30–39
|
33 (30)
|
46 (27)
|
44 (24)
|
|||
|
40–49
|
36 (28)
|
37 (25)
|
41 (22)
|
|||
|
50–59
|
25 (21)
|
35 (24)
|
40 (24)
|
|||
|
60+
|
23 (21)
|
43 (21)
|
24 (16)
|
|||
|
Manager
|
0.752
|
0.532
|
0.01 2
|
|||
|
Yes
|
31 (31)
|
40 (25)
|
33 (19)
|
|||
|
No
|
31 (27)
|
42 (25)
|
43 (24)
|
|||
|
Rank
|
||||||
|
Professor
|
25 (21)
|
0.083
|
36 (22)
|
0.363
|
21 (15)
|
0.04 3
|
|
Senior researcher
|
34 (30)
|
42 (26)
|
41 (24)
|
|||
|
Junior researcher
|
30 (24)
|
43 (22)
|
40 (23)
|
|||
|
PhD student
|
33 (26)
|
45 (28)
|
41 (22)
|
|||
|
Teacher
|
26 (22)
|
35 (21)
|
45 (24)
|
|||
2Students t-test
3Oneway Anova
Conclusion
The results show that female academic employees
reported a higher prevalence of health problems and a combination of work
environment and health problems than men. This was especially the case for
younger women, those in lower academic ranks. However, these differences were
not translated into similar sex differences in perceived performance loss while
at work. This suggests that the previously identified differences in
productivity can to some extent be explained by younger women in more junior
positions experiencing more health problems than men. This might, in turn, help
to explain why women’s research productivity lags behind that of male
researchers early in their careers.
