Long working hours continue to be one of the largest health concerns in the world. Currently, the world population has become so busy due to the pressure from harsh economic conditions. People are therefore spending long working hours in the workplace, which is an aspect that has negative impact on their health conditions. Statistics from Working Condition Survey indicates that approximately 30% of workers residing in European Union believe that their health is at risk due to the hours they spent in the workplace (Gurung, 2010:16)
Research indicates that long working hours contribute largely to stress and stress related diseases. Currently, employees are being put on pressure by the organization in order to achieve the set goals. Nevertheless, the employees are willing to work for longer hours in order to earn more money to satisfy their increasing needs (Gullotta et al., 2003:23). On the other hand, the organizations have been compelling their subordinates to work for longer hours as a way of punishment or increasing the possibility of achieving the set goals within the stipulated time. This aspect has increased the number of depressed people in the population. With many people being unaware of how to deal with depression, they are turning to smoking. As a result, long working hours have been associated with smoking behaviors (Burke & Cooper 2008:46). The most affected people are the young people. This behavior has increased the number of people suffering from cancer and other respiratory related diseases in the world. In addition, it has increased the number of people suffering from heart and lung diseases.
1.1 Poor eating habits
Stretched working hours have led to poor eating habits. People working for long hours do not hav...
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1.7 Use of Illegal drugs
Long working hours are associated with increased use of illegal drugs. Many people who own their businesses have been said to work for long hours in order to get higher returns. In order to achieve this success, they have turned to hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin and even marijuana. They are also using drugs to reduce fatigue and make them to remain alert for long hours. This is having an adverse effect on their bodies especially their vital organs such as heart, liver and kidney. Majority of them end up suffering from chronic diseases (Sutherland, Cooper & Palgrave Connect, 2000: 83). Once they are addicted, they are unable to control their feelings. In extreme cases, they get fired from their places of work or their ventures collapse due to poor management. As a result, they end up becoming depressed and some even commit suicide.
Over the last several years, the United States has experienced the emergence of countless lifestyle based illnesses. We have seen an increase of inactivity, poor nutrition, an increase of tobacco use, and more frequent alcohol consumption; Americans are living unhealthy lifestyles that are surely factors contributing to the pervasiveness of chronic diseases. Chronic diseases use to be seen as problems that older generations faced, but over the past several years the United States’ working age group has become a main target. For example, Americans are experiencing higher rates of diabetes, and heart disease. Conditions like these only lead to a diminished quality of life, could possibly lead to shorter life spans, disability, and quite possibly in the long run increased health care costs. Businesses are also impacted by an employees lifestyle decisions; absenteeism and presenteeism.
A considerable amount of literature has been published on the impact of working hours (8 vs. 12 hour shifts) on fatigue among the nurses. These studies revealed that twelve-hour shifts increase the risk of fatigue, reduce the level of alertness and performance, and therefore reduce the safety aspect compared to eight-hour shifts (Mitchell and Williamson, 1997; Dorrian et al., 2006; Dembe et al., 2009; Tasto et al., 1978). Mills et al. (1982) found that the risk of fatigues and performance errors are associated with the 12-hour shifts. Beside this, Jostone et al. (2002) revealed that nurses who are working for long hours are providing hasty performance with increased possibility of errors.
Sleeping while on duty hours can negatively affect that soldier, their battle buddies, and even their mission. It’s an act that can only do harm, whether that soldier be in an active warzone overseas, stationed at a base within the homeland, or even training. It takes discipline to stay awake when it is necessary to, and not being able to keep awake when necessary shows a lack of discipline and effort on that soldier’s part. As a result, that soldier ends up hurting themselves and everyone around them.
One of the major reasons for such high rates of obesity is in the workplace. Many people have little time to spare for healthy habits because of work. Having a lunch hour means that for some people, the fastest, easiest way to get lunch is to go to a fast food restaurant. And then most people wake up fairly early to go to work, then are exhausted when they get home, meaning they won’t take the time to exercise or cook a healthy meal. They wind up going home to sit on the couch and watch TV, which is partly what they did at work all day. Many people are sitting down all day. They don’t have...
On Monday, January 30 I came to Arcadia at 9:00 am and like the most day, we go to the HTC Center to clean and fold all the dirty towels. After that, we went over to baseball to put zip ties on top of the dugouts so that the banner/sign that they have can stay still. Later on that day I came back to work the boys’ basketball game vs UT Arlington. During that game, I did basically do the same thing like women’s’ basketball game. During the game I was basically just monitoring people and making sure people was not taking photos with the flash on. Also, during the game right before halftime, I went to the cafeteria to get the refs water for their halftime break. During the second half was pretty much the same but then I had to go get the refs lunches for after the game. But, during this game, the other intern and I went to the school to pick up the basketball signs that was around campus to put them back in the hub. After the game, we did break down the gym. Breaking down the gym is just like setting it up but backward. We took down the p-rails and side rails. After, that we move the bleachers back into position.
We are human been we have to work in exchange to earn money, so fact we can full fill our needs in daily lives. Americans have been a front runner in the labor market for several years. Right now our economy is not good. People have the right to choose work different way, however blue-collar job or white collar. According to Amna Coote, reducing the workweek to 30 hours issue, because wages is too low, but salary people don’t have wages problem. According to Fenando Lozano, white-collar issue some worker like more than 50 hours. Immigrants most likely like to work 40 or above.
The first article that I read was “Work Pressure Demands more Downtime than a Fleeting Week Off.” It was a very interesting take on how the world that we live in can become a place of pressure and breakdowns. The workplace and the home place no longer exist. The people that this study was conducted on became a product of their work and could no longer separate themselves from it. According to “Work Pressure Demands more Downtime,” “A 13-year study of four cohorts of investment bankers illustrates the long-term costs of ignoring our bodies’ need for respite … Around year four, they started to break down from overwork. Eating disorders, tics, sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression were commonplace. Most of them responded by pushing harder
Education is an essential tool required to succeed in today’s modern society. As time has progressed, there has been a higher and higher emphasis placed on tertiary education. In order to achieve a tertiary education, however an individual must have financial support as tertiary education is continuing to become more privatised and expensive than ever. It is therefore due to this lack of financial support many students are finding they must work part-time in order to support their studies. With the rapid growth in the service sector, there has been an abundance of low-wage, monotonous, routinized jobs available for students to pursue. The appeal of
Many people associate inappropriate drug use with loss of responsibility. The user does not show up on time for work, or if they do they may not be able to work to the best of their ability since they are under the
We spend much of daily lives working. In fact, Americans spend about eight-times as many hours working as they do eating and drinking (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). Approximately seven in ten Americans report that they experience symptoms of stress (Anderson, Belar, Breckler, Nordal, Ballard, Bufka, Bossolo & Bethune, 2013). Stress is elicited by a variety of psychological stimulus associated with our jobs, our residences, our social interactions, and the activities we engage in (p. 249, Franken, 2007). Many Americans live with the burden of an unsatisfying job as well as a stressful workplace. An online survey of 1,848 people in the United States, conducted by the American Psychological Association, found that 74 percent of people name work as their primary source of stress (p. 284, Schultz and Schultz, 2010). In the workplace, stress is reflected in lower productivity, reduced motivation as well as increased errors and accidents (p. 284, Schultz and Schultz, 2010). Excessive stress can lead to many adverse consequences. When people experience too much stress they can also suffer from psychological consequences such as depression and sleep disorders (p. 191, Griffin & Moorhead, 2014). Research shows that stress can even contribute to the development of major illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, and obesity, as well as exacerbate existing illnesses (Anderson et al., 2013).
The workplace in general is an essential part of a person’s life to make a living. People will work over a third of their life to fulfil needs such as bill, groceries, and personal needs. For majority of the population, there isn’t much of a problem when they are at work; their manager treats everyone fairly, pay rate is adequate, and they keep their private and public work separate from each other. The rest of the population unfortunately don’t have this fortune. Pay rates vary among colleagues, managers aren’t effective leaders, and the private life might become public in the workforce. This can lead to stress outside the workplace which can be harmful towards an individual’s health. This problem is an epidemic for some companies and poor
An article called “10 Reasons You Should Stop Working Long Hours Today” written by David K. William, explains all the reasons as to why human beings should stop working long and dreaded hours. The first point he makes is that it reduces productivity. This means that if you consistently work long hours, your concentration and energy levels will go down. This will then lead to falling behind on work and tasks. The second point David makes is that working long hours also increases fatigue. After long working days, people will develop symptoms of fatigue such as sleepiness, weariness, poor concentration and irritability.
Companies that do not require drug testing are more likely to have less productivity in their company due workplace accidents and fatalities. In National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance, it states that 33% less productivity will cost the average business $7,000 annually (NDWA). All the while, causing the quality of products to decrease and cost the company money from all the down side affects from the production loss. Some problems that employers and co-workers have to deal with by interacting with a worker that is under the influence would include carelessness, reduced productivity, decreased work quality, poor judgment, increased mistakes, and difficulty following instructions. These irresponsible actions impose the risk of possible fatalities or people in the workplace getting injured. With an individual that is under the influence of drugs, it is also common for those people to not even show up, take extended lunch breaks, and have no sense of dependability. A company should not have to face this problem by having irresponsible individuals interacting throughout the workplace, and these problems will be majorly reduced, if not, eliminated with the assistance of standardized drug
Maynard, W., & Brogmus, G. (2006). Safer shift work through more effective scheduling. Occupational health and safety, 16.
Everyday, there are workers who come home from their jobs with a high amount of health issues. Headaches, aching muscles, exhaustion, and many more health issues have workers wondering why this is happening. All of these symptoms can be linked to stress in the workplace. Job stress has become more of a problem than ever before. Numerous studies show that job stress is the major source of stress for American adults and that it has escalated progressively over the past few decades (“Workplace Stress,” 2004).