Work flexibility might save your life.
That's one conclusion you might reach from a new study from the Indiana University School of Business, which studied nearly 2,400 Wisconsin workers in their 60s over a period of seven years.
The results suggest that workers with demanding jobs and little freedom to make decisions such as controlling their schedules, workflow, and job goals are the most likely to perish early.
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Specifically, the study found that those it classified as being in "high-demand, low-control" jobs were 15 percent more likely to die during the period than those in low-demand jobs. But those in "high-demand, high-control" jobs were 34 percent less likely to die compared to those in low-demand jobs.
"These findings suggest that stressful jobs have clear negative consequences for employee health when paired with low freedom in decision-making, while stressful jobs can actually be beneficial to employee health if also paired with freedom in decision-making," said Erik Gonzalez-Mulé, the study's lead author, in a press release announcing the results.
Employers can help their employees stay alive by making the scheduling process more of a "two-way conversation," Gonzalez-Mulé added.
"You can avoid the negative health consequences if you allow them to set their own goals, set their own schedules, prioritize their decision-making and the like," he explained.
The study also hinted that those in low-wage or entry-level jobs were at greater risk of death than others. That finding is not surprising; the poor have lower life expectancies than the wealthy for a number of reasons that are unrelated to their occupations.
Unfortunately, granting flexibility to workers in low-wage jobs is often far more challenging than those in white-collar positions. Those who work in the service sector or in manufacturing, for instance, are usually being paid to be in a specific place at a specific time.
Better vacation or sick leave benefits could help reduce stress for the workers, but flexible scheduling and telecommuting are probably not realistic options.
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