The role of ‘workplace family’ support on worker health, exhaustion and pain

Abstract

The goal of this study was to improve understanding of the potential health benefits of social support at work. We utilized 2002 GSS data to examine the relative influence of workplace support on self-reported health, exhaustion and experience of persistent pain in a sample of 1602 workers. Building on previous Demand-Control-Support models, we examined co-worker, supervisor, and organizational safety support (conceptualized as ‘workplace family’) in concert with job demands, job control and work-family conflict as predictors of worker health measures. We further tested the extent to which work-family conflict acted as a mediator between family and work characteristics and worker health outcomes. We found that increased co-worker support in the workplace was associated with better worker self-reported health, lower exhaustion and less pain. In addition, higher levels of perceived organizational safety support were associated with better self-reported health and lowered exhaustion. There is little evidence that work-family conflict mediates between work and family characteristics and worker health, and work-family conflict does not mediate the relationship between workplace family measures and worker health. We discuss results in light of workers’ changing and expanding definitions of family, with implications for changes in the organization of the workplace to improve workers’ health.

El objetivo de este estudio es mejorar la comprensión de los posibles beneficios del apoyo social en el trabajo en la salud del ser humano. Hemos utilizado datos de servicio de seguridad general del año 2002 y una muestra de 1602 trabajadores para examinar la influencia relativa de apoyo en el lugar de trabajo sobre la salud (según informaron los trabajadores), el agotamiento y la experiencia de dolor persistente. Basándonos en modelos anteriores de la demanda-control-soporte, hemos examinado el apoyo por parte de compañeros de trabajo, el supervisor y el apoyo de seguridad organizacional (conceptualizada como ‘familia de lugar de trabajo’) en concierto con las demandas de trabajo, control sobre el trabajo y el conflicto entre el trabajo y la familia como predictores de las medidas de salud del trabajador. Además, probamos la medida en que el conflicto trabajo-familia actua como mediador entre la familia y características de trabajo y la familia y los resultados de salud del trabajador. Hemos encontrado que el apoyo por parte de compañeros de trabajo se asoció con mejor salud del trabajador, menor agotamiento y menos dolor. Además, la percepción de niveles más altos de de apoyo de seguridad organizativa se asociaron con mejor salud y disminución de agotamiento. Hay poca evidencia de que el conflicto trabajo-familia media entre el trabajo y las características de la familia y salud de los trabajadores. El conflicto trabajo-familia no facilita mediar la relación entre las medidas de familia de lugar de trabajo y salud del trabajador. Discutimos y analizamos los resultados en el contexto de como las definiciones de familia de los trabajadores han ido cambiando y expandiéndose, y de que implica esto para los cambios en la organización del lugar de trabajo en torno a mejorar la salud de los trabajadores.

Keywords:

• worker health
• worker pain
• social support
• job control
• safety climate

Palabras claves:

• la salud del trabajador
• el dolor del trabajador
• apoyo social
• control de trabajo
• el ambiente de seguridad

Notes

1. The results indicated that 59.3% have neither type of pain, 26.5% have one type of pain, and 16.2% have both types of pain.

2. We initially analyzed the pain scale using ordinal logistic regression. However, the threshold effects were not statistically significant, suggesting no difference in the intercepts for the two levels of pain.

3. Respondents were asked to report the number of times they were injured on the job in the last 12 months. Eighty-nine percent of respondents reported zero injuries. All respondents reporting being injured on the job one or more times in the last 12 months were coded as having a pre-existing injury.

4. This analysis is necessary in order to determine whether work-family conflict acts as a mediator between workplace family and worker health outcomes. Mediation can only occur if the measures of workplace family significantly affect work-family conflict; (2) the measures of workplace family significantly affect the three measures of health outcomes in the absence of work-family conflict; (3) work-family conflict has a significant unique effect on the measures of health outcomes; and (4) the effects of the measures of workplace family on the measures of health outcomes shrink upon the addition of work-family conflict to the model.