{"id":11796,"date":"2022-09-07T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/"},"modified":"2022-10-03T11:17:01","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T09:17:01","slug":"does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"in-un-flash","link":"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/en\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/","title":{"rendered":"Does working less hours, at equal pay, influence health outcomes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In OECD countries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the working week is equal to 37 hours on average<\/strong>. That said, there are several situations where this limit is exceeded or adversely affected<\/strong> by the shortage of personnel, leading to negative impacts on stress and cardiovascular health<\/strong>, interference in private life, as well as contributing to increased absenteeism.<\/p>\n

Despite the recent media interest, little is known about the bio-psycho-social effects<\/strong> of reduced working hours<\/a><\/strong>. To this end, researchers from the University of Turin (UNITO) carried out a systematic review of the scientific literature published since the year 2000 and drew some interesting conclusions.<\/p>\n

Seven important Northern European studies were selected, all of which investigated the effects on health of a 20-25% reduction of working hours, given the same salary<\/strong>. The studies selected involved mainly healthy subjects who were dependent on health or social care facilities, with an average follow-up of approximately 2 years.<\/p>\n

The results showed a slight improvement in cardio-respiratory symptoms<\/strong> in the experimental groups compared to the control groups. Other more relevant findings, however, showed the reduction<\/strong> of musculoskeletal pain and an increase in “perceived health”. There is still little data on these aspects and, even though there may be a possible impact on specific symptoms, additional larger studies<\/strong> are needed.<\/p>\n

In contrast, general stress<\/strong>, including “mental fatigue<\/strong>” and the quality \/ quantity of sleep, were the outcomes investigated most frequently. These outcomes improved<\/strong> significantly in the experimental groups, probably also due to the greater amount of free time available to dedicate to oneself.<\/p>\n

The perceived quality of work<\/a><\/strong> was always rated better<\/strong> in terms of both productivity and positive interactions between colleagues, with less interference in private life<\/strong> and a small positive impact on the request for sick leave. This may also have been due to study design (trial effect).<\/p>\n

Participants in the experimental group spent most of their free time<\/strong> improving relationships in their private lives<\/strong>; they only partially spent it to improve lifestyles factors such as nutrition and physical activity<\/strong>. Not surprisingly, no significant biomarkers for better health were found in the experimental groups.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, even though the topic of reduced working hours is of current interest, a limitation of this review is the small number of studies available<\/strong> and the few selected (Scandinavian only). The design of the studies, to protect the experimental group, as well as the exclusive socio-health area<\/strong> are also limitations. The results are, therefore, not easily generalizable to the general population.<\/p>\n

The study certainly demonstrates that a reduction of working hours<\/strong> has a positive impact on stress and related symptoms. That said, parameters related to habits<\/strong> and lifestyle<\/strong><\/a>, and thereby health, scarcely changed<\/strong> for participants with more free time. It can, therefore, be concluded that increased free time alone is not enough<\/strong> if it does not lead to a parallel improvement in risk factors<\/strong> that, through targeted interventions, can positively impact health outcomes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

By Agatino Sanguedolce<\/strong> e Carmela Rinaldi<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-11796","in-un-flash","type-in-un-flash","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nWork and health: is working less good?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A systematic review examines the health effects of reduced working hours, particularly on stress and quality of life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does working less hours, at equal pay, influence health outcomes?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A systematic review examines the health effects of reduced working hours, particularly on stress and quality of life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aging Project Uniupo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-03T09:17:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ProjectAging\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/\",\"name\":\"Work and health: is working less good?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-07T09:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-03T09:17:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"A systematic review examines the health effects of reduced working hours, particularly on stress and quality of life.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/in-un-flash\/does-working-less-hours-at-equal-pay-influence-health-outcomes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/homepage\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Does working less hours, at equal pay, influence health outcomes?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/\",\"name\":\"Aging Project Uniupo\",\"description\":\"Facing the challenge of longevity, through interdisciplinary research\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agingproject.uniupo.it\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Aging Project - 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