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Healthy Work Now
News from the Healthy Work Campaign
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Healthy Work Now Newsletter No. 5 
A note from HWC Co-Directors Marnie Dobson & Peter Schnall
We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends. As it’s Cyber Monday, we’d be remiss not to acknowledge the labor force in the U.S. (and beyond) which makes this curious day possible. We should celebrate the achievements of what we have accomplished together—increased connectedness, convenience, and productivity. And yet, we must take a hard look at what the working conditions are doing to the workers who are making this convenience possible.
According to an October report by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), “Time Off Task: Pressure, Pain, And Productivity at Amazon,” Amazon warehouse workers continue to be at risk. Specifically:
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80% of workers were pressured to work harder or faster at their facility;
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66% expressed experiencing physical pain while performing work duties;
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42% continued to experience pain even when they weren’t at work.
This data is the result of a study NYCOSH conducted with 142 of the 2,500 workers at a massive fulfillment center on Staten Island. While a snapshot, it appears to be a representative one. And perhaps more importantly, it illustrates the critical need for comprehensive, online workplace surveys in the U.S.
That is one more reason we have committed substantial resources to developing the “Healthy Work Survey.” Learn more in our Project Updates section below.
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Project Updates
Now Hiring!
The Healthy Work Campaign is looking for a public health professional to hire for a part-time Outreach Coordinator role. If you are passionate about occupational health advocacy and interested in the role, please send your CV and cover letter to contact@healthywork.org. Learn more about this role here.
November 6th-9th, HWC leadership and research team members Drs. Dobson, Schnall, Choi, Landsbergis, Faghri, and Gómez-Ortiz, attended and presented at the APA-NIOSH Work, Stress and Health Conference 2019 in Philadelphia. Our team members presented and shared papers regarding:
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the Healthy Work Campaign
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organizational work stress assessment tools
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job strain, physical job demands & opioid use
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short & long work hours and suicidal ideation
- mental & physical reactions to stress at work.
It was a very well-attended and energizing conference, touching on a wide variety of occupational health topics, from the cost of work stressors to the future of work.
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Advancing Healthy Work Panel (Philadelphia, PA)
Pictured from left: Pouran Faghri, BongKyoo Choi, Paul Landsbergis, Marnie Dobson & Peter Schnall
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The Healthy Work Survey has been computerized in a beta form in order to receive feedback from colleagues in occupational health and safety research and practice, as well as from labor unions, and business. We will conduct an ethics review and create informed consent documents while pursuing contracts with survey software developers and database management consultants.
The Healthy Work Strategies, part of the intervention toolkit, developed by Dr. Paul Landsbergis with the help of SUNY Downstate public health graduate students, are now available on their own page, as well as on our Healthy Work Tools for Employers and Unions pages. The case studies summarize work organizational research studies, legislation, and collective bargaining efforts which offer solutions to work stress in various occupational groups.
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Healthy Work Now
Please check out:
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Ask the Experts
In addition to sending feedback through social media and our contact page, we also encourage our readership to reply to this email and “Ask the Experts” about any work stress-related questions that come to mind. From the questions we receive in this way, we will try to answer one question directly in the next newsletter. It gives you a reason to come back and gives voice to the concerns about which you care most.
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Today’s Question
“I'm a manager for a small business in the Midwest. What is the benefit of improving wages when I have to cut hours or raise prices, which may put us out of business?”
Answer
There is evidence now that a minimum wage increase does not automatically send small businesses out of business. If all businesses are required to offer a minimum wage and benefits, then the market is equalized. Raising prices must happen across the market to cover the additional labor costs; however, in some sectors, hours and staff have unfortunately been cut. And yet, in several studies of fast food chains, it was found that minimum wage increases were effectively offset by raising the price of a hamburger by between 0.17-0.30 cents. Depending on the product or service you are offering, raising prices by a few cents or a few dollars is unlikely to make a large difference to loyal customers. In fact, many conscious consumers will choose to shop with businesses that put their employees first, even if it requires a small amount extra per purchase.
Having said that, the costs of wage increases may also even out because of unforeseen benefits to businesses, including that workers who receive a higher minimum wage are healthier in the long run, are more satisfied with their jobs (so less likely to turnover), and may be more productive, because they are not working multiple jobs which may cause burnout. Costco, as an example of a highly profitable big box retailer, compared to other big box retailers, pays higher entry-level wages ($17+), and staff are more likely to stay in their job, reducing the costs of rehiring and retraining new workers.
Many also think it is the right thing to do. Paying employees enough to not have to rely on public programs like food stamps or Medicaid, and enough that they can support themselves and their families, will reduce stress. Adequate wages is an essential component of balancing rewards with effort and promoting healthy work.
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New to the Healthy Work Campaign?
1) LEARN about healthy & unhealthy work.
2) ASSESS if your work is healthy or unhealthy.
3) TELL US your results!
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If we want healthy people, we need healthy work.
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© 2019 Healthy Work Campaign, All rights reserved.
Newsletter drafted and produced by Maria Doctor, Project Manager.
For additional free newsletters, click here.
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