Are Technology Advances Causing More Worker Stress?
The advancement of technology moving at a near breakneck pace has been the norm both inside and outside of the workforce for decades. According to a recent study reported on the Workforce.com website, it is this constant advancement in the workplace that has caused anxiety and stress for workers and has affected their overall health as a result. A recent study cites that those workers who face automation risk or job insecurity shows a definite link between those factors and poorer health outcomes because it affects them both mentally and physically
The study was conducted from data collected from 3,000 counties in the United States. Counties that faced an increase of 10% in automation risk saw mental and physical health decline by 2.38 percent. Researchers at Ball State University and Villanova University took into account and controlled factors such as educational level, age, income inequality, ethnicity and amount of money earned. Contrary to the belief that there would be nothing to see when these factors were applied, what they discovered to their surprise was that the percentage of automation risk across the board remained consistent.
The group is hoping to conduct further studies in how the effects of automation risk will affect racial and ethnic groups in counties where automation risk remains greater as government budgets tighten and government workers are left having to do more with less.
