Healthy and Productive Work: An International Perspective

The Enterprise Culture of the 1980s helped transform economies of Western Europe, but left behind a legacy of stress, both for managers and shop floor workers. The cost to business is seen in absenteeism, reduced productivity, compensation claims, health insurance and direct medical costs, which in the US cost approximately $150 billion a year. Stress related absences are about ten time more costly in the UK than all industrial relations disputes put together, and sickness absence, premature death and retirement due to alcoholism costs a staggering £2 billion a year.
The future is likely to get worse. As the pace of change increases and competition intensifies, organisations will restructure and the pressure on individual workers will increase. They can expect to feel less in control and more insecure in their work.
This major work includes a collection of good practice examples and has been drawn together in a structured way to allow clear comparisons of a number of companies in the USA and Europe, ranging from the US Air Force, to an international pharmaceutical company (Zeneca), and a high-powered international retailer (Marks and Spencer). Human resource and occupational health professionals should find this an enlightening work, full of good examples to help them create a healthy environment for their workforce.

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Changes in the businessworld during the 1980s helped transform economies in Western Europe and North America in beneficial ways, but also increased stress for both management and workers. The result was increases in absenteeism, compensation claims, health insurance costs and direct medical expenses, and reductions in productivity. Foreseeing more changes and stress in the future, Cooper (UMIST, U.K.) and Murphy (NIOSH, U.S.) offer this text exploring strategies for organizations to create a healthy work environment. They present case studies of organizations in the U.S., Europe, and Australia which have developed effective organizational health programs, including health screenings, stress management, and employee involvement schemes. For human resource and occupational health professionals. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)