Uncertainty About Jobs Has a Ripple Effect

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/17/your-money/uncertainty-about-jobs-has-a-ripple-effect.html

May 16, 2014
By ALINA TUGEND

THE immediate impact of the recession — widespread buyouts and layoffs — may be fading, but the fear of losing a job hangs over workplaces like a cloud of worry.

“Perceived job insecurity,” as it is called, may be here to stay, and the latest studies show it has even more wide-ranging and serious effects on workers and companies than was once thought.

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“Research indicates that job insecurity reduces both physical and mental health, increases burnout, reduces job satisfaction and decreases work performance,” said Dr. Vander Elst. Although some have theorized that a little insecurity isn’t a bad thing because people might work harder to keep their jobs, she said studies showed that “any amount of job insecurity isn’t good.

“If you’re anxious or depressed, it is difficult to be productive or creative,” she said.

Or safe. A study released in November, co-written by Tahira M. Probst, a professor of psychology at Washington State University, found that threats or the perceived threats of layoffs caused workers to pay less attention to safety and subsequently experience more injuries and accidents at work.

And just as troubling, she said, “employees are also more reluctant to report injuries when they are fearful of losing their jobs. So job insecurity is also related to accident underreporting.”

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... Wendy R. Boswell, a professor of management at Texas A & M University.

Her study, “I Cannot Afford to Have a Life: Employee Adaptation to Feelings of Job Insecurity,” is scheduled to be published in the winter edition of the journal Personnel Psychology.

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“From a business perspective,” he said. “Insecure workers are not happy workers and not productive workers.”