FND3004 The World of Work For Physical and Psychological Impact

Answer:

Introduction:

Work and the lack of it both have significant impacts on an individual on the social, physical and psychological spheres. There have been studies and researches that reinforce the positivity that work brings upon an individual as compared to the lack of it. This implies that the effects of lack of work or unemployment is detrimental to the social, physical and psychological well-being of any individual (Cahil et al. 2015).

Whether work is paid or unpaid, it is good for any person, and directly contributes to the happiness and satisfaction of any individual. It builds the self-confidence and esteem, and when the work is paid, it is easier to return to that way of life after a period of illness or the like. Being engaged in work keeps one busy, and gives a sense of well-being, and provides a reason to develop as a person. It instils a sense of pride and gives us an identity as well as a sense of personal achievement. Work can also be seen as a means of socialising, building contacts, and gathering support. Work also provides one with the financial support they need and with that they can explore their personal interests and pursue their hobbies. The physical benefits of work are many as well. Employed people have the tendency to experience a happier and healthier lifestyle compared to those who are not engaged in any kind of work. Both physical and mental health see a general improvement when employed, and recovery from illness is also faster, with lessened risks at long-term sickness or incapacity (Amir et al. 2016).

Social, physical and psychological impact of work:

The psychological effects of not being involved with work could be adverse, mostly associated with somatic complaints. Being out of work can lead an individual to poor self-evaluation, a financial stress, a reinforced stress appraisal, a change in the social status when compared with their significant other, and the centrality of their work role. These mental constraints are the predecessors to unhealthy living standards and poor behavioural standards, which gives rise to adverse physical health conditions (Lyons and Kuron 2014). Lack of work causes depression, anxiety and stress, and causes an individual to withdraw from spheres of social interaction.

It is because of these benefits that sick or disabled people are often persuaded to return to work, or get involved in work, provided their health condition allows for it. People who are not involved in work reportedly have higher rates of mental and physical ailments, they indulge in more medication and medical services, and have a much shorter life expectancy than those who are employed. Also, returning to work after a time span of unemployment has significant positive effects on both the physical and mental well-being of an individual. The negative effects are most of the time reversed after getting involved in work (Stovell et al. 2017).

Reasons for the changes of working practices:

With the changing times, there have been an increase in the number of employees who are demanding for a flexible workplace; this has given rise to the need for workplace flexibility. The digitisation of the workplace has made it possible for the workers to perform their work even when they are on the go or from home, which has provided a chance at being closer to family or move to a new city or travel and take vacations. Many employers and business organisations are embracing these newer systems to facilitate the working of their employees and to make them feel at ease. Also, in the present world, the change in the trend of work has been brought about because of the emergence of the group of people who work for themselves, such as the entrepreneurs. They work without hiring any employees and prefer to be called self-employed. Unlike their previous generations, they are switching jobs and gaining much more experience, and this implies that it is more difficult for companies to control their younger workers, as their lifestyle is way different from what it used to be a couple of decades ago. This has also brought about increased flexibility for the workers as well; they can change over to a new job if they feel that the present type of work is not suitable for them. Teamwork has become massively important in the present age, and therefore, organisations do not operate as companies run by a sole proprietor anymore; they function as big networks or teams and are being reorganised to meet the demands of everyone involved in the entire hierarchy of the working system (Kumar, Kroon and Lalloo 2014).

In the recent times, the balance between work and personal life has also gained significant priority. It could be because the younger generations had observed their fore fathers work all day for their dreary lives, and thus they now want the time and opportunities for their personal development, and to work on their hobbies, interests and also to invest their time towards their families and friends. They also have certain expectations from work, and they want the work to fulfil those expectations and not just result in a pay-check at the end of each month. This has led to the workplaces adapting several newer methods to cater to the interests and needs of their workers, ranging from workplace cafeterias to laundry services and creches for the working mothers (Spencer, Thanh and Louise 2013).

History of work:

The world of work has witnessed several changes with time. In the 18^th century, most of the population used to work in fields or at home. The over dependence of the population on timber as a major fuel, made it difficult to produce enough timber. However, the situation was changed with the invention of steam engines. The rapid increase in the population led to unemployment and poverty. Later in the 18^th century, several machines were invented that reduced the manual production and led towards industrial revolution. The increased exploitation of the labours made them understand the importance of human rights. Later on, after industrialization, the society was divided into workers and social classes. This was the time when machines replaced the labours. The change in the work gave rise to the theory of evolution, theory of personality, theory of social change, theory of social stratification, theories of group and individual behaviour and learning theories.   

The organizations have also understood the importance of job satisfaction. It has been observed that the job satisfaction among the employees is directly proportional to the retention of the employees. If an employee is satisfied with his work and working environment then he tends to remain loyal to the organization. Increase in the rate of employee turn-over is often a cause of failure of an organization. However, it has been observed that many a times, the employees are not motivated with mere monetary compensations. On the contrary, they are more attracted to non-monetary benefits such as flexibility in working hours, awards and recognitions. The needs and wants of people differ from each other. Some people are motivated by availing monetary benefits whereas the others are motivated when their effort is recognized and appreciated. People who are more money minded prefer working over-time whereas the people who prefer maintaining work and life balance never go for working over-time (Chesters and Daly 2017).

Nowadays, flexibility in the working hours has become essential as the importance of work and life balance has been recognized by several organizations. Several surveys have also shown that people prefer working in the organizations that offer flexi-timing to the employees rather than those organizations that are very strict with their working hours. It is very necessary for the organizations to help the employees in maintaining their work and life balance. The maintenance of balance between work and personal life is extremely important for ensuring a healthy lifestyle. It helps in overall development of the employees and they remain mentally healthy (Augenblick, Niederle and Sprenger 2015).

Providing flexi-timing is essential for both men and women. Many organizations have flexible policies for women but they have more strict policies for men. However, men also deserve flexible working hours so that they can give time to their families. Increase in time spent with family often helps an individual to lower down their level of stress. Work and life balance is also effective in increasing the productivity of the organization as a whole.     

Socio- economic factors and occupational classes:

Socio- economic status (SES) is a monetary and sociological joined aggregate measure of a man's work understanding and of a person's or family's monetary and social position in connection to others, in light of pay, education, and occupation. While breaking down a family's SES, the family unit pay, workers' education, and occupation are inspected, and combined wage, whereas for a person's SES just their own properties are surveyed. In any case, SES is all the more normally used to delineate a financial contrast in the public eye as a whole (Giddens et al. 2016).

Financial status is regularly broken into three levels (high class, middle class, and lower class) to portray the three places a family or an individual may fall into. While putting a family or individual into one of these classifications, any or the greater part of the three factors namely pay, education, and occupation can be surveyed.

Furthermore, low wage and education have been appeared to be solid indicators of a scope of physical and emotional well-being issues, including schizophrenia, joint pain, coronary illness, and respiratory infections. These issues might be because of natural conditions in their working environment, or, on account of incapacities or emotional instabilities, might be the whole reason for that individual's social predicament to start with.

Education in higher financial families is normally worried as a great deal more critical, both inside the family unit and additionally the neighborhood group. In poorer zones, where nourishment, safe house and wellbeing are need, education can take a rearward sitting arrangement (Pinder 2014).

Occupation related glory, as one segment of SES, envelops both pay and educational fulfillment. Occupation related status mirrors the instructive fulfillment required to acquire the employment and wage levels that shift with various occupations and inside positions of occupations. Also, it indicates accomplishment in abilities required for the employment. Occupation related status measures social position by portraying work qualities, basic leadership capacity and control, and mental requests on the job.

Occupations are positioned by Census (among different associations) and sentiment surveys from the all inclusive community are studied. The absolute most prestigious occupations are doctors and specialists, legal advisors, synthetic and biomedical designers, college educators, and interchanges experts. These occupations, thought to be gathered in the high SES characterization, give all the more difficult work and more prominent control over working conditions however require greater capacity. The occupations with lower positions incorporate nourishment arrangement laborers, counter chaperons, barkeeps and partners, dishwashers, janitors, servants and maids, vehicle cleaners, and parking garage orderlies. The occupations that are less esteemed additionally offer fundamentally lower wages, and regularly are more arduous, extremely dangerous, and give less autonomy.

Occupation is the most troublesome element to gauge since such a large number of occupations exist, and there are such a large number of contending scales. Many scales rank occupations in light of the level of aptitude required, from untalented to talented, difficult work to proficient, or utilize a joined measure utilizing the education level required and pay included.

In entirety, the greater part of analysts concur that salary, education and occupation together represent SES in a better manner, while some others feel that adjustments in family structure ought to likewise be considered. With the meaning of SES all the more plainly characterized, it is presently vital to examine the impacts of SES on student’s intellectual capacities and scholastic success. Several specialists have discovered that SES influences student’s capacities (Jain and Kaur 2014).

Therefore, it can be concluded that work defines a person and changes in the working over-time can have positive impacts on the physical and mental health of an individual. flexibility in the working hours has become essential as the importance of work and life balance has been recognized by several organizations. It is very necessary for the organizations to help the employees in maintaining their work and life balance. The maintenance of balance between work and personal life is extremely important for ensuring a healthy lifestyle.

References:

Aamir, A., Hamid, A.B.A., Haider, M. and Akhtar, C.S., 2016. Work-life balance, job satisfaction and nurses retention: moderating role of work volition. International Journal of Business Excellence, 10(4), pp.488-501.

Augenblick, N., Niederle, M. and Sprenger, C., 2015. Working over time: Dynamic inconsistency in real effort tasks. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(3), pp.1067-1115.

Cahill, Kevin E., et al. "Linking shifts in the national economy with changes in job satisfaction, employee engagement and work–life balance." Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 56 (2015): 40-54.

Chesters, J. and Daly, A., 2017. Do peer effects mediate the association between family socio?economic status and educational achievement?. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 52(1), pp.63-77.

Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R.P. and Carr, D.S., 2016. Introduction to sociology. WW Norton.

Jain, R. and Kaur, S., 2014. Impact of work environment on job satisfaction. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 4(1), pp.1-8.

Kumar, S., Kroon, J. and Lalloo, R., 2014. A systematic review of the impact of parental socio-economic status and home environment characteristics on children’s oral health related quality of life. Health and quality of life outcomes, 12(1), p.41.

Lyons, S. and Kuron, L., 2014. Generational differences in the workplace: A review of the evidence and directions for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(S1).

Pinder, C.C., 2014. Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press.

Spencer, N., Thanh, T.M. and Louise, S., 2013. Low income/socio-economic status in early childhood and physical health in later childhood/adolescence: a systematic review. Maternal and child health journal, 17(3), p.424.

Stovell, C., Collinson, D., Gatrell, C. and Radcliffe, L., 2017. Rethinking work-life balance and wellbeing. The Routledge Companion to Wellbeing at Work, p.221.