Adverse social behaviour at the workplace and subsequent physician certified sick leave: a three-wave prospective study of the general working population in Norway

Abstract

ObjectivesWe aimed to provide an integrated picture of the relationship between different facets of adverse social behaviour (ASB) at the workplace and sick leave.MethodsData from a randomly drawn prospective cohort of the general working population. Eligible respondents were interviewed in 2009, 2013 or 2016, and were registered with an employee relationship of at least 50 working days in the national register the year following the survey interviews (n=21 674 observations/13 470 respondents). We investigated the prospective associations of self-reported exposure to ASB, including threats/acts of violence, bullying and sexual harassment, with physician-certified sick leave of 1–16 days (ie, low level of sick leave (LLSL)) and >16 days (ie, high level of sick leave (HLSL)) by means of mixed effects logistic regression.ResultsThe prevalence of sick leave was 18.4% (n=3986 observations) for LLSL and 16.1% (n=3492 observations) for HLSL. The different facets of ASB were independently associated with higher odds of sick leave, with stronger associations for HLSL than for LLSL. Adjusted for sex, age, education level, occupation, previous sickness absence level, OR (95% CI) for HLSL was 1.97 (1.61 to 2.35) for threats/acts of violence, 1.97 (1.53 to 2.54) for bullying and 1.41 (1.10 to 1.79) for sexual harassment. The population risks of LLSL and HLSL attributable to ASB were 5.27 (95% CI 1.85 to 8.81) and 8.27% (95% CI 4.01 to 12.48), respectively.ConclusionsThreats/acts of violence, bullying and sexual harassment were all independent predictors of sick leave, with threats/acts of violence appearing as the single most important factor.

Antecedents of Workplace Bullying among Employees in Germany: Five-Year Lagged Effects of Job Demands and Job Resources

“…On the contrary, the risk of workplace bullying is decreased when employees experienced higher levels of influence at work and quality of leadership. These findings, which strengthen the conclusions of previous studies [15], suggest that increased efforts to improve the psychosocial work environment are needed in contemporary workplaces as a crucial means for reducing the incidence of mental health outcomes-especially depression-which are established outcomes of exposure to workplace bullying [1][2][3]5,9,52]. This is imperative in light of previous studies showing the detrimental consequences of depression for employees' workability [53], companies [54], and the social security system [55].…”

“…An increasing number of prospective studies has pointed to a causal link between workplace bullying (also referred to as mobbing) and reduced mental health, especially depression [1][2][3][4][5]. Workplace bullying is also associated with costs for workplaces and societies, as it increases the risk of turnover [6,7], sickness absence [8,9], and disability retirement [10,11]. The identification of possible antecedents of workplace bullying is therefore crucial to inform preventive actions aimed at countering the phenomenon and its adverse impact on mental health.…”

Exposure to work-related violence and/or threats of violence as a predictor of certified sickness absence due to mental disorders: a prospective cohort study of 16,339 Swedish men and women in paid work

“…Several earlier studies have also found evidence that there is an association between other types of adverse psychosocial work environment characteristics, such as high demands and low control and low support and justice, and stress-related health problems, such as different forms of anxiety-and depressive disorders, as well as levels of sickness absence (Duchaine et al 2020;Nieuwenhuijsen et al 2010;Slany et al 2014;Stansfeld and Candy 2006;Sterud et al 2021). Like other job stressors exposure to threatening and highly challenging actions such as violence and/or threats of violence, especially during an extended period without recuperation time, could potentially result in various forms of stress reactions such as an increase in blood pressure and heart frequency as well as higher rates of inflammation (Kivimäki and Steptoe 2018).…”

“…Earlier studies have suggested that exposure to workrelated violence and/or threats of violence is associated with an increased risk of different types of negative mental health consequences such as depression, fatigue and nervousness (Rudkjoebing et al 2020(Rudkjoebing et al , 2021. Additionally, several previous studies have suggested that there is an association between exposure to work-related violence and/or threats of violence and sickness absence (Aagestad et al 2016;Friis et al 2018;Niedhammer et al 2013;Nyberg et al 2021;Slany et al 2014;Sterud et al 2021). However, many previous studies focusing on exposure to violence and/or threats of violence and sickness absence have limitations.…”

Workplace Bullying and Long-Term Sickness Absence—A Five-Year Follow-Up Study of 2476 Employees Aged 31 to 60 Years in Germany

“…A review of prospective studies on workplace bullying and sickness absence (Nielsen et al, 2016) and three recent prospective investigations [ 20 , 21 , 22 ] indicate that workplace bullying is a risk factor for sickness absence. However, all of these studies were carried out in the Nordic countries, except one that was conducted in Belgium [ 23 ].…”