Work and well-being

Abstract

This chapter is about work and well-being, setting the stage for those that follow. It examines factors at work that diminish or enhance well-being and what can be done to increase levels of employee well-being at work. THE EXPERIENCES OF PEOPLE WORKINGThis book, being about work, is, by its very nature about violence -to the spirit as well as to the body. It is about ulcers as well as accidents. About shouting matches as well as fist fights, about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. It is above all (or beneath all) about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us. . . It is about a search, too, for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying. (Terkel, 1974, p. xiii) Adults will spend over one-third of their waking hours at work. The average person will spend about 70 000 of their hours working, with some people spending more than 120 000 of their hours working. Some individuals find satisfaction in their work, even continuing to work following their retirement. Others find little satisfaction in their work, some counting the days until they can retire from their work. Some individuals work for free in voluntary organizations, their work often costing them their own money, picking up and distributing food for the poor, building homes for the needy, or planting trees to save the planet.Work does not exist in a vacuum; it takes place in the context of particular labour market policies, employment conditions and work conditions. These factors contribute to health and health disparities. Labour market factors include income levels and income-level disparities; the rich are generally healthier than the poor. Employment conditions include the nature of one's employment -whether one has full-time permanent employment, part-time or temporary employment, precarious employment or no employment.