A recent Belgian survey examines the stress levels of workers according to nine psychosocial risk factors. Among its findings, the study underlines the higher risk of exposure to stress at work among night and shift workers. Avoiding overtime and irregular working time schedules can help to minimise the stress levels of these workers.
Background to study
The Directorate for the study into the improvement of working conditions (Directie van het onderzoek over de verbetering van de arbeidsomstandigheden, DIOVA) is part of the Federal Public Service (FPS) Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue. Since the late 1990s, DIOVA has been compiling company surveys in Belgium which use the VBBA (Vragenlijst Beoordeling en Beleving van de Arbeid) questionnaire. The VBBA is a questionnaire which examines the experience and assessment of work and is a Dutch-validated instrument used to measure workload and stress. The questionnaire was developed in the mid-1990s and is conceptually based on internationally common theoretical models of stress and well-being at work (for example, the job demands-control-support model of Karasek and Theorell, 1990).
Currently, the DIOVA database contains information on the workload and stress levels of over 42,000 Belgian workers belonging to more than 300 organisations in the private and public sectors. A much higher proportion of women and highly-skilled workers are represented in this database, relative to the total employed population in Belgium; the agricultural and educational sectors are underrepresented in the database. The response rate to the survey among participating companies was 60% on average.
Study findings
New results on stress-related factors in the Belgian workplace were recently published (Notelaers and De Witte), based on the analysis of this database.
The study identified nine psychosocial risks as being determining factors for stress at work: high work pace; emotional workload; under-utilisation of skills; doing monotonous work; lack of social support from colleagues; lack of autonomy; lack of participation in decision making; role conflict; and lack of role distinction. The following tables summarise the incidence of these psychosocial risk factors within the sample.
Table 1: Exposure to psychosocial risks at work, by % of employees
Based on a large sample, the table shows the % of Belgian workers exposed to risk factors that cause stress at work. | Risk factor | High exposure | Very high exposure |
| Lack of participation in decision making | 44 | 13 |
| Under-utilisation of skills | 40 | 11 |
| Lack of autonomy | 32 | 11 |
| Lack of social support | 35 | 7 |
| Workload | 33 | 8 |
| Role conflict | 34 | 7 |
| Monotonous work | 31 | 6 |
| Lack of role distinction | 16 | 3 |
| Emotional workload | 11 | 3 |
Source: Belgian DIOVA database, FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue
In addition to identifying differences in stress levels according to age, sector, contract and employment status, the study also shows that people working night shifts or doing shift work have the highest probability of experiencing stress at work (Table 2). These workers have a much higher odds ratio in relation to almost all of the stress-related risk factors.
Table 2: Exposure to psychosocial risks at work, by working time schedule
The table shows the higher exposure of shift and night workers to risk factors that cause stress. | Risk factor | Shift work | Night work |
| Workload | very high | high |
| Emotional workload | high | very high |
| Monotonous work | very high | very high |
| Under-utilisation of skills | very high | very high |
| Lack of social support | high | high |
| Lack of participation in decision making | high | high |
| Lack of autonomy | very high | very high |
| Role conflict | high | |
| Lack of role distinction | | high |
Note: The table summarises the risk of a higher exposure compared with the general average, based on a calculation of odds ratios; very high = odds ratio >= 1.5; high = odds ratio >= 1.1. An odds ratio of 1.5 means that this worker has a 50% higher probability of being exposed to the particular risk at work.
Source: Belgian DIOVA database, FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue
Importance of planning atypical working hours
The higher levels of stress among shift and night workers are not only underlined in this study, but are also confirmed by another survey – the Flemish Workability Monitor (Werkbaar Werk in Vlannderen). The latter survey is conducted by STV Innovation and Work (STV Innovatie en Arbeid) and is limited to the Flemish region. It focuses on quality of work and is based on a sample of 12,095 employees.
The Workability Monitor shows that employees who have atypical working hours (night or shift work) complain more often about stress at work when their working time schedule is less predictable (Figure 1). Doing overtime causes even greater stress for these workers, especially when there is no possibility for compensating the overtime with time in lieu.
References
Results of the study by Notelaers and De Witte have been summarised in the following article: J. De Crom, ‘Stress op het werk: Een kind van vele vaders’ [‘Stress at work: A child of many fathers’], HR Square, April 2006, pp. 40–44.
More information on the Flemish Workability Monitor is available online (in Dutch) at: http://www.serv.be/uitgaven/807.pdf
Guy Van Gyes, Higher Institute for Labour Studies (HIVA), Catholic University of Leuven
