There can scarcely be any more stressful circumstances in life than when we lose our job. New research from RMIT highlights that even job insecurity can have a negative impact upon our wellbeing. Indeed, the impact can be so severe that our very personality is affected.
Prolonged bouts of job insecurity are linked with a decline in our emotional stability, as well as our conscientiousness and agreeableness. The researchers believe their findings highlight the severe impact job insecurity has on our mental health.
“Traditionally, we’ve thought about the short-term consequences of job insecurity — that it hurts your well-being, physical health, sense of self-esteem,” they say. “But now we are looking at how that actually changes who you are as a person over time, a long-term consequence that you may not even be aware of.”
Insecure work
The researchers used data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, with a particular focus on the sections pertaining to job security and personality. The survey was conducted over a nine-year period, and the data was on over 1,000 employees.
The survey utilized the Big Five personality traits of agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness and openness to assess the impact of job insecurity, with a negative impact found on one’s agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability. These are traits commonly linked with our ability to get on with others, cope with stress and achieve our goals.
The researchers believe their findings belie the notion that insecure work results in greater productivity because people are working harder to keep their job. In the short-term this may be true, but in the long-term, it’s more likely to see productivity significantly decline.
“We found that those chronically exposed to job insecurity are in fact more likely to withdraw their effort and shy away from building strong, positive working relationships, which can undermine their productivity in the long run,” the researchers explain.
There is concern around the world that insecure jobs are on the rise, especially in the gig economy or sectors that commonly make use of zero hour contracts. There is also the perpetual threat of job losses from technology.
It’s a situation that the authors believe employers can rectify not only by removing the insecurity around people’s jobs in the first place, but also making sure that jobs are perceived to be secure.
“This is as much about perceived job insecurity as actual insecure contracts,” they say. “Some people simply feel daunted by the changing nature of their roles or fear they’ll be replaced by automation.”
Investing in staff is a great way of doing this, but of course, it’s perhaps unlikely that Uber and their ilk offer much in the way of professional development to assuage any concerns workers may have about the stability of their jobs. Maybe findings like these will prompt them to think again.
