Employee worktime control moderates the effects of job strain and effort-reward imbalance on sickness absence: the 10-town study
Open accessAbstract
Study objective: To examine whether the effects of work stress on sickness absence vary by the level of control the employees have over their working times. Design: Prospective cohort study. A survey of job strain, effort-reward imbalance, and control over daily working hours and days off was carried out in 2000–01. The survey responses were linked with registered data on the number of medically certified (>3 days) sickness absences from one year before the survey until the end of 2003. The mean follow up period was 28.2 (SD 8.1) months. Adjustments were made for demographics and behavioural health risks. Aggregated measures of worktime control according to workplaces were used to control for differences in reactivity and response style. Setting: Ten towns in Finland. Participants: 16 139 public sector employees who had no medically certified sickness absences in the year preceding the survey. Main results: Among the women, individually measured control over daily working hours and days off moderated the association between work stress and sickness absence. The combination of high stress and good worktime control was associated with lower absence rates than a combination of high stress and poor worktime control. This finding was replicated in the analyses using workplace aggregates of worktime control. Among the men, the findings were less consistent and not replicable using aggregated measures of worktime control. Conclusions: Good control over working times reduces the adverse effect of work stress on sickness absence especially among female employees.
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Recent studies have found evidence for a buffering effect of high worktime control on stress, sickness absence, and worklife balance (34-38).
“Some recent studies indeed have found evidence for a buffering effect of high worktime control on stress, sickness absence, and worklife balance (34-38).”
From A diary study to open up the black box of overtime work among university faculty members (2008) · cites this paper as [36]
The Abstract and Results report that good worktime control buffered the association between work stress and medically certified sickness absence, especially among women. The paper discusses combining work and non-work demands as a possible benefit, but does not report a measured buffering effect on work-life balance or on stress itself. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Beckers, D. G. J., van der Linden, D., Smulders, P. G. W., Kompier, M. A. J., Taris, T. W., & Geurts, S. A. E. (2008) · Work & Stress · doi:10.1080/02678370801984927 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
A diary study to open up the black box of overtime work among university faculty members
Beckers, D. G., van Hooff, M. L., van der Linden, D., Kompier, M. A., Taris, T. W., & Geurts, S. A. (2008) · Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health · doi:10.5271/sjweh.1226 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ala-Mursula, L., Vahtera, J., Linna, A., Pentti, J., & Kivimäki, M.
- Affiliations
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FI)
- ORCID
- Vahtera, Jussi
- Venue
- Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2005-09-15
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 851-857
- ISSN
- 0141-7681 (ISSN-L)
- 0143-005X
- 1470-2738
- PMC
- PMC1732907
- OpenAlex
- W1996359017
- Cited by
- 187
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 20.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Academy of Finland
- Työsuojelurahasto
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Employment and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- job strain, effort-reward imbalance, sick leave, occupational stress, public sector employees, sex differences, working hours, days off, occupational health
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Female, Finland, Humans, Internal-External Control, Male, Middle Aged, Occupational Diseases, Personnel Staffing and Scheduling, Prospective Studies, Sex Factors, Stress, Psychological, Work Schedule Tolerance, Occupational Health, Public Sector, Sick Leave, Personal Autonomy
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