Content area
Full text
This article is based on the Report for the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (SafeDay) for 2016, Workplace stress: A collective challenge (ILO, 2016).
In recent decades, globalization has given rise to considerable new openings for economic development, but also to the risk of global competitive processes placing pressure on working conditions and respect for fundamental rights. Globalization and technological progress have transformed the world of work, introducing new forms of work organization, working relations and employment patterns. Globalization has led to changes in employment patterns through greater flexibility in the work process and greater use of parttime and temporary employment and independent contracting of staff. These practices can result in higher job demands, higher job insecurity, lower control over one's work and an increased likelihood of lay-offs - all contributing to an increase in work-related stress and its associated disorders.
Workers the world over are under greater pressure than ever before to meet the demands of modern working life. Technological advances, the emergence of the Internet and the digitalization of communications have led to many changes and innovations in work processes. With the pace of work dictated by instant communications and high levels of global competition, the boundaries between work and personal life are becoming more and more difficult to identify. Workers may feel that staying connected longer and responding quickly is a sign of good performance, continuing in practice to do their job at home and outside working hours. Incompatibility between work roles and family roles, leading to behaviour-based, time-based and strainbased conflicts at work, can make role demands in the family difficult or impossible to meet, and vice versa.
Furthermore, the recent global economic crisis and recession have contributed to increases in unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. Owing to the current economic recession, many organizations have been forced to scale down their economic activity by means of restructuring, downsizing, merging, outsourcing and subcontracting, and of massive lay-offs in order to remain competitive. A substantial number of workers in unemployment face dramatic consequences for themselves and their families, all of which is having a serious impact on their well-being and mental health.
For those who remain employed, restructuring processes have extended beyond the effects of lay-offs. As organizational change causes...