Jobs with below-average variety, autonomy, feedback and significance can lead to workers’ increased waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, two stress-related indicators of abdominal obesity. But jobs that are above average in these ‘enrichments’ can be even worse. In a study of hundreds of clinic patients, waists of people with low-enrichment jobs were about 5cm above the mean, whereas waists of those with high-enrichment jobs were about 7cm over the mean, says a team led by Yitzhak Fried of Syracuse University. This demonstrates that over time, highly enriched jobs’ heavy workloads can have a negative impact on employees’ health.

(Source: Journal of Occupational Health Psychology)

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, October 5th , 2015

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