Feeling Stuck in a Dead-End Job Could Mean Health Problems
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(MONTREAL) — If you’re committing to a job based on feelings of obligation, your health may suffer, according to a new study.
After looking at 260 employees working in various industries, Canadian researchers found that workers who stayed in their jobs because of a perceived shortage of other job opportunities, or because they feel obligated or indebted to the company, were more likely to be exhausted, stressed or burned out.
“It may be that, in the absence of an emotional bond with the organization, commitment based on obligation is experienced as a kind of indebtedness — a loss of autonomy that is emotionally draining over time,” study co-author Alexandra Panaccio of Concordia University in Montreal was quoted as saying in the journal Human Relations.
Panaccio says that employees may eventually be led to leave the organization under these conditions. Employers, she said, can try to prevent this from happening by working in cooperation with employees.
“The implication is that employers should try to minimize this ‘lack of alternatives’ type of commitment among employees by developing their competencies, thus increasing their feeling of mobility and, paradoxically, contributing to them wanting to stay with the organization,” Panaccio said.
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