Who You Work With Matters More Than You Think
We all joke about our co-workers. We’re close to some, others drive us crazy, and a few seem outright evil. Since we spend so much of our lives working in the office, more and more studies show that who we work with has a huge impact, not only on our performance, but on our personal health. A recent study from Tel Aviv University tracked 820 workers for 20 years. They discovered that our co-workers impact our health more than the hours we work, the stress, or our boss. And it’s pretty serious – working with not-so-kind colleagues, actually increases our risk of dying. In fact, workers with little or no peer-support at the office were 2.4 times more likely to die during the study.
We already know that bad working situations for men are jobs where they have little or no say. Not so much for women – they actually do better with some lack of control on the job. But what’s becoming more and more clear is that who we work with matters.
Take a look at your office. Do your co-workers make it a joy to come to the office each day, or do you dread coming in the door?
Maybe it’s time you paid more attention to those feelings.
What do you think?
Curious, did the study include freelancers who work from home too? And/or who have no actual face-to-face colleagues? Not a trick question.
To my knowledge, the study dealt with office workers who have to relate with other people on the job.
Thanks. That would be an interesting addition/new study. Do people who work from are more likely to die during the course of the study, too?
I suppose that would depend on one’s relationship with their spouse
Assuming they have a spouse. 😉
Haha true… equation can be applied to the appropriate variables (kids, siblings, annoying roommate )
Assuming one has one/all of the above. But what if that’s not the case? Will that actually influence a person’s health as well?