Workplace Bullying and Long-Term Sickness Absence-A Five-Year Follow-Up Study of 2476 Employees Aged 31 to 60 Years in Germany

Objectives: The aim was to investigate workplace bullying as a risk factor for five-year occurrence of long-term sickness absence (LTSA) in a representative cohort of employees in Germany. Methods: In the German Study on Mental Health at Work (S-MGA) (n = 2476), episodes of long-term sickness absence (LTSA) between baseline and follow-up were assessed in the follow-up interview. Workplace bullying was measured in the baseline interview using a hybrid approach, which combines the behavioural experience and self-labelling methods. Through binomial regressions, the association of baseline level of workplace bullying with first-episode LTSA during follow-up was estimated, adjusting for baseline age, gender, occupational level, smoking status and physical demands at work. Results: Severe bullying heightened the risk for LTSA by approximately 50% (Rate ratio—RR: 1.48, 95% Confidence interval—CI: 1.05; 2.19), while occasional bullying heightened the risk by 15% (RR: 1.15, CI: 0.85; 1.55). When excluding LTSA events occurring in the first 2 years, the associations between bullying and LTSA increased by approximately one third. Conclusions: Workplace bullying seems to be a risk factor for LTSA even when controlling for occupational level, smoking and physical demands at work and when taking possible reverse causality into account. We suggest to investigate effects of LTSA in more settings, to distinguish between occasional and severe bullying and employ longer follow-up intervals.

Precarious Work as Risk Factor for 5-Year Increase in Depressive Symptoms

Objectives: The aim was to investigate the longitudinal relationship between precarious work and depressive symptoms in a representative cohort of employees in Germany. Methods: In the German Study on Mental Health at Work (S-MGA) (n = 2009), depressive symptoms were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ−9). Precarious work was measured through baseline (2012) self-reported job insecurity, marginal part-time, fixed-term contract, hourly wage and—during follow-ups 2012–2017—unemployment. Among employees without depressive symptoms at baseline (2012), we ran logistic regression analyses stratified by gender with depressive symptoms at follow-up in 2017 as the dependent variable, adjusting for baseline (2012) age, gender, socioeconomic position and partner status. Results: Among men, job insecurity (OR: 2.47; 95% 95% CI: 1.37–4.48) and low wage (3.79; 1.64–8.72) at baseline were significantly associated with depressive symptoms at follow-up. Among women, indicators of precarious work were not associated with depressive symptoms at follow-up. Among men, a cumulative exposure index of precarious work was significantly associated with the development of depressive symptoms (one indicator: 1.84; 0.94–3.60, ≥two indicators: 7.65; 3.30–17.73). This index was not associated with depressive symptoms among women. The population attributable fraction of precarious work due to depressive symptoms among men was approximately 30%. Conclusions: Among employees in Germany, precarious work seems to be a risk factor for the subsequent development of depressive symptoms among men, but not among women. Research on precarious employment in different countries is needed.