Facing certain blocks at your workplace is common. After all, deadlines need to be met and clients have to be pleased. But what isn't common is having the constant fear of losing your job. Nobody likes to be in an insecure job and now a study has found that job insecurity can lead to personality changes and not in a good way.
It was found that those who were stuck in an insecure job for longer than four years became less stable emotionally and also became less agreeable and less conscientious. Report co-author Dr. Lena Wang said that the study focused on finding evidence that job insecurity had negative effects on people's personality.
"Traditionally, we've thought about the short-term consequences of job insecurity—that it hurts your well-being, physical health, sense of self-esteem," Wang said. "But now we are looking at how that actually changes who you are as a person over time, a long-term consequence that you may not even be aware of."
Some might believe that insecure work increases productivity because workers will work harder to keep their jobs, but our research suggests this may not be the case if job insecurity persists," Wang said. "We found that those chronically exposed to job insecurity are in fact more likely to withdraw their effort and shy away from building strong, positive working relationships, which can undermine their productivity in the long run."
Study lead author Professor Chia-Huei Wu also said that most jobs that made people feel insecure included short-term contracts or casual work, jobs threatened by automation, and positions that could be in line for redundancy. The professor added that one way to make people feel more secure in their jobs is by providing them support in some way.
"This is as much about perceived job insecurity as actual insecure contracts," Wu said. "Some people simply feel daunted by the changing nature of their roles or fear they'll be replaced by automation. But while some existing jobs can be replaced by automation, new jobs will be created. So employers have the ability to reduce that perception, for example by investing in professional development, skills and training, or by giving career guidance."
Well, this goes to show that if employers make an effort to make their employees feel safe, the productivity in work is bound to shoot up. Stay tuned for more updates.
