The American Workplace

I had mentioned in an earlier post a major study on the American workplace. The findings come from research done by investigators at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation, Harvard Medical School and UCLA. The raw material came from the American Working Conditions Survey.

I'll quote some material from the article, "American Workplace Is Physically and Emotionally Taxing; Most Workers Receive Support from Boss and Friends at Work," published on the RAND Corp. website.

About the level of work and the time to do it in: "More than one-in-four American workers say they have too little time to do their job, with the complaint being most common among white-collar workers. In addition, workers say the intensity of work frequently spills over into their personal lives, with about one-half of people reporting that they perform some work in their free time in order to meet workplace demands."

And about the negative working conditions of American workers: "...more than half of Americans report exposure to unpleasant and potentially hazardous working conditions. Nearly one in five workers --a "disturbingly high" fraction--say they face a hostile or threatening social environment at work. Younger and prime-aged women are the workers most likely to experience unwanted sexual attention, while younger men are more likely to experience verbal abuse."

Hopefully the findings will lead to some practical results.

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