title: Extended working hours and health.
abstract: Statistical analyses of the relation between the amount of working hours and impairments to health, based on data from a European survey on working conditions in 2000, clearly reveal that there is a substantial correlation between the number of working hours per week and the frequencies of health complaints. This applies to both musculo-skeletal disorders as well as to psycho-vegetative complaints. The relationship of the duration of the exposure to working conditions to health impairments is moderated by a great number of individual (e.g., age) and situational (e.g., shift-work) variables, showing additive or interactive effects for which selected examples have been presented. In general, however, there is a consistent functional relationship between the number or working hours and their effects on the workers that holds over a great variety of conditions. It is argued that requests for extending working hours should thus be handled with care.
authors.affiliation: Gesellschaft für Arbeits-, Wirtschafts- und Organisationspsychologische Forschung e.V. (GAWO), Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Raediker
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schomann
authors.forename: Friedhelm
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nachreiner
mesh_terms: D004651:Employment; D005221:Fatigue; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D016272:Occupational Health; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D020178:Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013995:Time; D013997:Time Factors; D014937:Work; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance; D016526:Workload