Employee assistance programmes for employees affected by negative stress outcomes

Project manager: Dorota Żołnierczyk-Zreda Ph.D.

Project summary:

"The aim of this research was to investigate if an employee assistance programme for employees affected by negative stress outcomes, similar to those used in other European countries, would be efficient in our conditions, too. The programme was aimed to managers as an occupational group with a high level of stress at work. 40 managers were selected out of 187 persons; they experienced a high level of stress at work, anxiety and/or depression and they had health problems. The subjects were assigned to experimental and control groups at random. An analysis of the results revealed that participants of the intervention had a significantly decrease level of anxiety compared to the control group; their behaviours that signified better stress coping improved, too. The intervention had a slightly lower, but still significant, influence on a decrease in the level of depression and two elements of occupational burn-out: emotional exhaustion and depersonization. However, the intervention did not have a significant influence an a decrease in somatic complaints or an increase in sense of achievement in persons from the experimental group. The results of the analysis show that the intervention was successful in improving the mental health of the managers who took part in it.A qualitative analysis of the results of the study show that the workplace or specific professions are related to work overload, job insecurity and increased competitiveness, which has an undoubted influence on the occurrence of serious mental problems."

Unit: Department of Ergonomics

Duration: 01.01.2005 – 31.12.2007