Interventions to Reduce Job Stress and Improve Work Organization and Worker Health

Employer/organizational level interventions tend to target human resource policies and organizational climate. An intervention on an inner city bus line in Stockholm was begun to reduce traffic congestion and improve passenger service. Interventions at the job/task level focus on job redesign, job enrichment, or increased job control or participation in decision making and can result from methods such as action research or labor management committees or initiatives. A wide variety of interventions and prevention programs have been developed and used in order to reduce job stressors and the health problems they cause. Work organization and job stressors are also shaped by the competition employers face in the global economy. Action Research (AR) efforts to reduce job stressors and improve worker health have been common in Scandinavia. AR involves a partnership between outside experts and members of an organization aimed at meeting both research and intervention goals.