We spend 8 to 9 hours a day, 5 days a week working. When you add it up, we spend one-third of our day or half of our waking hours at work. The devotion and importance of work in people’s lives are supported by evidence from the National Research Council.
From 1973 to 1996, the NRC asked people one simple question, “If you were to get enough money to live as comfortably as you would like for the rest of your life, would you continue to work or would you stop working?” (NRC, 1999, p. 50). Over the span of two decades, 7 out of 10 people said that they would keep on working (NRC, 1999).
What’s different about WorkplacePsychology.Net?
- Coverage of the world of work (the workplace and workers) from a scholarly perspective. The references cited are from well-respected sources (e.g., I-O, OHP, Coaching, and Coaching Psychology textbooks and journals, and highly-regarded business magazines and websites like the Harvard Business Review).
- Information is presented in a clear, concise, and easy-to-understand manner. Part of the struggle with researchers and professors of psychology is that not many people understand what they’re trying to say. Important information is lost because the delivery is long-winded, complicated, and/or boring. I’ll do my best to avoid these mistakes on this site.
The focus of this blog is on Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology, Occupational Health Psychology (OHP), and Coaching Psychology.
I am fascinated by the impact of work and workplaces on employees’ health and well-being and vice versa, how employees’ health and well-being affect their jobs.
Employment and its impact on individual lives and our society as a whole are more paramount today than ever before. In October 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 15.7 million Americans were unemployed and an unemployment rate of 10.2%. In October 2010, the unemployment rate improved to 9.6%, but 14.8 million Americans were still unemployed. By October 2011, the employment situation had only improved slightly, with 13.9 million Americans still unemployed and the unemployment rate at 9.0%.
“And even as the economy begins creating those new jobs, the unemployment rate could rise back above 10 percent, say some economists. In any case, it will likely be years before it falls again to “normal” levels or anywhere near the 5 percent where it stood before the recession began in December 2007″ (Schoen, 2010, para. 2).
In the course of studying about the psychology of workers & workplaces, I became the subject matter of my own studies. I, too, joined millions of Americans in the unemployment line. This job loss experience has made studying the workplace and understanding the struggles of the workers a personal one. Landy & Conte (2007, citing Warr) talked about the effects of unemployment on people’s psychological health and well-being.
Today’s work is less stable, more diverse, and involves more work-life balance. It is the ever-changing workplace and its impact on workers’ health and well-being that served as the catalyst to starting this workplace psychology blog.
Thank you for visiting and I hope the information here will help you in some way to improve your own work life, health, and well-being.
References
Landy, F.J. & Conte, J.M. (2007). Work in the 21st century: An introduction to industrial-organizational psychology (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
National Research Council. (1999). The changing nature of work: Implications for occupational analysis. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Schoen, J.W. (2010, March 5). Jobs data show signs of a turning point. MSNBC. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35728769/ns/business-answer_desk
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov
