British research finds promotion leads to 10 per cent decline in mental health
Workers who have been promoted suffer more mental strain and have less time to visit the doctor, according to research conducted by British academics.
Chris Boyce and Andrew Oswald, of the University of Warwick in Coventry, set out to find out why people with higher job status seem to have better health. The typical assumption was that an improvement in a person’s job status, through a promotion, would directly result in better health due to an increased sense of life control and self-worth.
Using data from the British House Panel Survey, the researchers looked at about 1,000 individuals who had been promoted between 1991 and 2005. The results debunked the myth that promotions lead to better health.
They found no evidence of improved physical health after promotion. What they did find, though, was significantly greater mental strain — on average a 10-per-cent decrease in mental health.
Interestingly, those promoted at work also reported, on average, a 20-per-cent fall in visits to a doctor.
“Getting a promotion at work is not as great as many people think,” said Boyce. “Our research finds that the mental health of managers typically deteriorates after a job promotion, and in a way that goes merely beyond a short-term change.”
The research paper, entitled Do People Become Healther After Being Promoted?, will be presented at the Royal Economic Society’s conference to be held at the University of Surrey later this month.
