Impact of social and occupational factors over job control

Psychosocial risk factors, among which job control has proved to be a key dimension, can have a negative impact on the health of workers. Various research projects have found a relationship between low levels of free time at work and stress and job satisfaction indicators.

to assess to what extent certain social and employment variables influence "job control".

A descriptive study was carried out on a sample of workers to analyse the influence of certain socio-demographic and work-related variables on job control, by means of an assessment survey on psychosocial risk and the general state of workers' health. The tools used in this study were the COPSOQ-ISTAS 21 version 1.5 psychosocial risk assessment questionnaire and a specific survey on the perceived state of health.

Three hundred fourteen workers were asked to participate in the study. One hundred and ninety workers completed the questionnaire and were finally included. For the "job control" variable, 47.4% of workers described their situation as good. The results show that workers with a higher educational level (+78%), who have seniority in the job, have a good understanding of their situation at work (+15%), and are employed as white collars (34%), are more likely to show high job control and, therefore, could be less at risk from psychosocial factors.

There are two parameters influencing "job control": social factors concerning educational level, and work situation factors, including seniority and being a white collar worker.