Adverse social behaviour at work and health-related employment exit: a prospective population-based four-wave survey

The level of evidence for various aspects of adverse social behaviour (ASB) at work as risk factors for exit from employment due to health problems or diseases is inconclusive.

We obtained data from four consecutive surveys (2006/09/13/16) of the general population of Norway. Respondents who were interviewed in two consecutive surveys and employed at the first survey time point constituted the sample (n = 17 110 observations). We investigated associations of self-reported exposure to ASB (i.e. experiencing sexual harassment, bullying or violence/threats in the first survey) and health-related employment exit (i.e. individuals reporting exit from employment due to health problems or disease between two consecutive surveys) by means of mixed-effect logistic regression.

The prevalence of ASB and health-related employment exit was 10.8% (n = 1853) and 2.6% (n = 440), respectively. Adjusted for age, sex, level of education, occupation and weekly work hours, sexual harassment, bullying and violence/threats were associated with an increased risk of exit from employment. The odds ratios (ORs) for the association between exposure to any of the three aspects of ASB and employment exit was 1.78 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.33-2.38]; the estimated corresponding population attributable risk was PAR% = 7.32 [95% CI 2.67-12.27]. Further adjustment of mental distress attenuated the observed association between exposure to any ASB and exit from employment (OR = 1.45 [95% CI 1.07-1.95], i.e. a reduction of 42% in the OR).

ASB at work increases the risk of health-related exit from employment in the Norwegian workforce.