Delivery workers 'Anxiety level' Higher support measures needed to promote mental health
Aug 05, 2024
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In addition, occupational characteristics such as working more than 10 hours a day, short breaks between shifts, fast work speed, job stress, no union, lack of balance between work and family, situations where emotions have to be hidden, angry customer response, and emotional confusion were highly related to the anxiety of delivery workers.
Lee Joon-hee, a professor of occupational environmental medicine at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital, and Park Sung-jin, a joint research team specializing in occupational environmental medicine at the Gwanghwamun Center of the Korea Institute of Medicine, compared 532 delivery workers to a group of manual workers matched by gender and age to investigate work stress factors related to the level of anxiety of delivery workers.
Using the data from the 6th Working Environment Survey (KWCS) conducted in 2020, we analyzed the anxiety and work-related anxiety experienced over the past 12 months.
Work environment factors included long shifts, insufficient rest, fast work speed, stress, freedom of limited rest time, lack of legal protection, work-life balance, psychological tension and emotional labor during work.
Delivery workers also showed an increased risk of significant anxiety (Ozbi=1.23-2.28) and work-related anxiety (OR=2.17, 95% CI=1.48-3.18) compared to ordinary workers.
In addition, the risk of anxiety (OR=1.47) and work-related anxiety (OR=1.80) was also higher when compared to ordinary manual workers by matching gender and age.
Job factors such as working more than 10 hours a day (OR=6.56), short breaks between shift work (OR=5.03), fast work speed (OR=5.10), job stress (OR=2.46), no union (OR=1.68), lack of work-family balance (OR=3.04), situations where emotions have to be hidden (OR=2.00), angry customer response (OR=3.28), and situations where emotional confusion is experienced (OR=2.91), etc. showed a strong correlation with the anxiety of delivery workers.
Professor Lee Jun-hee advised "A study confirming that the working environment of platform workers, such as long hours of work, fast work speed, lack of rest, and emotional labor, is related to high levels of anxiety."We need support to strengthen legal protection and promote mental health to protect platform workers, including delivery workers"
The study was published in International Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health in July 2024 under the title `High Anxiety Level and Associated Work-Related Factors of Delivery Workers in South Korea: from the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey.'
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