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Article
Publication date: 11 January 2022

Sarah Waters and Hilda Palmer

The purpose of this paper is to examine how work-related suicides are monitored, investigated and regulated in the UK, examining a small selection of cases and drawing on…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how work-related suicides are monitored, investigated and regulated in the UK, examining a small selection of cases and drawing on international comparison with other countries. Effective data collection and regulation are the cornerstone of suicide prevention, and this paper aims to consider whether the UK’s current regulatory framework provides an effective basis for preventing work-related suicides.

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws on qualitative sociological methods and is based on an in-depth analysis of 12 suicide cases occurring between 2015 and 2020. In each case, work-related causal factors had been previously identified by at least one official source (police enquiry, coroner or employer’s investigation). This study analysed multiple sources of documentation and undertook interviews with individuals close to each suicide case. The aim of this study was to consider the organisational response of three stakeholder organisations to the suicides: the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the coroner and the employer.

Findings

The study points to serious shortcomings in the UK’s regulatory response to work-related suicides. Suicides are currently not recorded, investigated or regulated. Whereas the fracture of an arm or leg in the workplace needs to be reported to the HSE for further investigation, a suicide occurring in the workplace or that is work-related does not need to be reported to any public agency. Employers are not required to investigate an employee suicide or make any changes to workplace policies and practices in the aftermath of a suicide. The work-related factors that may have caused one suicide may, therefore, continue to pose health and safety risks to other employees.

Originality/value

Whereas some recent studies have examined work-related suicides within specific occupations in the UK, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyse the UK’s regulatory framework for work-related suicides. The study on which the paper is based produced a set of recommendations that were targeted at key stakeholder organisations.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 November 2019

Shantel Sullivan and Marie-Line Germain

The purpose of this paper is to explore compassion fatigue and psychosocial risks among healthcare professionals, which lead to increased work-related costs, including…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore compassion fatigue and psychosocial risks among healthcare professionals, which lead to increased work-related costs, including occupational suicide. Through this review and synthesis of the literature, the authors shed light on the causes that lead medical professionals to take their own lives. In addition, the authors explore the role of compassion fatigue as a leading cause of self-inflicted death.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic approach was used to guide the review and synthesis of the literature. Key bibliographic and review databases were searched from the fields of social work, nursing, medical education, educational leadership, psychology, sociology and human resources.

Findings

In the USA alone, suicide has increased by 25 per cent since 1999, making it a leading cause of death. Data indicate that medical professionals are prone to compassion fatigue, work-related stresses and suicide at a greater rate than the general population, with surgeons reporting up to three times more thoughts of suicide than the general population. The synthesis and analysis of the literature yielded the following themes: compassion fatigue and suicides, burnout and compassion fatigue, career longevity and moral distress.

Research limitations/implications

Job stress and its negative impact on the workforce is rather well documented. Yet, job stress has shown to be a leading cause of workplace suicide, which represents a commensurable human and economic loss and has a direct impact on multiple human resources variables. Ongoing research is needed to see how the initial literature has evolved as new data emerges.

Practical implications

This paper presents best practices for training and development professionals to better respond to psychosocial risks and reduce work-related costs in the medical profession and beyond.

Originality/value

Studies on employee stress and suicide in the healthcare industry are scarce. Yet, they have human and economic impacts on organisations.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 52 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2014

Marie-Line Germain

For the past 50 years, the research literature has shown that employment can contribute to an individual's personal development. Yet, it has also shown that it can become a…

2928

Abstract

Purpose

For the past 50 years, the research literature has shown that employment can contribute to an individual's personal development. Yet, it has also shown that it can become a life-threatening stressor. Reported occupational suicides increased by 22.2 percent between 1995 and 2010, becoming a leading cause of death in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of six US government reports on employee suicides between 1995 and 2012.

Design/methodology/approach

Through an interpretive case study approach (Yin, 2003), this study undertook a document analysis of key US government reports examining occupational suicides. Specifically, an analysis of three US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports was undertaken along with other documents, identifying key themes and facts.

Findings

The analysis of the US government reports reveals a dim legal recognition of employee suicide as an occupational accident. The paper presents the characteristics of suicides as an occupational accident as well as the profile of a typical US occupational suicide victim. Finally, the paper discusses the main causes of employee suicide.

Practical implications

Organizations have a “duty of care” to their employees, both physical and psychological. Human resource (HR) professionals ought to create preventive policies to minimize work-related suicides and have clear crisis management systems in place, should an employee commit suicide or threaten to do so.

Originality/value

Occupational distress is not typically apparent or obvious and is not the subject of many studies in the field of HRs. Yet, because of its rampant increase in today's organizations, its direct connection with employee suicide and its impact on organizational revenues, psychological distress in the workplace merits closer attention. This paper is unique as it provides insights for HR professionals based on the analysis of US government reports on work-related suicides.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 December 2016

Sarah Waters, Marina Karanikolos and Martin McKee

The purpose of this paper is to examine the rising public health phenomenon of workplace suicide drawing on comparative insights from the French and UK contexts. France has…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the rising public health phenomenon of workplace suicide drawing on comparative insights from the French and UK contexts. France has experienced what the media describes as a “suicide epidemic” in the workplace, with rising numbers of employees choosing to kill themselves in the face of extreme pressures at work.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a comparative approach drawing on insights from the French context, in which workplace suicide is legally and officially recognised, to shed critical light on the UK context where workplace suicide remains a hidden phenomenon.

Findings

Whilst in France, workplace suicide is treated as an urgent public health phenomenon and data on suicides are collected centrally, in the UK, despite a deterioration in working conditions, suicide is not recognised in legislation and data are not collected centrally. Unless society recognises and document rising workplace suicides, we will be unable to deal with their profound human consequences for suicidal individuals, their families and society more widely.

Research limitations/implications

Research on workplace suicides in the UK and many other national contexts is hampered by fragmentary statistical data on this phenomenon.

Practical implications

The paper calls for greater recognition, analysis and monitoring of workplace suicide in the UK. Suicide should be included in the list of workplace accidents that are reported to the authorities for further investigation. In a context where workplace conditions are deteriorating, society need to recognises the profound human costs of these conditions for the individual employee.

Social implications

The paper has important implications for the contemporary workplace in terms of the contractual relationship between employer and employee.

Originality/value

Workplace suicide is an urgent, yet under-researched phenomenon. The paper brings a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective to bear on this phenomenon.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2023

Sarah Waters and Hilda Palmer

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the response of the relevant authorities to evidence that female primary schoolteachers have an elevated suicide risk in the UK. The paper…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the response of the relevant authorities to evidence that female primary schoolteachers have an elevated suicide risk in the UK. The paper situates the recent tragic death of a primary school head teacher, following an Ofsted inspection at her school, within the wider context of teacher suicide deaths and asks what, if any, action the authorities have taken to prevent avoidable suicide deaths from occurring.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines a recent case of suicide by a primary head teacher within the wider context of statistical data on suicides by primary schoolteachers and in relation to previous cases of suicide linked to a school inspection.

Findings

The paper suggests that the relevant authorities have failed to act in relation to evidence of high suicide risk amongst female primary schoolteachers and to previous suicide deaths linked to the impact of a school inspection. Without learning from suicide deaths and acting on available evidence, there is a risk that preventable suicide deaths will continue to occur.

Originality/value

The paper draws together case study evidence and statistical data to make the case for regulatory reform to ensure that work-related suicides are investigated, monitored and prevented.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 February 2014

Angus J. Duff and Chris C.A. Chan

– To empirically consider work and career as potential influences of suicide.

1347

Abstract

Purpose

To empirically consider work and career as potential influences of suicide.

Design/methodology/approach

In this qualitative study we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 individuals who were survivors (i.e. family members or intimates) of individuals who had committed suicide. Data was analyzed using a grounded theory methodology.

Findings

This exploratory study used purposive self-determination as the theoretical framework for analyzing their life histories. Factors of purposive self-determination, including lack of purpose, feeling controlled, experiencing failure, and social exclusion all figured prominently but differentially according to life-stage. Distinct work and career themes for early-career, mid-career and late-career suicides emerged. Early-career suicides were attributed to educational or work-related contexts, leading to a sense of hopelessness. Mid-career suicides emphasized despair based in failure. Finally, an attempt to escape from challenges associated with transitioning roles in retirements emerged as a key theme in late-career suicides.

Originality/value

Although suicide has been studied extensively from medical, psychopathological, sociological, anthropological, philosophical and religious perspectives, there is a dearth of research considering why certain individuals choose to end their own lives as a result of work and career related reasons. This study sought to contribute to our understanding of this under-researched phenomenon. Additionally, while extant careers theory and research has considered positive notions of career such as career success or careers as a calling, this work presents an alternate lens, the consideration of career failure and careers as a sentence.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 19 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 January 2022

Rina Hastuti and Andrew R. Timming

The aim of this research is to determine the extent to which the human resource (HR) function can screen and potentially predict suicidal employees and offer preventative mental…

1409

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this research is to determine the extent to which the human resource (HR) function can screen and potentially predict suicidal employees and offer preventative mental health assistance.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from the 2019 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (N = 56,136), this paper employs multivariate binary logistic regression to model the work-related predictors of suicidal ideation, planning and attempts.

Findings

The results indicate that known periods of joblessness, the total number of sick days and absenteeism over the last 12 months are significantly associated with various suicidal outcomes while controlling for key psychosocial correlates. The results also indicate that employee assistance programs are associated with a significantly reduced likelihood of suicidal ideation. These findings are consistent with conservation of resources theory.

Research limitations/implications

This research demonstrates preliminarily that the HR function can unobtrusively detect employee mental health crises by collecting data on key predictors.

Originality/value

In the era of COVID-19, employers have a duty of care to safeguard employee mental health. To this end, the authors offer an innovative way through which the HR function can employ predictive analytics to address mental health crises before they result in tragedy.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 52 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 April 2023

Kwesi Amponsah-Tawiah, Joshua King Safo Lartey and Abdul-Razak Suleman

Anchored with turbulence emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic, the work environment has become more stressful with debilitating effects on the well-being of employees. Employees…

Abstract

Purpose

Anchored with turbulence emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic, the work environment has become more stressful with debilitating effects on the well-being of employees. Employees rely on varying means of coping including drug abuse. However, the association between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees in Ghana is unknown. Therefore, this study sought to examine the relationship between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

In a cross-sectional survey, this study purposively sampled 470 employees from three sectors of the Ghanaian economy (telecommunication, banking and manufacturing). The data was analysed using the multivariate analysis (MANOVA), Pearson’s r test and hierarchical regression.

Findings

Analysis of data revealed a positive relationship between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts, indicating that drug abuse is a risk factor for suicidal thoughts. Besides, it was also revealed that banking sector employees have a higher risk of having suicidal thoughts than employees in the telecommunication and manufacturing sectors.

Practical implications

Managers of organisations need to redesign work to embrace the challenging circumstances brought about as a result of COVID-19 and post-COVID implications. The work environment needs to be more supportive to shield employees from the physical and emotional demands of work during and after this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today than ever, investment in the implementation of employee-assisted programmes (EAPs) and employee well-being programmes (EWPs) to equip employees with the needed skills to cope with stressful conditions has been more than justified.

Originality/value

From a broader perspective, this study identifies drug abuse as a key risk factor for suicidal thoughts among employees, thereby highlighting the fact that smoking cessation programs and drug management therapies are an integral part of well-being programmes aimed at establishing equilibrium and gradually creating a wide gap between employees and suicidal thoughts.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 10 February 2022

Sarah Waters and Julian Ashton

307

Abstract

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Article
Publication date: 9 July 2020

Yasuhiro Kotera, Michelle Van Laethem and Remi Ohshima

The primary purpose of this descriptive study was to compare the levels of, and relationships among mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion, work engagement…

2458

Abstract

Purpose

The primary purpose of this descriptive study was to compare the levels of, and relationships among mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion, work engagement and work motivation between workers in Japan (collectivistic and success-driven culture) and the Netherlands (individualistic and quality-oriented culture).

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional design, where convenience samples of 165 Japanese and 160 Dutch workers completed self-report measures about mental health problems, shame, self-compassion, engagement and motivation, was used. Welch t-tests, correlation and regression analyses were conducted to compare (1) the levels of these variables, (2) relationships among these variables and (3) predictors of mental health problems, between the two groups.

Findings

Dutch workers had higher levels of mental health problems, work engagement and intrinsic motivation, and lower levels of shame and amotivation than Japanese workers. Mental health problems were associated with shame in both samples. Mental health problems were negatively predicted by self-compassion in Japanese, and by work engagement in Dutch employees.

Originality/value

The novelty of this study relates to exploring differences in work mental health between those two culturally contrasting countries. Our findings highlight potential cultural differences such as survey responding (Japanese acquiescent responding vs Dutch self-enhancement) and cultural emphases (Japanese shame vs Dutch quality of life). Job crafting, mindfulness and enhancing ikigai (meaningfulness in life) may be helpful to protect mental health in these workers, relating to self-compassion and work engagement. Findings from this study would be particularly useful to employers, managers and staff in human resources who work with cross-cultural workforce.

Details

Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5794

Keywords

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