According to Santé Publique France, each year, approximately 30,000 people are victims of burnout in France, a figure that some specialists consider to be largely underestimated. If work stress can explain this phenomenon, a new study has on the other hand underlined the importance of working a minimum of time to feel good mentally. A study whose results have just been published in the scientific journal Social Science and Medicine .
Working hours and mental health
Technological progress and the current ecological context suggest the possibility, even the necessity, of reducing working time, an option studied by various actors:
- The institutions ;
- Businesses ;
- The media.
In this context, two questions arise before considering a reduction in working time, namely:
- What is the minimum working time that allows obtaining the health benefits of work to which unemployed people do not have access?
- What is the optimal number of hours worked to achieve the best mental well-being?
Mental well-being, from the first day of work
To try to answer these two questions, British researchers conducted a longitudinal study between 2009 and 2018 with 84,993 adults, aged 16 to 64. Data analysis revealed that a small number of hours of work per week, between 1 and 8 hours, leads to beneficial effects on mental health and well-being, compared to people who are unemployed or economically inactive.
From the first day of weekly work, the positive effects are significant, with a 30% reduction in the risk of developing certain mental disorders, compared to unemployed people.
On the other hand, the results did not highlight an optimal number of hours per week. For many people, mental well-being varied little between 1 hour and 48 hours of work per week. Working, therefore, appears to be essential for mental health, in particular for reducing anxiety and sleep disorders, regardless of the duration of work.
Towards a new world of work
In addition, the researchers were able to note a difference according to sex. Thus, the men noted a 30% increase in their satisfaction from 8 hours of weekly work, against 20 hours for the women.
Such results could be very useful for the specialists in charge of designing the world of work of tomorrow. The traditional work model as it exists today could be radically rethought, depending on the rise of new technologies. To preserve the mental well-being of workers, working a few hours a day might be enough.