Articoli su invito / Invited articles
Fostering organizations’ health and employees' well-being in Japan. Issues in practices of organization health and United Health Communication's challenges
Fostering organizations’ health and employees' well-being in Japan. Issues in practices of organization health and United Health Communication's challenges
Akira Tsuda
Department of Psychology, Kurume University, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan
Yasuto Shirataki
CEO United Health Communication Co., Ltd
Sommario
Nell’odierna economia e sicurezza sociale del Giappone il benessere è percepito come non molto alto. Alti tassi di suicidio, bassi tassi di natalità e morte causata dall’eccessivo lavoro sono problemi seri. Attualmente le istituzioni del governo giapponese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) e Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), richiedono alle aziende di assumersi la responsabilità per la salute e il benessere dei lavoratori. Una campagna di METI “Work Style Innovation” ha l’obiettivo di ridurre le ore di lavoro e stabilire un bilanciamento lavoro-famiglia nei lavoratori. L’opinione comune che le aziende dovrebbero avere la responsabilità per la salute dei lavoratori ha inziato a formare una nuova idea manageriale. “Kenkou Keiei - Health Management” sta diventando una parola molto usata. L’importanza di incrementare lo sviluppo di servizi innovativi e l’utilizzo di servizi di salute dell’azienda da parte dei lavoratori è enfatizzata.
Parole chiave
stress, salute organizzativa, benessere dei lavoratori, prevenzione
Abstract
In the current Japanese economy and social security, well-being is perceived as not high enough. High suicide rates, low birth rates, and death caused by over-working are serious issues. Currently, Japanese government institutions, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), urge firms to take responsibility for employees’ health and well-being. A METI’s campaign “Work Style Innovation” aims at reducing working hours and establishing work life balance within employees. Common opinion that companies should have responsibilities for employees’ health has started forming a new managerial concept. “Kenkou Keiei - Health Management” is becoming a common term among business people. The importance of increasing the development of innovative services and the usage of companies’ health services by employees is emphasized.
Keywords
stress, organization health, employees’ well-being, prevention
Issues related to well-being in Japan
In the World Happiness Report 2017 (Helliwell, Layard, & Sachs, 2017), it is reported that well-being in Japanese people is perceived as not high enough. Within the report under the Sustainable Development Solutions (Helliwell et al., 2017), Japan is ranked 51st place out of 155 countries regarding the quality of their current lives averaged over the years 2014-2016. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) emphasizes the importance to pay more attention to happiness, as it should be part of individual’s efforts to achieve both human and sustainable development (Halliwell et al., 2017) and well-being in organizations (Di Fabio, 2017b).
Japanese reports high suicide rates, row birth rates, and deaths by over working. The high suicide rate, especially among males, was 26.9 per 100.000 in 2013, is the third-highest rates among high-income OECD countries (Oblander, Park, & Lemaire, 2016). The main reasons relate to bad economic conditions, unemployment, changing family structures, depression, poor access and resistance to mental health care, and substance abuse (Oblander et al., 2016). Japan’s low birth rater reached the 210th out of 224 countries in the CIA’s World Factbook with a fertility rate of 1.41 (Oblander et al., 2016). The phenomenon of death from overwork in Japan is frequent and, together with suicides, has many emotional effects on family, friends, and organizations. These effects extend to culture and morale, and potential years of productive work can be lost as filling the vacated position requires funds (Oblander et al., 2016). So, high suicide rate, row birth rate, and deaths generated by over working, have strong long-term effects in relation to population aging and troubles of the workforce.
In Japan many workers experience anxiety and many of them leave their organizations because of mental health problems (Honbu, 2007). Work stress in Japan has increased since the 1990s because of rapid information and communication technology advance, differentiation of employment conditions, and new forms of personnel evaluation (Shirai, 2004). Thus, mental distresses related to work stress have become an important social issue and required further research exploration (Tomotsune et al., 2009). Relationships between stress and depression are evident in research literature (Dahlin, Joneborg, & Runeson, 2005; Grant et al., 2006; Hammen, 2005). There are links between workers’ mental health state in terms of both external factors (e.g., occupational stressors, job control, social support system, and rewards) and also internal factors (e.g., recognizing one’s style of coping for dealing with occupational stress) evident in the research literature (e.g., Connor-Smith & Compass, 2002; Drapeau, Blake, Dobson, & Körner, 2017; Grant et al., 2006; Healy & McKay, 2000; Montero-Marin et al., 2014; Tomotsune et al., 2009; Udod, Cummings, Care, & Jenkins, 2017;).
In this scenario, the importance of exploring the role of work and employment in well-being emerges for promoting accessibility to good mental health care, support for citizens enabling their participation in the labor force, and their engagement in social activities to deal with the adverse effects of unemployment (Oblander et al., 2016).
Responsibility for employees’ health and well-being
The Japanese Government departments such as Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) are undertaking strong initiatives to tackle the issues related to well-being. These departments urge firms to take responsibility for employees’ health and well-being by implementing new regulation, and creating evaluation and recognition system for best practices of companies to receive managerial and economic benefit. METI is mainly addressing wealth creation rather than wealth redistribution, fostering innovative ideas, and considering the process of developing and realizing new policy initiatives (METI, 2017). Nowadays through specific regulations METI realizes appropriate management of potential risks included in industrial activities (handling high pressure gas and explosives, electric power plants and utility gas facilities, and mines), uses measures to guarantee public safety, and prevents occurrences of disasters and accidents (METI, 2017).
In the previous decade, METI promoted investments in three main aspects, for economic growth of Japan (e.g., computerized information, innovative property, and economic competencies). Computerized information regards, for example, software and databases. Innovative property comprises research and development (R&D), including, for example, mineral exploitation, copyright and license costs, and other outcome development, design, and research costs. Economic competencies, lastly, comprises brand equity, business-specific human capital, and organizational structure (Fukao, Miyagawa, Mukai, & Shinoda, 2009).
Nowadays the sensitivity is changing, as METI focuses on new initiatives such as “Work Style Innovation” and “Kenkou Keiei - Health Management” that will be explained in the subsequent paragraph, paying more attention to health and well-being of workers.
MHLW closely supports Japanese people throughout entire life span (MHLW, 2017). MHLW’s main scope is to contribute to the construction of a society in which all people can have active roles that makes their life secure and worth, involving the youth, the elderly, males and females, and persons with disabilities and chronic distresses. MHLW is devoted to addressing challenges in different domains (e.g., medical/long-term care, childcare support, pension reform, employment/labour, and welfare). Moreover, MHLW aims to reform working styles for promoting dynamic engagement of all people. MHLW can be seen as an active administration that is linked with the future of Japan. All the officials who work at the MHLW are open to the needs of people, their well-being, and are devoted towards the planning and applying policies in view of the future (MHLW, 2017).
“Work Style Innovation” and “Kenkou Keiei - Health Management”
To promote health and well-being of workers, METI promotes the government campaign “Work Style Innovation” (METI, 2016) which is focused primarily on reducing working hours and establishing work life balance. METI (2013) promotes the utilization of female human resources in order to revitalize the Japanese economy and enhance diversity management. In fact, some companies make efforts to create a work-life balance environment for promoting active performance of their female workforces (e.g., supporting both child-rearing and family care) and providing systems that allow employees to work flexibly to reach both well-being of individuals and best performance.
METI (2016) introduced strategies to respond to the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution. Among these strategies, is recognizing the importance of fostering and securing human resources, improving flexibility in employment systems, establishing an educational system that meets new needs, securing human resources with a global mindset, promoting increased participation of more various sources of labor, and increasing the flexibility of labor markets and employment systems.
Japanese companies are changing; currently, the well-being objectives are regarded as company-wide challenges that could directly contribute to management and business including health and well-being of workers (Nishiyama, 2016).
A consensus is forming among executives of companies. Executives are regarding the responsibilities of the companies for employees’ health. A new managerial concept so called “Kenko Keiei - Health Management” is becoming a common term among business people. This is a management approach that links the health of employees with the management of an organization (Terumo Corporation, 2017)
This form of management regards the inclusion of various actions and policies in organizations that promote well-being and health of workers as for example training for stress management and counseling on the one side and on the other side actions for promoting health as for example health checkup (Terumo Corporation, 2017).
Issues in practices of organization health and United Health Communication's challenges
This new form of health management movement raises another issue in health management among companies. While companies which are well aware of the importance of organizational health may provide considerable health services to their employees (e.g., stress management, diet, constant health check-ups, health counseling) the usage of these health services among employees are quite low (Kodera, Ishii, Aoki, Ashida, & Abe, 2013). No matter how extensive health services are for employees, only minimal health outcomes are expected unless the services are fully utilized (Maekawa, Ramos-Cejudo, & Kanai, 2016). Research into workplace climate and help-seeking attitudes was elucidates the reasons for mental health service underutilization in Japan. Research highlights the relationship between workplace climate and help-seeking attitudes, and reveals an interaction effect for differences based on employees’ distress levels (Maekawa et al., 2016). For employees experiencing low levels of distress, openness to seeking treatment increased with a higher evaluation of the mental health services available at the workplace. Instead, openness to seeking treatment decreased with perceived risk for career disadvantage for high distress employees. Furthermore, negative values for seeking treatment in highly distressed employees decreased only when services were perceived as valuable, and the risk to their career was perceived as low. Overall, these results emphasize that distress distorts the perception of social support, which may lead to underutilization of available services. So, the first issue is to facilitate employee in using the health service.
United Health Communication (2017) tackles this issue by using innovative web applications based in behavioral science. Our programs are developed through specifying critical determinants of desirable patients’ behaviors, and incorporating knowledge and experience in a wide range of patient behavioral intervention methods. The United Health Communication also uses major behavior changing techniques in patient support programs, which have been proven to be effective.
Conclusion
Problems of well-being are a critical issue in Japan, particularly for employees in organizations. For example, job stress in Japan has increased since the 1990s due to changes associated with the revolution in information technology, diversification of employment status, and new personnel evaluation systems (Tomotsune et al., 2009). For this reason, stress-related mental disorders among Japanese workers are an important social issue. Also, high suicide rates, row birth rates, and death caused by over working, are serious issues in Japan (Oblander et al., 2016). Accordingly, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) have promoted different campaigns and actions to promote health and well-being within workers.
Much research into occupational mental health has concentrated on workers’ external factors (e.g., occupational stressors, job control, social support system, rewards) (Tomotsune et al., 2009); however, it is important to focus on workers’ psychological factors to recognize individual resources to promote well-being (Tomotsune et al., 2009). A preventive perspective that considers not only tertiary and secondary prevention (Caplan, 1970) but also primary prevention (Di Fabio & Kenny, 2015, 2016a, 2016b; Hage et al., 2007) may promote healthy organizations (Di Fabio, 2017a; Di Fabio, Palazzeschi, & Bucci, 2017; Di Fabio et al., 2016) and new approaches that recognize, develop, and support resources to enhance health and well-being of workers.
References
Caplan, G. (1970). The theory and practice of mental health consultation. New York: Basic Books.
Connor-Smith, J. K. & Compas, B. E. (2002). Vulnerability to social stress: Coping as a mediator or moderator of sociotropy and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 39-55.
Dahlin M., Joneborg N., & Runeson B. (2005). Stress and depression among medical students: A cross-sectional study. Medical Education, 39(6), 594-604.
Di Fabio, A. (2017a). Positive Healthy Organizations: Promoting well-being, meaningfulness, and sustainability in organizations. In G. Arcangeli, G. Giorgi, N. Mucci, J.-L. Bernaud, & A. Di Fabio (Eds.), Emerging and re-emerging organizational features, work transitions and occupational risk factors: The good, the bad, the right. An interdisciplinary perspective. Research Topic in Frontiers in Psychology. Organizational Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01938
Di Fabio, A. (2017b). The psychology of sustainability and sustainable development for well-being in organizations. In G. Arcangeli, G. Giorgi, N. Mucci, J.-L. Bernaud, & A. Di Fabio (Eds.), Emerging and re-emerging organizational features, work transitions and occupational risk factors: The good, the bad, the right. An interdisciplinary perspective. Research Topic in Frontiers in Psychology. Organizational Psychology, 8, 1534. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01534
Di Fabio, A., Giannini, M., Loscalzo, Y., Palazzeschi, L., Bucci, O., Guazzini, A., & Gori, A. (2016). The challenge of fostering healthy organizations: An empirical study on the role of workplace relational civility in acceptance of change, and well-being. In G. Giorgi, M. Shoss, & A. Di Fabio (Eds.), From organizational welfare to business success: Higher performance in healthy organizational environments. Research Topic in Frontiers in Psychology. Organizational Psychology, 7, 1748. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01748
Di Fabio, A., & Kenny, M. E. (2015). The contributions of emotional intelligence and social support for adaptive career progress among Italian youth. Journal of Career Development, 42, 48-59. doi: 10.1177/0894845314533420
Di Fabio, A., & Kenny, E. M. (2016a). From decent work to decent lives: Positive Self and Relational Management (PS&RM) in the twenty-first century. In A. Di Fabio & D. L. Blustein (Eds.), From meaning of working to meaningful lives: The challenges of expanding decent work. Research Topic in Frontiers in Psychology. Section Organizational Psychology, 7, 361. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00361
Di Fabio, A., & Kenny, M. E. (2016b). Promoting well-being: The contribution of emotional intelligence. In G. Giorgi, M. Shoss, & A. Di Fabio (Eds.), From organizational welfare to business success: Higher performance in healthy organizational environments. Research Topic in Frontiers in Psychology. Organizational Psychology, 7, 1182. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01182
Di Fabio, A., Palazzeschi, L., & Bucci, O. (2017). In an unpredictable and changing environment: Intrapreneurial Self-Capital as a key resource for life satisfaction and flourishing. In G. Arcangeli, G. Giorgi, N. Mucci, J.-L. Bernaud, & A. Di Fabio (Eds.), Emerging and re-emerging organizational features, work transitions and occupational risk factors: The good, the bad, the right. An interdisciplinary perspective. Research Topic in Frontiers in Psychology. Organizational Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01819
Drapeau, M., Blake, E., Dobson, K. S., & Körner, A. (2017). Coping strategies in major depression and over the course of cognitive therapy for depression. Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 51(1).
Fukao, K., Miyagawa, T., Mukai, K., Shinoda, Y., & Tonogi, K. (2009). Intangible investment in Japan: Measurement and contribution to economic growth. Review of Income and Wealth, 55(3), 717-736.
Grant, K. E., Compas, B. E., Thurm, A. E., McMahon, S. D., Gipson, P.-Y., Campbell, A. J., Krochock, K., & Westerholm, R. I. (2006). Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: Evidence of moderating and mediating effects. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 257-283.
Hage, S. M., Romano, J. L., Conyne, R. K., Kenny, M., Matthews, C., Schwartz, J. P., et al. (2007). Best practice guidelines on prevention practice, research, training, and social advocacy for psychologists. Counseling Psychology, 35, 493-566. doi: 10.1177/0011000006291411
Hammen, C. (2005). Stress and depression. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 293-319.
Hayes, A. F. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling [White paper]. 2012. Retrieved form http://imaging. mrc-cbu. cam. ac. uk/statswiki/FAQ/SobelTest
Healy, C. M., & McKay, M. F. (2000). Nursing stress: The effects of coping strategies and job satisfaction in a sample of Australian nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 31(3), 681-688.
Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (2017). World Happiness Report 2017. New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Honbu, S. K. S. S. (2007). Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development (JPC-SED). Roshi Kankei Tokubetsu Iinkai (Labor-Management Relations Committee), 21.
Kodera, K., Ishii, Y., Aoki, T., Ashida, T., & Abe, C. (2013). Japan’s Experience with human resources for health policies (No. 1003).
Maekawa, Y., Ramos-Cejudo, J., & Kanai, A. (2016). Help-seeking among male employees in Japan: Influence of workplace climate and distress. Journal of occupational health, 58(6), 632-639.
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI, 2013). Looking at Companies through the “Empowerment of Women”. Retrieved from http://www.jpx.co.jp/files/tse/english/news/31/b7gje6000001ir0g-att/report.pdf
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI, 2016). The study group on Working Styles not bound by traditional employment relationships held its second meeting. Retrieved from http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2016/1219_002.html
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI, 2017). Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Retrieved from http://www.meti.go.jp/english/
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW, 2017). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. For people, for life, for the future. Retrieved from http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/org/pamphlet/dl/pamphlet-about_mhlw.pdf
Montero-Marin, J., Prado-Abril, J., Demarzo, M. M. P., Gascon, S., & García-Campayo, J. (2014). Coping with stress and types of burnout: explanatory power of different coping strategies. PloS one, 9(2), e89090.
Nishiyama, S. (2016). Work Style Innovation to meet the needs of the times. Retrieved from http://journal.jp.fujitsu.com/en/2016/11/14/01/
Oblander, Park, & Lemaire, (2016). The cost of high suicide rates in Japan and the Republic of Korea: Reduced life expectancies. Asia-Pacific Population Journal, 31(2), 21-44.
Shirai, S. (2004). Characteristics of workers with poor mental health and decreased productivity observed by counseling and casework. Job Stress Res, 11, 239-242.
Terumo Corporation, (2017). For the EHS (Environment, Health and Safety). Retrieved from http://www.terumo.com/archive/ser_e/2017/SR_2017_E_05.pdf
Tomotsune, Y., Sasahara, S., Umeda, T., Hayashi, M., Usami, K., Yoshino, S., Kageyama, T., Nakamura, H., & Matsuzaki, I. (2009). The association of sense of coherence and coping profile with stress among research park city workers in Japan. Industrial Health, 47, 664-672.
Udod, S., Cummings, G. G., Care, W. D., & Jenkins, M. (2017). Role stressors and coping strategies among nurse managers, Leadership in Health Services, 30, 29-43.
United Health Communication (2017). United Health Communication (UHC). Evidence-Based Medication Adherence Solutions. Retrieved from http://www.uhc.jp/en/
Autore per la corrispondenza
A. Tsuda
Indirizzo e-mail: tsuda_akira@kurume-u.ac.jp
Department of Psychology, Kurume University, Fukuoka, Japan 839-8502
Note
1 A
© 2017 Edizioni Centro Studi Erickson S.p.A.
ISSN 2421-2202. Counseling.
Tutti i diritti riservati. Vietata la riproduzione con qualsiasi mezzo effettuata, se non previa autorizzazione dell'Editore.
