Effort–Reward Imbalance among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers

Abstract

Background: Solid waste workers are exposed to a plethora of occupational hazards and may also experience work-related stress. Our study had three specific hypotheses: (1) waste workers experience effort–reward imbalance (ERI) with high self-reported effort but low reward, (2) unionized workers experience greater ERI, and (3) workers with higher income have lower ERI. Methods: Waste workers from three solid waste sites in Michigan participated in this cross-sectional study. We characterized perceived work stress using the short-version ERI questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and linear tests for trend were assessed for each scale. Linear regression models were constructed to examine the relationship between structural factors of work stress and ERI. Gradient-boosted regression trees evaluated which factors of effort or reward best characterize workers’ stress. Results: Among 68 participants, 37% of workers reported high effort and low reward from work (ERI > 1). Constant pressure due to heavy workload was most indicative of ERI among the solid waste workers. Union workers experienced 79% times higher ERI than non-unionized workers, while no significant differences were observed by income, after adjusting for confounders. Conclusions: Organizational-level interventions, such as changes related to workload, consideration of fair compensation, and increased support from supervisors, can decrease work stress.

Associations between Poorer Mental Health with Work-Related Effort, Reward, and Overcommitment among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Participant information from this cross-sectional study is provided in detail elsewhere [ 8 ]. Briefly, 68 adult waste workers (87% male) were recruited from three solid waste sites in southeast Michigan in Fall 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic through convenience and referral sampling.…”

“…Participants came from an industrial waste site (75%), a county recycling site (12%) and a small, local business (13%). No statistically significant differences were observed for effort, reward, and overcommitment by the three job sites [ 8 ]. Each participant was administered a 74-item survey at the beginning or end of their work shift.…”

“…The positively phrased item was reverse coded, and the sum of overcommitment (OC) scores was calculated, with higher scores indicate higher overcommitment (score range 6-24). All scales indicated good internal consistency [ 8 ].…”

“…This association has been demonstrated in a wide range of occupations, including academics [ 4 ], teachers [ 5 ], correctional officers [ 6 ], and nurses [ 7 ], but has not been examined among formal US solid waste workers. Our team has previously shown that these workers suffer from ERI and high work-related overcommitment [ 8 ]. Overcommitment has been hypothesized to modify the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and job strain, as overcommitted workers “…suffer from inappropriate perceptions of demands and of their own coping resources more often than their less involved colleagues, because perceptual distortion prevents them from accurately assessing cost-gain relations” [ 9 ].…”

Perceptions of work and organizational health among a sample of U.S. solid waste workers: A pilot study

“…Each participant was administered a survey, which took approximately 20 minutes to complete, totaling 74 items at the beginning or end of their work shift. The survey contained questions on demographics, infectious disease preparedness and perceived biohazard exposure (manuscript in-progress), effortreward imbalance 22 , and assessed workforce attitudes and factors related to physical and psychosocial work environment that contribute to organizational health. Workers' perceptions of the physical and psychosocial work environment as well as organizational health in the solid waste industry are the focus of this manuscript.…”