Heart Attack Alert: Bad Boss is Dangerous to Your Health

This is a news worth sending your boss.

Heart Attack Symptoms

Tired of your job as well as you boss? Are you satisfied with your job? Recent findings show that having a bad boss can cause heart attack. This is the conclusion of a Swedish learning institute in management style and health. According to researchers, the poor treatment of managers can add risk of having heart attack symptoms to its employees. A study was conducted in Stockholm University where 3,000 male workers are asked to fill up a detailed list of questions about their working condition and about their boss. The questionnaire also includes if the employees are well treated by their boss, if their seniors communicate properly or if they provide positive feedbacks. Other questions looked at how much work bosses provided to workers and how well they outlined their goals. The research study discovered that workers who have good bosses have healthier condition and fewer heart problems.

"A manager needs to be sincere and care about his or her employees from an individual standpoint and know what motivates them, and understand what their skills and competencies are," said Dawn Hatterer, principal of the Consulting Authority in Frederick, Md. Managers, she said, also should know what employees "want to be when they grow up. That's what keeps people engaged at work, from a management standpoint."

Researchers said they found an unmistakable trend: The longer workers toiled for feckless bosses, the more likely they were to be ailed with heart disease. That was a greater negative effect than if the employee smoked, didn't get enough exercise, was overweight, or had high cholesterol.

The report is published in newspapers and professional Environmental Medicine. This suggests that companies should re-train bosses to improve the health of workers. A healthy workforce will improve the overall health of the company. Investing in providing leadership skills to senior managers can be a good long-term investment. The researchers said a more supportive and understanding boss will reduce the chance that the progress of workers high blood pressure and stress-related illness. Magnus Larsson, an engineer at a large IT company, agreed to report the findings. He believes in his heart attack last year was due to his boss: "The man is a monster. Working for him is a daily experience for eight years," Larsson said.

Sources: BBC News; Newser; Boston News; OEM