In a work environment that emphasizes personal responsibility, creativity, and constant proof of performance, the pressure on employees is noticeably increasing.

Especially in companies with high responsibility at all hierarchical levels, this can lead employees to choose health-risky strategies to appear successful. Research refers to this as “interested self-endangerment” – behavior that temporarily boosts performance but can endanger health in the long term.

Such behaviors can be divided into two patterns:

Expansive strategies, such as working during leisure time, skipping breaks, or continuing to work despite illness – they increase performance time in the short term but also raise health risks.

Avoidant strategies, such as feigning goal achievement, lowering professional standards under time pressure, or withdrawing from interaction with colleagues – these serve damage control when goals seem unattainable but cause significant psychological stress.

In contrast, there is the concept of work-related self-care. This involves health-promoting routines in dealing with job demands, which can also be categorized into two behavioral areas:

• Recovery-promoting strategies: These include consciously limiting working hours, protecting leisure time from work influences, or scheduling breaks.
• Work-shaping strategies: This focuses on long-term planning, actively addressing difficulties, and clear focus on current tasks.

The author argues for designing corporate conditions to enable self-care and avoid interested self-endangerment. Early warning systems are crucial for providing indications of unhealthy work routines, both on an individual and organizational level.

Two practical examples:

The preventive Health Assessment (www.sizcare.ch/pga) allows for anonymous self-assessment of one’s work practices and provides immediate feedback.

The platform www.healthy@work.ch targets organizations in the financial sector that refrain from time tracking. It helps identify risks early and create health-promoting working conditions. Additionally, participants can take part in a survey and receive individual feedback.

Conclusion: To remain productive in the long term, one must take self-care seriously – and organizations are tasked with creating suitable structures and a culture of care.

This article refers to the article in WIRTSCHAFTSPSYCHOLOGIE aktuell 3 | 2024 by Prof Dr Andreas Krause (in German)