Bosses & Blood Pressure
A study by George Fieldman, etc., focused on healthcare assistants in the UK who worked for two different bosses. For those who only liked one of their managers, their blood pressure jumped when working for the disliked boss.
The average rise (15 mmHg systolic and 7 mmHg diastolic) significantly exceeds the rise known to increase the risk of coronary heart disease by a sixth and the risk of stroke by a 1/3.
“There was both a statistically and clinically significant elevation during the time people had the boss they didn’t like,” says Fieldman. “People who work with bosses they’ve really hated constantly for years would probably be quite vulnerable to heart disease because of the elevation of blood pressure in the long-term.”
(Large studies, such as the “Whitehall study”, have already shown that people who work at the bottom of an organisational hierarchy are much more likely to develop coronary heart disease.)
At the start of the study, 28 female healthcare assistants rated their supervisors’ interpersonal style using a questionnaire. 13 of the workers were supervised by two different people on different days. One supervisor was perceived to have a favourable working manner, while the other was considered “unfair” by employees. Assistants in the control group worked with either one supervisor or two whose working manner was perceived similarly.
Blood pressure (BP) measurements were taken every 30 minutes for 12 hours over three working days. Assistants who had 2 similarly perceived supervisors showed a difference between bosses of just 3 mmHg systolic BP and no change in diastolic BP.
There were dramatic differences in BP between days when employees worked for the boss they dreaded and the one they liked. Systolic BP climbed from an average of 114 to 129 mmHg when people worked for the difficult boss and diastolic BP rose from 75 to 82 mmHg.
“Unfair bosses make blood pressure soar” by Shaoni Bhattacharya