PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES ON YOUNG PEOPLE ADAPTATION TO WORK

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PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES ON YOUNG PEOPLE ADAPTATION
TO WORK

• psih. Raluca Iordache
• SR, Ergonomics Department
• National Research Development Institute for
  Labour Protection Alexandru Darabont Bucharest
• iorraluca_at_yahoo.com

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• According to the European statistics, there are
  approximately 75 million young people in the EU
  Member States. These young people need quality
  jobs, with good health and safety.
• European Youth Pact, adopted at the spring 2005
  European Council summit, states as key strategy
  element creating quality jobs for young people.
• To accomplish this objective, creating quality
  young staff is a must. This aim involves pre-work
  health and safety education, as part of preparing
  young people for work.

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Community Strategy on Health and Safety at Work
stresses the need for awareness raising and
education from an early stage and from the
beginning of work life and for education and the
prevention culture as key factors for maintaining
and improving quality of work.
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I. Factors influencing the young people
adaptation to work

• Proceeding from occupational risks employees may
  be exposed, New Community Strategy on Health and
  Safety at Work stresses as priorities new risk
  factors specific to the actual technical
  economic stage, informational society as
  needing for special attention, including
  psychosocial risk factors, especially stress.

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• Therefore, according to European statistics,
  stress is the second health problem at work,
  affecting 28 of European Union employees, over
  40 millions employees respectively, including
  young employees.

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Young people high risk group to psychosocial
risk factors

• Focusing on high psychosocial risk groups, the
  group of young people has an important place
  within studies and analysis assessment
  approaches of psychosocial risk factors needed to
  be realized.
• Young people are a vulnerable group (high risk
  group) to psychosocial risk factors at work,
  comparatively to older employees (according to EC
  Report - Guidance on work related stress,
  1999).

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• Changes in social situation carry an increased
  risk for some types of people, like young people
• - health and welfare problems of adolescents
  tend to be overlooked
• - transition into adulthood, entry into formal
  occupation (or the long term unemployment) and
  movement away from family of origin, all take
  place in a setting of rapid social changes and
  conflicting, often ambiguous, social values.

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Why are young people vulnerable to occupational
risks?

• On the one side,
• Inexperience and unfamiliarity with the task they
  are doing and the work environment
• Physically and mentally immaturity etc.
• on the other side,
• Lack of awareness of OSH risks and OSH
  information / training
• Lack of awareness of employers duties, and their
  own rights and responsibilities.
• these vulnerability factors could determine
• not paying enough attention to health and safety,
  and
• high risk-taking behaviour among some young
  people.

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Psychosocial risk factors

• Occupational
• risk factors,
• also
• psychosocial

Individual factors
Good balance
NO
YES
Performance, success
Dezadaptation to work
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• According to the European Commission definition,
  work related stress is the emotional,
  cognitive, behavioural and psychological reaction
  pattern to aversive and noxious aspects of work,
  work environments and work organisations.
• Stress is due to the disparity between us and
  our work, to the conflicts between our work and
  out work roles and the lack of a reasonable
  control degree of our own work and life.
• It can be stated that stress occurs when the
  requirements of the job do not match the
  capabilities of the workers to cope with (or to
  control)."

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The causes of stress (often called stressors) can
be many and vary and can occur as a result of
combination of more than one stressor.
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II. Adaptation resourcesYoung people join the
work life with a multitude of resources / factors
that positively influence adaptation to work,
from technical, organizational and psychosocial
perspective - Young people may have good
theoretical instruction, and especially desire to
perfect themselves as professionals, to develop
job adjusted skills, creativity and innovative
spirit.
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• - When young employees profit by supervision
  and support, some stress factors could be
  transformed in stimulating factors for a larger
  development of work and organization related
  vision. - Young employees are receptive to
  information regarding workplace health and safety
  and are prepared to act to protect themselves
  when they know about potential hazards.

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CONCLUSIONS

• According to the factors analyzed above, the work
  per se and work environment could result in
  stress factors, influencing young people
  adaptation to work.
• Therefore, it comes into prominence the necessity
  of adopting analysis, assessment and reduction
  measures of psychosocial risk factors for young
  people at the workplace, in order to ensure work
  health and safety conditions and improve their
  adaptation to activity.

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• Analysis of risk factors perceived as stressful
  for young employees at the workplace, should
  involve all issues of work design and management,
  and of social and organizational contexts not
  only the physical, tangible issues, but the
  psychosocial ones as well.
• Thus, there is a reaction at organizational
  level, at source, to reduce the exposure to risks
  perceived as stressful, and at the individual
  level, to reduce the stress experience and
  effects on health.

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• The effects on health state involve not only
  physical health, but the psychosocial and social
  health, adjustment capacity and, therefore,
  affect young employees availability for work,
  from both quantitative and qualitative
  perspective.
• If young employees or a sufficient number of
  employees are affected, it is not hard to see
  that all organization health and safety, and also
  performance will be affected.

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THANK YOU!