A recent study on the health impacts of fairness by bosses defined the principles of fair decision making as follows:

The study demonstrates that supervisors do well to listen to their subordinates. They also appreciate friendship, honesty, reliability, respect and coherence.

So why does it pay bosses to treat their subordinates in a friendly manner, even when others are clamouring for an opportunity to take over from dismissed employees? The mood of the employees does not matter to the boss, or does it?

"It does. An employee who feels well treated is efficient at work and takes sick leave only when this is absolutely essential. Good social habits and sophisticated behaviour are ways for managers to achieve the best results from the team at work," Elovainio responds.

This does not mean that unfairly treated employees down tools. They will continue to toil at the accustomed style and tempo, but will lack commitment to the work. They are unwilling to engage wholeheartedly in the work, are not creative, and do not remain healthy.

Employees quarrel under poor management

Experience has demonstrated that intimidation at the workplace dramatically increases the rate of sick leaves. Intimidation often arises from the unfair treatment of employees. Parents understand that if you are indifferent to your children, then they will take it out on one another, not on you.

"Unfair treatment of subordinates by their supervisors is symptomatic of dysfunctional social relationships within the team at work. Naturally some people will suffer more than others when there is a bad atmosphere, but everybody will feel it in one way or another. Both men and women fall victim to intimidation."

"This point in our findings also surprised us. In cases of unfair treatment we expected women to suffer more than men, but actually the reverse is true. Women proved more flexible than men, whose initial sensitivity to unfair treatment was more keenly felt. However, we are wary of drawing far-reaching conclusions in this matter. All employees expect fairness from their bosses and justice in all social interactions", Elovainio concludes.

Bad treatment causes stress

"A further surprise for us was to notice that fair treatment was at least as important at higher organisational levels as at lower levels. It may even be the case that the injury sustained in falling from a high position in the hierarchy is worse than that suffered in similar misfortunes at lower levels."

While the subjective experience of fairness was not age-specific, age influenced the length of sick leaves. Young employees often took sick leaves of two or three days, while older employees stayed off work for longer periods, suggesting that their illnesses were more serious.

"We know that bad treatment at the workplace can trigger depression. Bad feeling and stress can also be expressed through physical dysfunction. A bad mood impairs the immune system, causing a predisposition to all manner of illnesses."

Human nature insists on justice

"Justice is one of the basic demands of human nature. It conveys a message about the individual’s importance to the community," Elovainio says, drawing support from several studies.

"If employees are not listened to, this means that they are of no value. One can only afford to treat insignificant people in an unfriendly, dishonest and unfair manner. Justice is one of the major pillars of self-awareness and self-esteem."

Although working communities have always had internal problems, radical changes have exacerbated these in the last few years. Work is now done in a new way, using new machinery, and often with less material and human resources. At the same time productivity demands have risen.

"The tempo of working life seems only to accelerate. This means that greater attention must be paid to justice. The negative impacts of change can be ameliorated if employees at least feel that they are treated fairly."

"It is important to recognise that social relations at workplaces clearly have a major health impact," Elovainio stresses. He hopes that the new study will promote a debate on contemporary changes in working life. The importance of this study is reflected in the fact that the reputable science magazine "American Journal of Public Health" (www.ajph.org) reviewed it in January 2002.

"Nowadays everything is judged according to its economic outcome. Our study shows that fair treatment of employees is also a financially intelligent approach," Elovainio notes.

*The article has been published in several Finnish trade union magazines. The writer is a freelance journalist.