Promotion can damage your mental health

In the current economic climate most of us are more concerned with keeping the jobs we've got than with promotion. And who knows? By doing that we might be doing ourselves a favour.

Why? Because according to research from the University of Warwick to be presented to the Royal Economic Society this month promotion increases mental stress.

Chris Boyce and Professor Andrew Oswald examined the data on about 1000 individuals who had been promoted drawn from the British Household Panel Survey, collected annually between 1991 and 2005. They found that promotion on average produces 10% more mental.

This finding challenges a long-held assumption about male health and success at work, namely that an improvement to a person's job status, through a promotion, increases his sense of life control and self-worth and results in better health.

Boyce and Oswald found no evidence of improved physical health after promotion either.

Doctor visits down

Chris Boyce said: 'Getting a promotion at work is not as great as many people think.  Our research finds that the mental health of managers typically deteriorates after a job promotion, and in a way that goes beyond merely a short-term change.  There are no indications of any health improvements for promoted people other than reduced attendance at GP surgeries, which may itself be something to worry about rather than celebrate.'

Apparently, those promoted at work also reported on average a 20% fall in their visits to a doctor following their promotion. Boyce said: 'On first sight this drop in doctor visits does not match the lack of change in the reported health of promoted individuals. But the increased stress levels of promoted workers may provide an explanation. Part of the stress on  promoted people may be more constraints on their time and they simply have less time to visit a doctor.'