Psychosocial work environment and mental health among travelling salespeople

Abstract

Travelling salespeople have a rather unusual working environment, with long periods of absence from their firm and a low level of social contacts with colleagues. Furthermore, they are exposed to high demands in their work, which may conflict with a normal family life. In this paper a cross-sectional study of psychosocial work environment and mental health of Danish travelling salespeople is described. A sample of 1,306 travelling salespeople filled in a questionnaire (response rate 68%). The results indicate that poor mental health is associated with a number of demand indicators: number of working hours per week, number of customers per week, non-day work, and a high level of perceived job demands. On the other hand, the number of hours spent with customers per week is positively associated with mental health. The authors did not find the expected associations between poor mental health and several factors such as number of hours away from firm, nights away from home, and a low degree of perceived support from colleagues and superiors. It is concluded that the main stressors of travelling salespeople are long working hours, many customers, non-day work and high perceived psychological demands in general.