Physical Job Demands Research Articles

Differential associations of physical job demands with cognitive impairment in Korean workers aged 45 and older: a 14-year longitudinal study using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA)

ObjectivesTo investigate the association between subelements of physical job demands and cognitive impairment risk in middle-aged and older workers in Korea.DesignLongitudinal study using eight waves (2006–2020) of the Korean Longitudinal...

Flexible Work in the Public Sector: A Dual Perspective on Cognitive Benefits and Costs in Remote Work Environments

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of flexible work arrangements within the Italian public administration. While much of the existing research has focused on the drawbacks of such arrangements, there has been less exploration of their benefits. Cognitive demands related to the structure of work activities, planning of working hours, planning of workplaces, and coordination with others, under flexible working conditions, might be considered as job resources that act as challenging demands within the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model. This study aimed to explore how the “cognitive challenge of flexible work” (CCFW) impact job satisfaction through home-based performance, taking into account the role of weekly working hours on home-based performance. Furthermore, the potential moderating role of cognitive and physical job demands between CCFW and home-based performance was explored. Using structural equation modeling on data from 484 public employees, the findings confirmed the positive impact of the structure of work tasks and planning of working times on both job satisfaction and home-based performance. In addition, cognitive demands (i.e., perception of cognitive work overload) played a moderating role in the mediated relationship between coordinating with others on job satisfaction and the structure of working tasks on job satisfaction through home-based performance.

New technology and workers’ perceived impact on job quality: Does labor organization matter?

There is an emerging literature focusing on the impact of technological change on work quality. This study contributes to the literature by examining (1) workers’ expectations regarding the effect of technological change on perceived job insecurity, as well as physical and psychological job demands, and (2) how these expectations are shaped by the degree of labor organization within countries. The article uses cross-national data for 25 OECD countries. It is found that labor organization decreases perceived levels of job insecurity related to technological change, but also lowers workers’ expectations of technology improving the quality of their work. These findings may indicate that in environments where technological change is less strongly moderated by organized labor, workers put greater emphasis on technology as a driver of (short-term) work changes. Alternatively, these findings may signal a lack of ‘worker power’ of organized labor to enforce technologies that improve the quality of employment.

The relationship between workplace justice and self-evaluated nonfatal occupational accidents among healthcare employees in Taiwan: An observational study.

The relationship between workplace justice and nonfatal occupational accidents in a single-payer healthcare system has rarely been explored. As countries strive to achieve and sustain universal health coverage, healthcare workers' occupational safety and health require greater concerns. We used the data from a national survey conducted on randomly sampled Taiwanese workers. One hundred forty eight males and 567 females, with a total of 715 healthcare workers aged 20 to 65, were analyzed. The workplace scale consisted of 4 subcomponents, including distributive justice, interpersonal justice, information justice, and procedural justice, and was dichotomized into low and high groups in each dimension. Logistic regression models examined the relationship between workplace justice and self-evaluated occupational accidents among healthcare employees. The prevalence of self-evaluated occupational accidents in healthcare employees was 15.54% and 11.64% for men and women, respectively. After adjusting variables such as sociodemographic variables, physical job demands, shift work status, work contract, and psychological job demands, regression analyses indicated that health employees with lower distributive justice, interpersonal justice, information justice, and procedural justice were significantly associated with self-evaluated occupational accidents both in males and females. Expanding the study to include healthcare systems in different countries could enhance the generalizability of the findings. Offering specific recommendations for policymakers and healthcare administrators to improve workplace justice and reduce occupational accidents.

Stress beliefs moderate the impact of COVID-19 related work stress on depressive, anxiety and distress symptoms in health care workers.

Health care workers are at increased risk for mental health issues due to high psychological and physical job demands. According to a recent study, stress beliefs (i.e., believing stress to be detrimental to one's health) might influence physicians' mental health in response to a naturalistic stressor (COVID-19 hospital working conditions). Due to a small sample size and high alpha error inflation, the suggested association needs to be interpreted with caution. The current study aims to replicate those findings in a larger sample. A cross-sectional survey among N=418 (64.1% female; Median age=30-39years) physicians and nurses of a large German medical centre was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic (May/June 2021). Perception of pandemic related increase of work stress was assessed via self-report. Stress beliefs were assessed with the Beliefs About Stress Scale, and mental health symptoms were assessed with the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Stress beliefs moderated the association between increased work stress and mental health symptoms. Increased work stress was associated with increased depressive, anxiety and distress symptoms only in health care workers with medium (simple slope=2.22, p<.001; simple slope=1.27, p<.001; simple slope=3.19, p<.001) and high (simple slope=3.13; p<.001; simple slope=1.66, p<.05; simple slope=4.33, p<.001) negative stress beliefs. Among health care workers with low negative stress beliefs increased work stress was not associated with increased depressive, anxiety and distress symptoms. This confirms negative stress beliefs as variable of interest in research on the impact of stress on mental health in health care workers.

Defining a systems framework for characterizing physical work demands with wearable sensors.

Measuring the physical demands of work is important in understanding the relationship between exposure to these job demands and their impact on the safety, health, and well-being of working people. However, work is changing and our knowledge of job demands should also evolve in anticipation of these changes. New opportunities exist for noninvasive long-term measures of physical demands through wearable motion sensors, including inertial measurement units, heart rate monitors, and muscle activity monitors. Inertial measurement units combine accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers to provide continuous measurement of a segment's motion and the ability to estimate orientation in 3-dimensional space. There is a need for a system-thinking perspective on how and when to apply these wearable sensors within the context of research and practice surrounding the measurement of physical job demands. In this paper, a framework is presented for measuring the physical work demands that can guide designers, researchers, and users to integrate and implement these advanced sensor technologies in a way that is relevant to the decision-making needs for physical demand assessment. We (i) present a literature review of the way physical demands are currently being measured, (ii) present a framework that extends the International Classification of Functioning to guide how technology can measure the facets of work, (iii) provide a background on wearable motion sensing, and (iv) define 3 categories of decision-making that influence the questions that we can ask and measures that are needed. By forming questions within these categories at each level of the framework, this approach encourages thinking about the systems-level problems inherent in the workplace and how they manifest at different scales. Applying this framework provides a systems approach to guide study designs and methodological approaches to study how work is changing and how it impacts worker safety, health, and well-being.

A Study on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in Mental Health Professionals and the Psychosocial Factors Affecting This

Introductionhe present study investigates irritable bowel syndrome in mental health professionals and the characteristics of psychosocial factors that affect this.ObjectivesMethodsThe present study selected an irritable bowel syndrome group among 291 mental health professionals based on the Rome III criteria, and investigated demographic variables. The Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), Psychosocial Well-being Index (PWI), and Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS) were used to evaluate psychosocial factors. An independent t-test and chi-square test were used to determine differences between the groups, and a logistic regression analysis was used to determine the odds ratio (OR) of IBS based on occupational stress. SPSS 21.0 (IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 21.0) was utilized for all statistics.ResultsDifferences in demographic variables based on IBS group were not statistically significant. Depressive symptoms (t = -4.767, p&lt;0.001) and anxiety (t = -4.068, p&lt;0.001) were higher in the IBS group, and psychosocial well-being was lower (t = 2.288, p&lt;0.05). The OR of IBS based on depressive symptoms was 5.737 (95% CI = 2.24–14.69). There were significant differences in occupational stress based on IBS within the subordinate domains of physical environment (t = -3.160, p&lt;0.01), job demand (t = -3.273, p&lt;0.01), interpersonal conflict (t = -2.295, p&lt;0.05), job security (t = -3.005, p&lt;0.01), and lack of reward (t = -2.046, p&lt;0.05). The OR of IBS based on the subordinate domains of occupational stress was 3.708 (95% CI = 1.20-11.41) in physical environment, and 3.759 (95% CI = 1.33-10.56) in job demand.ConclusionsThe results of the present study verify that psychosocial factors in mental health professionals have a close correlation with IBS. Accordingly, improvements in both IBS symptoms and quality of life should occur through proactive intervention in these variables.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Physical Job Demands in Police Officer Selection and Training: Normative Data and Predictive Validity—A Research Note

Physical Job Demands in Police Officer Selection and Training: Normative Data and Predictive Validity—A Research Note

A longitudinal analysis of health inequalities from adolescence to young adulthood and their underlying causes

Research suggests that children of low-educated parents face greater health burdens during the passage from adolescence to young adulthood, as they are more likely to become low-educated themselves, establish behavioural and psychosocial disadvantages, or being exposed to unhealthy working conditions. However, studies examining the development and drivers of health inequalities during this particular life stage are limited in number and have produced varied results. This study investigates trajectories of self-rated health and overweight from 14 to 25 years of age, stratified by parental education, and explores the role of potential mediators (educational achievement, health behaviours, psychosocial factors, working conditions). We rely on prospective cohort data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), a representative sample of 14,981 German ninth graders interviewed yearly from 2011 to 2021 (n = 90,096 person-years). First, we estimated random-effects growth curves for self-rated health and overweight over participants’ age and calculated the average marginal effect of high versus low parental education. Second, a series of simulation-based mediation analyses were performed to test how much of health inequalities were explained by children’s educational attainment (years of school education, years in university), health behaviours (smoking, alcohol, physical inactivity), psychosocial factors (number of grade repetitions, years in unemployment, chronic stress, self-esteem) and working conditions (physical and psychosocial job demands). We accounted for potential confounding by controlling for age, sex, migration background, residential area, household composition, and interview mode. Results show that higher parental education was related to higher self-rated health and lower probabilities of being overweight. Interaction between parental education and age indicated that, after some equalisation in late adolescence, health inequalities increased in young adulthood. Furthermore, educational attainment, health behaviours, psychosocial factors, and early-career working conditions played a significant role in mediating health inequalities. Of the variables examined, the level of school education and years spent in university were particular strong mediating factors. School education accounted for around one-third of the inequalities in self-rated health and one-fifth of the differences in overweight among individuals. Results support the idea that the transition to adulthood is a sensitive period in life and that early socio-economic adversity increases the likelihood to accumulate health disadvantages in multiple dimensions. In Germany, a country with comparatively low educational mobility, intergenerational continuities in class location seem to play a key role in the explanation of health inequalities in youth.

Measuring work engagement in Thailand: development and validation testing of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Thai version (UWES-TH).

This study aimed to develop and test the psychometric properties of a Thai-language version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). The 17-item version of UWES was translated into Thai and a survey was conducted with 507 registered nurses at a public regional hospital in Thailand. Results showed that the alpha and omega total coefficients for the vigor, dedication, and absorption subscales were acceptable. Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) indicated that the three-factor model performed the best for both versions of UWES-17-TH and UWES-9-TH. Both versions correlated positively with job resources and negatively with cognitive, emotional, and physical job demands, and with emotional exhaustion and physical symptoms. They were found to have acceptable reliability and validity and can be used to study work engagement in Thai contexts. For practical reasons, UWES-9-TH might be preferred since it is shorter than the full version. Further studies should include different occupational groups and more male participants.

QUANTIFYING CONTRIBUTIONS OF WORK CHARACTERISTICS TO EDUCATIONAL DISPARITIES IN HEALTH-INDUCED WORK LIMITATIONS

Abstract While public policies are incentivizing longer working lives, poor health and inhospitable working conditions pose challenges to working longer, especially for Americans with low educational attainment. This analysis sought to quantify how poor health and inhospitable working conditions each contribute to educational disparities in work disability in mid life and old age. Using the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2016), we showed that educational disparities in reporting “any impairment or health problem that limits the kind or amount of paid work” in ages 51-80 have been profound and persistent over time. Blinder-Oaxaca three-fold decomposition revealed that distributions of income and employer insurance made the largest contribution to explaining different rates of work limitations among respondents with versus without high school degrees, followed by work characteristics (physical job demands, insufficient hours) and health conditions (diabetes, lung disease). Comparing respondents with high school versus college degrees, distributions of health conditions mattered most (high blood pressure, lung disease, heart disease, stroke), followed by health behaviors (smoking, drinking). Health-induced work limitations are often used as a health outcome, but we found that work characteristics explained 57% of the disadvantage of those without a high school degree and 44% of the disadvantage of high school compared to college graduates. Therefore, improving work environments holds promise for reducing educational disparities in mid-to-late-life disability.

Urinary incontinence associates with poor work ability in middle-aged women: A Northern Finland Birth cohort 1966 study.

Urinary incontinence is a common ailment in women and is likely to affect their work ability. We investigated the associations between the different subtypes of urinary incontinence and several dimensions of perceived work ability in middle-aged general population. Cross-sectional survey at age 46 among participants of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study (n = 3706, response rate 72%). Urinary incontinence symptoms and several items of Work Ability Index were collected by postal questionnaire. Work ability was dichotomized as good or poor work ability in general, in relation to physical job demands, to diseases and own 2-year prospect of work ability. The associations between urinary incontinence and work ability measures were assessed using logistic regression models, with further adjustments for biological, behavioral and work-related factors as well as general health. The odds ratio (OR), from lowest to highest, for poor work ability were 1.4-fold among women with stress urinary incontinence (OR 1.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-1.72), 2.5-fold with mixed urinary incontinence (OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.68-3.74) and 3.3-fold with urgency urinary incontinence (OR 3.34, 95% CI 1.95-5.70). We note that our results reflect work ability in a Nordic society. Especially urgency and mixed types of urinary incontinence are associated with poor work ability among middle-aged women.

Exploring Job Stress Among Public Health Workforce in Northeastern Malaysia.

Introduction Job stress is recognized as a significant concern across various occupational settings which have profound implications for both individuals and organizations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, job stress among the public health workforce (PHW) has been a significant concern, as they face a significantly increased risk of infection and mortality due to excessive COVID-19 exposure. This study presents a descriptive exploration of key job stress-related factors among PHW in Terengganu, Malaysia. Methodology This is a cross-sectional study conducted from May 2022 to April 2023, encompassing all eight District Health Offices (DHO) and government health clinics in Terengganu. Data collection involved a Malay version of the Job Content Questionnaire (M-JCQ), which assesses job characteristics based on Karasek's demand-control-support model and consists of four main domains: decision latitude, psychological job demands, physical job demands, and social support. Data was collected from 1044 participants, and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 27 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Findings Of the 1044 participants, 18.9% experienced job stress. The highest percentage of job stress was observed among nurses (24.3%), followed by medical assistants (18.3%) and physicians (16.0%). In contrast, the public health assistant (PKA) group had the lowest rate of job stress. Job types based on Karasek's model also showed variations, with doctors having the highest percentage of active jobs (46.4%), while medical assistants had the highest percentage of low job strain (17.9%), and PKAs had the highest percentage of passive job types (44.7%). Conclusion This study offers significant insights into the work-related challenges faced by the public health workforce in Terengganu, Malaysia, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Job stress is a substantial concern, and understanding its underlying factors is essential for improving the well-being of PHWs. Decision latitude, job demands, and social support play critical roles in shaping job stress among PHWs. Strategies and interventions are needed to mitigate job stress, improve working conditions, and enhance the effectiveness of PHWs in public health initiatives. This study highlights the importance of addressing job stress in this sector, with potential benefits for both the mental and physical health of PHW.

The Work Experience Survey - Rheumatic conditions (United Kingdom): Psychometric properties and identifying the workplace barriers of employed people with inflammatory arthritis receiving vocational rehabilitation.

The aims were to: revise the Work Experience Survey-Rheumatic Conditions (WES-RC- UK), a work assessment listing 142 workplace barriers; investigate content validity, reliability, and concurrent validity; update the accompanying WES-RC and WORKWELL Solutions Manuals; and investigate workplace barriers of people with inflammatory arthritis. Rheumatology therapists, following vocational rehabilitation (VR) training, assessed participants in the WORKWELL VR trial using the WES-RC. Data were extracted from the WES-RC to identify the frequency of workplace barriers, and from trial baseline questionnaires (e.g., Work Limitations Questionnaire-25 (WLQ-25). Barriers reported by≤5 participants were considered for removal. WES-RC content validity was assessed by linking to the International Classification of Functioning, Health, and Disability Core Set for VR (ICF-VR). Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's α and concurrent validity by correlating the total number of workplace barriers reported with WLQ-25 scores. WES-RCs were completed with 116 employed participants: 79% women, age 48.72 (SD 9.49) years, and 57% working full-time. The WES-RC was reduced to 121 barriers. Content validity was good, with 73/90 ICF-VR items linked. Cronbach's α=0.92, that is, suitable for individual use. Concurrent validity was moderate: WLQ-25 (rs =0.40). The three most common barriers were Physical Job Demands (100%: e.g., mobility 99%; hand use 74%), Mental, Time, Energy, Emotional Job Demands (91%, e.g., concentration 47%, remembering 41%); Getting Ready for and Travel to Work (87%, e.g., driving 60%). The WES-RC (UK) has good content validity, reliability, and concurrent validity. The wide range of barriers emphasises the need for biopsychosocial work rehabilitation.

Work-related outcomes in individuals with and without lower limb osteoarthritis: an online survey

ObjectiveWhile osteoarthritis (OA) affects people who are still participating in the workforce, there is limited data about the impact of OA on work. The aim of this study was to compare work participation in individuals with and without lower limb OA.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included workers with (n = 124) and without (n = 106) lower limb OA. Work participation was assessed as work status (full/part time work), work ability (Work Ability Index (WAI)), absenteeism and presenteeism (World Health Organization’s Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (WHO-HPQ)), and perceived difficulties meeting work demands (Work Role Functioning Questionnaire (WRFQ)). The data were analyzed using an analysis of covariance with age, body mass index and physical job demands included as covariates.ResultsWork ability was poorer (p < 0.001) and loss of work performance (p < 0.001) was higher among workers with OA than healthy controls. There was no statistical difference in absenteeism or overall ability to meet work demands between participants with and without lower limb OA. However, workers with lower limb OA had more difficulty with work scheduling demands (p = 0.05) and physical demands (p = 0.003) than healthy workers.ConclusionLower limb OA was associated with poorer work ability, loss of work performance and difficulty in meeting physical and work scheduling demands. Health professionals and employers should consider these challenges when managing individuals with lower limb OA and supporting them to remain in the workforce.

The Interplay of Job Demands–Resources: Experiences of Public Health Inspectors of Sri Lanka During the First and Second Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges to healthcare employees worldwide. As part of combatting the disease, they were often confronted with numerous physical and psychological job demands. Studies have explored the experiences of and responses to a COVID-19-related job demand–resource (JD-R) interplay of Western hospital-based healthcare staff. However, whether community-based, non-clinical healthcare workers experienced and responded to the COVID-19-related JD-R interplay similarly to hospital-based clinical healthcare employees is severely under-researched. This article explores how Sri Lanka’s public health inspectors (PHIs), a group of community-based, non-clinical healthcare workers experienced and responded to the COVID-19-related JD-R interplay. Using 18 in-depth interviews, this study found that PHIs were confronted with COVID-19-specific physical and psychological job demands including work pressure, workload, ambiguities in authority and job responsibilities, fear of contracting and passing on the disease to family members and social rejection which they managed with limited training, minimal rewards and less recognition. This JD-R incompatibility led to stress, exhaustion and coping inflexibility to which PHIs responded through approach and avoidance coping. While most coping strategies enabled PHIs to ease their stress and exhaustion, there were others that exacerbated the feelings of burnout.

Pain, Physical Demands at Work, and Future Work Expectations Among Older Adults in the United States.

In the United States, pain is becoming increasingly prevalent among older adults at the same time as policies are incentivizing work longer. Given that pain and physically demanding jobs are both linked to early retirement and they often go hand-in-hand, it is important to assess how the unique effects of pain and physical work demands may interact in predicting future work expectations. Using Health and Retirement Study data (1998, 2004, 2010, and 2016 waves), we assess how pain and physical job demands influence future work expectations of 10,358 adults at midlife (ages 51-56), after accounting for sociodemographic, job, health, and financial characteristics. Compared to men with no pain, activity-interfering pain was associated with low expectations of full-time work past 62 regardless of job demands, while noninterfering pain was associated with 62% higher odds (odds ratio [OR] = 1.62, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.35-1.93) of expecting not to work full-time past age 62 only among those with physically demanding jobs. Having both interfering pain and a physically demanding job was associated with increased odds of expecting not to work full-time past age 65 for men (OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.06-1.47) and past age 62 for women (OR = 1.18, 95% CI: 1.00-1.39). The co-occurrence of physically demanding work with pain-particularly activity-interfering pain-is associated with low expectations of full-time work past ages 62 and 65 for adults at midlife. Working longer may be feasible for older adults whose pain does not interfere with work, but unrealistic for individuals facing both pain and physically demanding work.

Quantifying the Contribution of Work Characteristics to Educational Disparities in Health-Induced Work Limitations.

To quantify how poor health and inhospitable working conditions each contribute to educational disparities in work disability in midlife and old age. We used the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2016) to examine educational disparities in reporting "any impairment or health problem that limits the kind or amount of paid work" in ages 51-80. We found disparities to be profound and persistent over time. Blinder-Oaxaca threefold decomposition revealed that distributions of income and employer insurance made the largest contribution to explaining different rates of work limitations among respondents with versus without high school degrees, followed by work characteristics (physical job demands, insufficient hours) and health conditions (diabetes, lung disease). Comparing respondents with high school versus college degrees, distributions of health conditions mattered most (high blood pressure, lung disease, heart disease, stroke), followed by health behaviors (smoking, drinking). Health-induced work limitations are often used as a measure of health, but we found that work characteristics explained 57% of the disadvantage of those without a high school degree and 44% of the disadvantage of high school compared to college graduates. Work environments appear to play an important role in educational disparities in mid- to late-life disability.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Ankle-Foot Pain Among Nurses Working in Surgical Units of Comprehensive Specialized Hospitals in Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022.

Ankle-foot pain is a serious public health concern among nurses and has a significant impact on the quality of the health care service delivery system. However, little is known about the prevalence and factors associated with ankle-foot pain among nurses working in surgical units in Ethiopia. The study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of ankle-foot pain among nurses working in surgical units of comprehensive specialized hospitals in Amhara regional state, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022. An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 409 nurses working in surgical units of comprehensive specialized hospitals, from May 15 to June 7, 2022. A simple random sampling technique was employed. Data were collected by five BSc nurses using a structured self-administered questionnaire. The collected data were entered into Epi-data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. The descriptive statistics and bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were computed. Finally, variables were declared as statistically significant at P < 0.05 using the odds ratio and 95% CI. The prevalence of ankle-foot pain among nurses working in surgical units was 51.8% (95% CI = 46.9-57.5). More than 10 years of working experience [AOR = 3.48, 95% CI = 1.35-8.92], working 48 or more hours per week [AOR = 2.69, 95% CI = 1.27-6.00], prolonged standing [AOR = 5.72, 95% CI = 3.20-10.25], high physical job demand [AOR = 2.41, 95% CI = 1.53-3.80], and low job control [AOR = 2.34, 95% CI = 1.47-3.71] had statistically significant association with ankle-foot pain. This study found that ankle-foot pain was common among nurses working in surgical units. Having more years of work experience, working more hours per week, prolonged standing, high physical job demand, and low job control were statistically associated with ankle-foot pain.

Characteristics of the job demands of healthcare workers in different segments of the healthcare sector

Healthcare workers are exposed to various demands at their workplace (physical, psychological, social or organizational aspects of work) that impose constant physical and/or psychological effort on a worker. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of the job demands of healthcare workers in different segments of the health sector in RNM, categorized into three groups: healthcare workers in hospital activity, healthcare workers in outpatient activity and technical support and administrative staff. Material and methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study, in which 418 employees participate, classified into three groups according to their work tasks in health institutions: healthcare workers in hospital activity, healthcare workers in outpatient activity and technical support and administrative staff. The statistical analysis has been done in statistical programs: STATISTICA 12.0; IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0, and the processed data are presented in tabular forms. Results: The difference among the three groups of respondents in terms of the following demographic characteristics and job characteristics: gender, marital status, type of employment contract, total years of service, length of service at the current workplace and number of working hours per week, is insignificant, i.e. the three groups of respondents are homogeneous on these issues. The average value of the physical job demands at the level of the entire analyzed sample is significantly higher compared to the average values of all other job demands. The most common job demands for each of the groups (physical, organizational, emotional and cognitive job demands) have been determined, and a comparison has been made among the three groups of respondents regarding the most significant job demands. Conclusions: The difference registered in the physical job demands in relation to the three groups of respondents is statistically significant. Healthcare workers in hospital activity, compared to the technical support and administrative staff and the healthcare workers in outpatient activity, are more exposed to the different types of job demands. The higher average values of the physical job demands among respondents employed in hospital activity and outpatient activity in relation to technical support and administrative staff are also highlighted.