Performance Related Pay and Health: An Interdisciplinary Study

Lead Research Organisation: University of Aberdeen
Department Name: University of Aberdeen Business School

Abstract

The 18th Century economist Adam Smith observed in his book Wealth of Nations, "Workmen...when liberally paid by the piece, are very apt to overwork themselves, and to ruin their health and constitution in a few years". Thus, even as early as 1776, economists observed a link between work and health - specifically here, how the method of pay affects health. Recently a number of research papers by economists and healthcare academics finds a strong relationship between performance-related pay (PRP) (i.e. being paid according to how well you perform) and health in large surveys of workers and in case studies. Those being paid by PRP typically show poorer health. However, it is not currently known whether PRP causes poor health in workers or whether people with poor health are simply more likely to work in PRP jobs. The present study will investigate this. Similarly, little is known about how PRP may affect health. The present study will investigate the possibility that workers paid by PRP report poorer health because PRP work is stressful in ways that are detrimental to health.

Economic theory would predict several potential pathways linking PRP to health, but research by two of the investigators (Bender and Theodossiou, 2014) suggests that because PRP induces increased effort at work and generates an uncertain stream of pay, stress will be higher for PRP workers than for workers paid under a typical salary scheme. Given the large and growing medical literature on the relationship between (particularly low-grade and constant) stress and physical and mental health, it is possible that if PRP increases stress, it will have negative health outcomes, all things equal.

The investigators designed a small pilot study (Allan et al. 2017) to take a look at this linkage in an experimental framework. Experiments have several advantages over survey data. First, they can explicitly control for the possibility that people select PRP jobs by randomising PRP across subjects so we know the direction of causality. Second, they allow us to measure stress both subjectively (by asking subjects how stressed they are) and objectively (by measuring salivary cortisol, a hormone that the body creates in larger quantities in response to acute stress). With only 40 individuals and a simple design, the investigators found significant differences in subjective stress and cortisol levels between the PRP and nonPRP groups.

The overarching goal of this project is to investigate this link more comprehensively. It is broken into several distinct projects. First, it will expand the subject pool and employ a crossover design to test the robustness of the findings in the pilot study. Second, it will investigate how important self-selection is in moderating the stress response to PRP. Most workers choose their payment contract, and so allowing subjects to choose the payment type and then measuring stress will examine how important this issue is. Third, we will look at anticipation effects of PRP to see if knowing in advance that the day ahead involves PRP work increases a worker's stress. Fourth, we will look at how intensity (via increased rewards and penalties) and monitoring by supervisors and peers can impact the stress generated by PRP. Finally, we will analyse a large survey of British workers where there is both information on the method of pay and noncortisol biomarkers related to stress. This is a useful parallel analysis to see whether the controlled conditions of the lab are found in the 'real world' where we cannot guarantee exogeneity.

In sum, this research will help establish the link between PRP and stress. Given the potential for stress to affect physical and mental health, the implementation of PRP may have significant impacts on workers through their individual health, on firms through lost productivity and on society through lost economic output and increased public health costs.

Planned Impact

Academic Impact. This project will offer a novel interdisciplinary research project. While salivary cortisol as a measure of stress is widely used in health and psychology research, there is little penetration in economics research. Indeed, a recent (Nov 2017) search on 'Econlit', the most frequently used bibliographic database for Economics research, showed less than 20 papers using cortisol in economics research in any context. Beyond the interdisciplinary aspect of the research, the research will provide evidence regarding whether stress is a mechanism that links PRP to poor health using both experimental and survey data methods to investigate the link. Findings will be communicated through presentations at conferences, journal articles and an interdisciplinary conference.

Non-academic Impact. Beyond the academic impact, the research will identify areas that will be of interest for a number of non-academic stakeholders. Since the PRP-stress-poor health link is likely little known, understanding the unintended consequence of PRP on health can either decrease the use of PRP or have firms and government develop policies to mitigate the effects of the increased stress. The relevance to particular stakeholders is described below.

Politicians and Public Health Officials: As discussed in the Pathway to Impact section, the public health aspect of this research is potentially large. Nearly a quarter of all workers are paid at least in part by PRP (Bryson et al. 2014), a percentage that has been growing slowly but steadily. Similarly, stress-related mental and physical illnesses have increased steadily and is estimated to cost the NHS over £3 billion (HSE 2016b). Understanding whether stress caused by PRP contributes to these costs can help direct policy to reduce the potentially significant costs borne by the NHS and society to the increase in PRP.

Employers: While economic research has pointed to the productivity enhancing effects of PRP, it has ignored the unintended consequence of any health effects of the stress of PRP jobs. Lost workdays to physical and mental illnesses result in costs of £2.8 billion to firms (HSE 2016b). If PRP even accounts for 10% of this cost (which is less than the incidence of PRP), firms could save nearly £300 million through reductions in sickness absences. Thus, a better understanding of any link may give firms incentives to think about ways of mitigating stress or even find other forms of compensation.

Workers: Direct costs to employees due to physical and mental illness are even greater at £8 billion (HSE 2016b). Better understanding of the potential health costs of PRP can help workers make better informed decisions about strategies for reducing the stress from such jobs or perhaps to seek to avoid such employment contracts.

Specific activities to generate impact are discussed in the Pathways to Impact section, but the most important are twofold. First, a 'Practitioner Panel' with politicians and public health officials, employer and worker representatives will be convened to give an outlet for the findings of the research as well as take input from key stakeholders on the practical aspects of the PRP-stress-health link to inform a series of 'Policy Papers' around the findings in the research. Second, an interdisciplinary 'Academic/Practitioner Forum' conference will be held in Aberdeen where results from the project will be discussed, alongside other academics working in similar areas of the work and health relationship, to an audience that would include both academics and practitioners and public health officials. It would also include a round-table discussion of the issues raised in the research and how these findings can translate to practitioners. Using a project-dedicated webpage and Twitter account, we will coordinate our activities with the University's Communication and Public Relations teams to generate press releases to publicise the results from the project.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description Our project has several key achievements, as demonstrated by the publications and working papers coming out of the research project:

1. It firmly establishes the link between performance-related pay (PRP) and increased stress experimentally. The first published paper of the experiment before the pandemic clearly shows PRP generates higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, than the nonPRP condition (published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization). Subsequent experiments during and after the pandemic lockdowns tended to support these findings, despite the general increase in stress brought about by the pandemic and society's response to the pandemic.
2. In addition to the experimental work, the project produced two papers based on survey from a nationally representative dataset. The first paper shows the negative effect of PRP on subjective and objective biomarkers of health and stress. This was published in the journal, Industrial Relations in 2024 and the subsequent press release generated interest by over 150 media outlets. The second paper shows that PRP limits a number of forms of participatory leisure activities that could be utilised by PRP workers to mitigate the stress generated by PRP. It also shows that PRP workers get less sleep and engage in more alcohol-based leisure activities.
3. Because of the unexpected nature of the pandemic, we were able to make a general methodological observation important for studies involving cortisol. We were able to compare baseline cortisol before and after the lockdowns to show the importance of the restrictive protocols of restarting in person experiments on the anticipatory stress of participants and published this in the journal Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology.
4. We established a key methodological innovation of integrating experimental economics and health psychology by the use of cortisol as an objective measure of stress. Through our experiments we demonstrate how the collection and analysis of cortisol could easily be integrated into economics experiments which can give rise to future interdisciplinary research that can further link these two fields.
Exploitation Route As theorised in the application, the premise is to examine whether PRP impacts stress, which can impact overall health, particularly if stress is persistent. This first experiment strongly establishes the link between PRP and stress and the most of the follow-up experiments held during and after the Covid lockdowns suggest similar (if weaker) relationships. The findings of our empirical papers also strongly show that PRP is related to both subjective and objective biomarkers of stress and are associated with lower levels of leisure activities and sleep, while being associated with more activities associated with drinking alcohol.

The research findings then should be of significant interest to key employment and health stakeholders - workers, unions, firms and public health officials. Given that around 20% of workers in the UK have some element of PRP directly affecting wages and the high levels of lost workdays due to work stress, at the very least, firms utilising PRP should think of stress mitigation strategies to maintain a healthy workforce or even think of other forms of compensation systems in order to reduce the stress on workers.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Construction

Creative Economy

Financial Services

and Management Consultancy

Healthcare

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

Transport

URL https://www.abdn.ac.uk/business/research/PRPH.php
 
Description Our research has been translated into teaching materials for secondary and college teachers by the Futurum Group. We have developed a nontechnical summary of our project, highlighting the ways that certain types of jobs with a significant performance pay element can be harmful to health. In addition, we have developed an 'Activity Sheet' where teachers can try our experiment in their own classroom to replicate the main experiment we do in the grant. Details of this can be found here: https://futurumcareers.com/how-does-the-type-of-payment-you-receive-impact-your-health Two of the research team led a session with S6 students at Lathallan School in Aberdeenshire (https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/15566/). Data on the engagement with the online materials produced by Futurum in the first six months after online publication generated 956 page views and 19 downloads of the materials. Social Media engagement across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pintrest had over 32,000 impressions, over 2,000 engagements, and nearly 900 'likes'. There were an additional 39 downloads from the websites TES and Teacher Pay Teachers.
First Year Of Impact 2021
Sector Education
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Title Experiments on Performance-related Pay and Stress: Evidence from a Cross-over Study, 2019 
Description The focus of the research is to examine the relationship between performance-related pay and stress using experimental methods. Importantly, stress is measured here both subjectively (i.e. asking the stress level of participants) and objectively (i.e. collection of salivary cortisol). The basic experiment is generally the same across all of the experiments in the project. Subjects are recruited by using a database at the university where the experiments took place. All experimental sessions happened at 1400 to control for the diurnal patterns of cortisol. Participants were also told to avoid exercising, smoking, drinking caffeine and eating two hours before the experiment since these also affect cortisol. During the experiment, participants are told generally about the experiment and enter a 10-minute relaxation period where they can colour in a mindfulness colouring page if they wish. Then they are asked questions about their subjective stress and a baseline cortisol measurement. Next, participants are given three example maths questions to complete in their own time and then allocated their employment contract. The performance-related pay (PRP) contract is piece rate based on the number of correct answers while the minimum performance contract (nonPRP) is a flat rate once ten questions are answered correctly. Then, participants are given 10 minutes to complete as many questions of maths problems (up to 50) without the use of a calculator. The computer screen gives the number of correct answers and for the nonPRP group, a banner is shown when they answer 10 questions correctly. After the task, a screen shows how much they earned from their performance, including the show up fee. Another measure of cortisol is taken and a survey administered to collect information on subjective stress and to collect demographic information. Participants had a 10 minute rest period of colouring after which a third cortisol sample was taken. Then participants had one final 10 minute rest period after which a fourth and final cortisol sample was taken. Finally, participants were called into the control room and given their payment. In this first experiment, we want to establish the robustness of the relationship in two dimensions. First, we randomise the payment condition (either PRP or nonPRP) to ensure that we avoid problems of sample selection. Second, we utilise a cross-over design where a week after the initial experiment, we invited the participants back to the laboratory and switched conditions on the participants. This way, each participant serves as their own control, allowing us to control for individual heterogeneity in subjective and objective stress. Participants were paid a £5 participation fee, £5 if they met the minimum performance contract and were paid £0.20 for each correct answer when in the PRP contract. The findings, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization in 2021, showed that the PRP contract generated higher levels of cortisol and subjective stress. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact None known 
URL https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/856870/
 
Title Experiments on Performance-related Pay and Stress: Higher Stakes, 2020 
Description The focus of the research is to examine the relationship between performance-related pay and stress using experimental methods. Importantly, stress is measured here both subjectively (i.e. asking the stress level of participants) and objectively (i.e. collection of salivary cortisol). The basic experiment is generally the same across all of the experiments in the project. Subjects are recruited by using a database at the university where the experiments took place. All experimental sessions happened at 1400 to control for the diurnal patterns of cortisol. Participants were also told to avoid exercising, smoking, drinking caffeine and eating two hours before the experiment since these also affect cortisol. During the experiment, participants are told generally about the experiment and enter a 10-minute relaxation period where they can colour in a mindfulness colouring page if they wish. Then they are asked questions about their subjective stress and a baseline cortisol measurement. Next, participants are given three example maths questions to complete in their own time and then allocated their employment contract. The performance-related pay (PRP) contract is piece rate based on the number of correct answers while the minimum performance contract (nonPRP) is a flat rate once ten questions are answered correctly. Then, participants are given 10 minutes to complete as many questions of maths problems (up to 50) without the use of a calculator. The computer screen gives the number of correct answers and for the nonPRP group, a banner is shown when they answer 10 questions correctly. After the task, a screen shows how much they earned from their performance, including the show up fee. Another measure of cortisol is taken and a survey administered to collect information on subjective stress and to collect demographic information. Participants had a 10-minute rest period of colouring after which a third cortisol sample was taken. Then participants had one final 10-minute rest period after which a fourth and final cortisol sample was taken. Finally, participants were called into the control room and given their payment. Cortisol samples were frozen and after all were collected were sent to a laboratory for analysis. In this experiment, we want to allow for a more 'real life' example from the labour market - seeing if different piece rates change the PRP-stress relationship. It might be that a higher piece rate, generates increased stress given the higher stakes involved with the payment. On the other hand, it could generate lower stress if there is income satisficing since target income levels are easier to attain with a higher piece rate. Thus, in this experiment in addition to the basic description of the experiment above, the allocation of the contract type is done randomly (and thus not subject to potential selection biases) and is done into one of three conditions: nonPRP (£5 flat payment when 10 maths questions are answered correctly), standard PRP (£0.20 for each correct answer) and increased PRP (£0.60 for each correct answer). As with Experiment 1.2, the higher show-up fee of £7.50 was used to increase the sample pool. The preliminaty data analysis suggests that the higher PRP piece rate is not significantly associated with either subjective stress or objective stress measured by cortisol. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact None known 
URL https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/856876/
 
Title Experiments on Performance-related Pay and Stress: Performance-related Pay Penalty, 2020 
Description The focus of the research is to examine the relationship between performance-related pay and stress using experimental methods. Importantly, stress is measured here both subjectively (i.e. asking the stress level of participants) and objectively (i.e. collection of salivary cortisol). The basic experiment is generally the same across all of the experiments in the project. Subjects are recruited by using a database at the university where the experiments took place. All experimental sessions happened at 1400 to control for the diurnal patterns of cortisol. Participants were also told to avoid exercising, smoking, drinking caffeine and eating two hours before the experiment since these also affect cortisol. During the experiment, participants are told generally about the experiment and enter a 10-minute relaxation period where they can colour in a mindfulness colouring page if they wish. Then they are asked questions about their subjective stress and a baseline cortisol measurement. Next, participants are given three example maths questions to complete in their own time and then allocated their employment contract. The performance-related pay (PRP) contract is piece rate based on the number of correct answers while the minimum performance contract (nonPRP) is a flat rate once ten questions are answered correctly. Then, participants are given 10 minutes to complete as many questions of maths problems (up to 50) without the use of a calculator. The computer screen gives the number of correct answers and for the nonPRP group, a banner is shown when they answer 10 questions correctly. After the task, a screen shows how much they earned from their performance, including the show up fee. Another measure of cortisol is taken and a survey administered to collect information on subjective stress and to collect demographic information. Participants had a 10-minute rest period of colouring after which a third cortisol sample was taken. Then participants had one final 10-minute rest period after which a fourth and final cortisol sample was taken. Finally, participants were called into the control room and given their payment. Cortisol samples were frozen and after all were collected were sent to a laboratory for analysis. In this experiment, we want to allow for a more 'real life' example from the labour market - building in a quality measure by deducting £0.10 for incorrect answers by those in the PRP contract. This penalty for low quality theoretically would generate more stress both because of money being potentially taken away and because participants may take more time on each question meaning less time to complete questions. Thus, in this experiment in addition to the basic description of the experiment above, the allocation of the contract type is done randomly (and thus not subject to potential selection biases) and is done into one of three conditions: nonPRP (£5 flat payment when 10 maths questions are answered correctly), standard PRP (£0.20 for each correct answer) and PRP with penalty (£0.20 for correct answers and £0.10 taken away for each incorrect answer). As with Experiments 2.1 and 1.2, the higher show-up fee of £7.50 was used to increase the sample pool. The preliminary analysis of the data suggests that the PRP with penalty generates lower subjective stress than the PRP and nonPRP conditions, but there were no differences in the change in cortisol. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact None known 
URL https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/856877/
 
Title Experiments on Performance-related Pay and Stress: Performance-related Pay and Social-Evaluative Threat, 2021-2022 
Description The focus of the research is to examine the relationship between performance-related pay and stress using experimental methods. Importantly, stress is measured here both subjectively (i.e. asking the stress level of participants) and objectively (i.e. collection of salivary cortisol). The basic experiment is generally the same across all of the experiments in the project. Subjects are recruited by using a database at the university where the experiments took place. All experimental sessions happened at 1400 to control for the diurnal patterns of cortisol. Participants were also told to avoid exercising, smoking, drinking caffeine and eating two hours before the experiment since these also affect cortisol. During the experiment, participants are told generally about the experiment and enter a 10-minute relaxation period where they can colour in a mindfulness colouring page if they wish. Then they are asked questions about their subjective stress and a baseline cortisol measurement. Next, participants are given three example maths questions to complete in their own time and then allocated their employment contract. The performance-related pay (PRP) contract is piece rate based on the number of correct answers while the minimum performance contract (nonPRP) is a flat rate once ten questions are answered correctly. Then, participants are given 10 minutes to complete as many questions of maths problems (up to 50) without the use of a calculator. The computer screen gives the number of correct answers and for the nonPRP group, a banner is shown when they answer 10 questions correctly. After the task, a screen shows how much they earned from their performance, including the show up fee. Another measure of cortisol is taken and a survey administered to collect information on subjective stress and to collect demographic information. Participants had a 10-minute rest period of colouring after which a third cortisol sample was taken. Then participants had one final 10-minute rest period after which a fourth and final cortisol sample was taken. Finally, participants were called into the control room and given their payment. Cortisol samples were frozen and after all were collected were sent to a laboratory for analysis. In this experiment, we want to investigate whether the well known effects of social-evaluative threat (SET) on stress interacts with PRP since in many PRP situations in the labour market elements of SET can be used (e.g. a public leaderboard for salespeople). Thus, in this experiment we replicate the basic structure as described above, randomly allocating across the PRP and nonPRP condition, though we add in an additional crossover session for the SET and nonSET conditions. The PRP piece rate is set at £0.20 per correct answer and the nonPRP condition paid a flat payment of £5 for 10 correct answers. The SET condition is operationalised with one of the research team walking around the laboratory during the work task with a clipboard taking notes of the participants as well as a public leaderboard showing on the screen so participants can compare their performance with other participants. As with Experiments 2.1 and 1.2, the higher show-up fee of £7.50 was used to increase the sample pool. Data analysis of the data suggests that the SET condition led to higher subjective stress, but not higher cortisol, but there was no effect of PRP on either measure of stress. There was an interactive effect of SET and the nonPRP condition to generate higher subjective and objective stress, particularly driven by low performers. The results of this experiment were published in the journal, Stress, in 2023. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact None known 
URL https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/856878/
 
Title Experiments on Performance-related Pay and Stress: Sample Selection, 2022 
Description The focus of the research is to examine the relationship between performance-related pay and stress using experimental methods. Importantly, stress is measured here both subjectively (i.e. asking the stress level of participants) and objectively (i.e. collection of salivary cortisol). The basic experiment is generally the same across all of the experiments in the project. Subjects are recruited by using a database at the university where the experiments took place. All experimental sessions happened at 1400 to control for the diurnal patterns of cortisol. Participants were also told to avoid exercising, smoking, drinking caffeine and eating two hours before the experiment since these also affect cortisol. During the experiment, participants are told generally about the experiment and enter a 10-minute relaxation period where they can colour in a mindfulness colouring page if they wish. Then they are asked questions about their subjective stress and a baseline cortisol measurement. Next, participants are given three example maths questions to complete in their own time and then allocated their employment contract. The performance-related pay (PRP) contract is piece rate based on the number of correct answers while the minimum performance contract (nonPRP) is a flat rate once ten questions are answered correctly. Then, participants are given 10 minutes to complete as many questions of maths problems (up to 50) without the use of a calculator. The computer screen gives the number of correct answers and for the nonPRP group, a banner is shown when they answer 10 questions correctly. After the task, a screen shows how much they earned from their performance, including the show up fee. Another measure of cortisol is taken and a survey administered to collect information on subjective stress and to collect demographic information. Participants had a 10-minute rest period of colouring after which a third cortisol sample was taken. Then participants had one final 10-minute rest period after which a fourth and final cortisol sample was taken. Finally, participants were called into the control room and given their payment. Cortisol samples were frozen and after all were collected were sent to a laboratory for analysis. In the second experiment, we want to allow for a more 'real life' example from the labour market - namely that workers generally select into PRP jobs. It might be that this selection stems from an ability to handle stress better and so this experiment tests whether selection negates the effects of PRP on stress as found in the first experiment when the contract was randomised. Thus there are a couple additional changes in this experiment compared to the general description above. 1) Pre-testing of the experiment showed that participants overestimated their performance. Thus, for this experiment, participants were invited to a morning session where they completed two 10-minute tasks, where they were told in one how much they would have been paid if in the PRP contract and the other they were told how much they would have earned in the nonPRP contract. 2) As in the previous experiment, participants were paid £5 if they choose and met the minimum performance contract and were paid £0.20 for each correct answer when they chose the PRP contract. However, the show-up fee was increased to £7.50 to increase the sample pool of participants. The data suggest that PRP is significantly associated with higher subjective stress, but the effect on cortisol is less robust with only weakly significant effects found. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact None known. 
URL https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/856873/
 
Description Conference presentation at EALE/SOLE/AASLE 2020 - Employment Contracts and Stress: Experimental Evidence 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Flash talk at an international virtual conference for academics with discussion afterwards
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Conference presentation at European Health Economics Association Conference - Oslo 2022: Performance-related Pay and Differing Stakes 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presented research on the differing stakes experiments from the project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Conference presentation at ICBM 2021 - Employment contracts and stress: An experimental study 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Conference presentation at an international virtual conference for academics with discussion afterwards
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Conference presentation at SES 2021 - Employment contracts and stress: An experimental study 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Conference presentation at an international virtual conference for academics with discussion afterwards
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Creation of Materials for School Teachers 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact We participated in the creation of teacher materials for secondary schools and colleges that highlight the interdisciplinarity of our project research and the research team as well as developed an activity where teachers can lead students through an experiment similar to the primary one in the reserach project. The materials were widely distributed across a number of teacher resources websites in the UK and USA.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021,2022
URL https://futurumcareers.com/how-does-the-type-of-payment-you-receive-impact-your-health
 
Description Nontechnical interview on Performance-related pay and health 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interview by Faculti who translate research findings into nontechnical format
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://faculti.net/performance-related-pay-mental-and-physiological-health/
 
Description Organisation of Conference: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Performance-related Pay and Incentives in Work - University of Aberdeen, June 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact As part of grant, an interdisciplinary conference was held around performance-related pay with presentations by economists, psychologists and health psychologists featuring research from Aberdeen, Newcastle, Sheffield, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In addition to organising the conference, we presented the published and preliminary results of the grant.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Podcast recording for Explorathon Lunch Bytes 2020 - Performance Related Pay: The good, the bad, the stressful 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Podcast was recorded to disseminate information about the research project to the general public. As of February 2021 the podcast had been downloaded 71 times.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.abdn.ac.uk/engage/podcasts/explorathon-lunch-bytes-episode-2.php
 
Description Poster at Univ of Aberdeen Founder's Day Engagement Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Poster session highlighting interdisciplinary research at the University of Aberdeen. Staff members, students and members of the public were invited to attend.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.abdn.ac.uk/events/founders-day-2635.php?utm_campaign=1375378_Whats%20On%20Events%20Ezine...
 
Description Presentation at CIPD Applied Research Conference 2023: PRP and Stress: Experimental Evidence 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation of study to HRM practioners
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Presentation at Health Studies User Conference 2022: PRP and Objective Measures of Health 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation to a conference of researchers using large health datasets in the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation at Joint School of Psychology-School of Business Research Conference 2022: PRP and Stress: Experimental Evidence 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact One of several interdisciplinary papers presented to a joint Psychology/Business research event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation at Scottish Economic Society Conference 2022: PRP and Leisure Time: Another Unintended Consequence? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Presentation of paper to a research conference
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation at University of Aberdeen Economics Dept Seminar 2022: PRP and Sorting Into Stress 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Internal research seminar to staff and PhD students
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation at Workshop on Performance Pay and Employee Outcomes at Trier University 2022: PRP and Sorrting into Stress 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation at a research conference on performance-related pay
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation to AFG College Qatar on 'Performance-related Pay and Stress' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation of research findings to staff and students at AFG College in Qatar.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Presentation to Practioners at Chartered Association of Personnel and Development Applied Research Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Persentation to HR professionals as part of the CIPD annual Applied Research Conference. Sparked questions and discussion afterward.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/comms/get-involved/events/submissions-2023_tcm18-113620.pdf
 
Description Press release and interviews about paper published in journal, Industrial Relations, on 'Performance-related Pay, Mental and Physiological Health'. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Press release on paper publication. Interview with BBC Radio Scotland. Press release picked up by over 150 media outlets in UK and US.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Schools Presentation at Lathallan School 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A group of 13 students at Lathallan School were given an overview of research being conducted by economists and health psychologists at the University which looks at whether performance-related pay (PRP) - prevalent in many jobs including those in the so-called 'gig' economy - has a negative impact on health. Ranjit Fernandez, Principal Teacher of Business Studies and Computing Science at Lathallan, careers adviser and programme leader of the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI), said the online workshops were illuminating. He said, "When our students are in this final stage of school we would normally be encouraging them to attend open days or lectures and to be as involved as possible in learning about life at University. That has become much harder to do due to the pandemic so when the team at the University offered to run the workshops it was a great way for pupils to engage with senior staff, get a feel for what's involved in being an academic, how varied it can be and how this may influence their own advanced studies. Conducting their own mini version of the scientific study was also interesting in helping them consider the health implications of any potential future careers."
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/15566/
 
Description Seminar presentation at AHPG Workshop 2020 - Employment Contracts and Stress 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Seminar presentation at the virtual Aberdeen Health Psychology Group workshop in August 2020 with discussion afterwards.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Seminar presentation at AHPG Workshop 2022 - Cortisol levels after the Covid-19 Lockdown: A Natural Experiment 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Seminar presentation at the Aberdeen Health Psychology Group workshop in May 2022 with discussion afterwards.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Seminar presentation at Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre (BCEC) Research Seminar, Curtin University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Seminar presentation by Dr Andelic and Professor Bender for Curtin University in Perth, Australia with approximately 20 participants.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Seminar presentation at Institute of Social Research, Panteion University, Greece 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation of Grant Project's findings to date by Professor Theodossiou
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Seminar presentation at SDNU (Shandong Normal University, China) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Online presentation of paper, 'Performance-related Pay and Objective Measures of Health After Correcting for Sample Selection' to academics at SDNU by Professor Theodossiou.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Seminar presentation at St Lawrence Economics department - Pay contracts and stress 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Seminar presentation at the Economics department of St Lawrence University with 18 attendants.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Seminar presentation at the UoA Business School Research Seminar - Employment Contracts and Stress: Experimental Evidence 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Internal research seminar presented to the School of Business at University of Aberdeen. The audience consisted of academic and admin staff across the departments within the School of Business. A discussion was had afterwards and several attendants contacted the presenters directly with comments on the research after the seminar had been presented.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Seminar presentation for Global Labour Organisation (GLO) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation at GLO research seminar series with approx 20 participants which sparked questions and discussion afterward by Professor Bender.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyP29LVROm8
 
Description Stress and the Post-Covid Economy Blog 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact This was a blog as part of the University's Business School series about worker stress in the labour market after COVID. The grant results feature prominently in the blog with links to the research time and the project's website.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.abdn.ac.uk/business/blog/stress-and-the-postcovid-economy-/
 
Description Talk at Business in a New Era conference at University of Aberdeen: New Era of Flexibility in Work - 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Talk to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire business community about flexible jobs, but also talked about the health impact of these types of jobs.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/15994/
 
Description The Gig Economy and Mental Health - Presentation to APEG 2020 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Two members of the research team (Prof Keith Bender and Dr Nicole Andelic) were invited to speak about the project at an interdisciplinary event organised by three student societies (Aberdeen Political Economics Group, the Business & Economics Society and the Psychology Society) at the University of Aberdeen. The talk lasted for an hour and was followed by 30 minutes of questions and discussion. Thirty-six undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Business School, Life Sciences and Arts & Social Sciences completed the post-event survey. Participants were asked to rate their enjoyment of the event (M = 4.6), whether they learned something new (M = 4.3) and whether the event had changed their view on payment contracts (M = 3.2) on a scale from 1 ("Not at all") to 5 ("Very much").
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020