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Job Promotions Unhealthy
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- Parent Category: Lower-Intermediate News Lessons
- Category: Business Lessons
- Written by Chris Cotter
Ambition makes people work harder and try to get promotions. With the promotions, there are dreams of new cars, bigger homes, and exotic vacations. But there is often a lot more responsibility too. And new research from Britain explains that promotions at work are dangerous for your health.
The research discovered that mental strain increased by about 10% for people who received a promotion. In addition, the negative effects continued for a long time, even after they have quit or changed their jobs. Because of stress and a heavier workload, these people were more likely to skip going to the doctor too.
Stress can be a silent and deadly killer because it affects every part of the body. Stress can cause heart disease, cancer, and depression. Stress slows down or turns off important bodily functions like digestion, growth, and the ability to fight disease. Over a long period of time, the effects add up.
As part of the research, 1,000 newly-promoted people answered questions in an annual survey. And although the poor economy is a cause of stress for many people, now there's something else to worry about too: Job promotion.
Preview some of the lesson material:
Warm Up: Do you agree or disagree? Why?
- I love my job!
- I am an ambitious person.
- I want to get a promotion at work.
- Managers have the most stress at work.
- Work stresses me out!
True or False?: Guess (before the article) or answer (after the article) whether the sentence is true or false. If false, correct the sentence.
- Ambition directly causes people to become unhealthy.
- The health problems lasted only a short time.
- Stress causes people to skip visits to the doctor.
- Stress affects every part of the body.
- Job promotion causes more stress than joblessness.
post-Comprehension: Talk about the following questions in pairs/groups. Remember to support your answers!
- What are some areas that generally cause stress at work? How about at your job?
- What causes the greatest amount of stress in general? How about for you?
- Do you agree that new job responsibilities that come with a promotion are stressful?
- Would you refuse a promotion at work to stay healthier? Why/not?
- Have you ever heard the term "work-life balance?" What do you think it means?
Google Search: Type "stress" into Google. Look at the websites, and/or read additional articles on this topic. Discuss or write an essay about your findings.
