Flexible Pay but Fixed Expenses: Personal Financial Strain among On-Call Employees

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the financial circumstances of a group of temporary employees and whether personal financial strain is related to an increased risk of ill-health. The study group consisted of 778 on-call employees. The response rate to a mailed questionnaire was 56 percent. Twenty percent of respondents stated that they had experienced economic difficulties of some kind. More than 50 percent regarded their form of employment as an impediment to obtaining a loan, and approximately 40 percent regarded it as a barrier to acquiring a housing contract. The study group is strongly polarized with regard to personal financial matters. There is a clear connection between poverty and health. Individuals who were both worried about their personal finances and objectively poor had far lower levels of psychological well-being (as measured by GHQ-12), more stomach, back, and neck complaints, more headaches, and greater tiredness and listlessness. Sleep disturbances acted as a mediating variable between financial pressure and stomach problems.