Association Between Hours of Work and Subjective Wellbeing. How Do Physicians Compare to Other Professionals?

Abstract

Abstract Background: The analysis of wellbeing among physicians has focused on stress, burnout, and job satisfaction but most analyses rely on small and unrepresentative samples. Using self-reported data between 2011/12 and 2014/15 from a large well-established UK dataset - the Annual Population Survey (APS), this study examines the main subjective wellbeing metrics of physicians in the UK and compares with those of other professionals (lawyers and accountants). Methods: APS is the first survey in the UK that incorporated SWB metrics in April 2011. Since then, the Office for National Statistics have included those metrics in other surveys. The analysis relies on APS data from 2011/12 to 2014/15 and examines the associations between subjective wellbeing variables and hours of work, hourly wages, and underemployment. Estimates are provided for all occupations of interest (pooled model) and then conditioning on each occupation using general linear models (ordinary least squares). Results: A total of 11,810 respondents are included in the analysis among the four main occupations (primary care physicians – general practitioners in the UK, hospital doctors, lawyers, and accountants) of which 8,011 are salaried workers (67.83%). Physicians are more satisfied and happier with their lives and less anxious than other professionals. Age affects negatively to happiness and satisfaction with their lives (-2.1% and -5.1% respectively) and females are more stressed (10.7%) overall. Incorporating preferences to work more hours (underemployment) physicians’ wellbeing is not affected but those of lawyers and accountants worsens. Conclusions: Physicians are less anxious, happier, and more satisfied than lawyers or accountants. Total hours of work do not seem to affect SWB for physicians when the variable is the aggregate measure but working more overtime hours is associate with lower wellbeing levels. Working fewer hours than desired (underemployment) is also associated with changes in wellbeing levels. Increasing the hours of work of underemployed physicians could be an inexpensive solution to overcome the alleged shortage of health workers.