Employee effects of an educational program for managers at an insurance company

Background: Possible health effects for employees of efforts to improve the psychosocial competence of managers have not been studied scientifically i n the past. Objective: To explore how efforts to improve management will ch ange the work environment and health of the employees. Methods: Managers of the experimental department in a large insurance corporation underwent 2-h our biweekly training sessions for I year-altogether, 60 hours. A control g roup of employees in other departments in the corporation not affected by t he modification was followed with the same assessments. Morning blood sampl es for the assessment of serum cortisol were collected both at baseline and after I year in 155 participants in the experimental group and in 147 subj ects in the control group. Liver enzymes and lipids were also assessed. In the questionnaire part of the 1-year follow-up study, there were 119 partic ipants in the experimental group and 132 in the control group. Results: Whe n repeated-measures ANOVA was used, a significant interaction effect was fo und for the level of serum cortisol; serum cortisol levels were decreased i n the intervention group and were unchanged in the control group (ANOVA two -way interaction, p = .02; after exclusion of the managers, p = .005). A si gnificant interaction effect was also observed for decision authority, with increased decision authority in the intervention group and, conversely, a decreased level in the control group (p = .001; after exclusion of managers , p = .02). Conclusions: The study indicates that a moderately intensive ps ychosocial manager program lasting for 1 year can be beneficial for the emp loyees with regard to both lowered serum cortisol and improved authority ov er decisions.