Bad bosses threaten your health

Unreasonable bosses increase their employees' risk of a heart attack or stroke, according to research out today.

In a study, 28 women healthcare assistants aged between 18 and 45 worked for three days either with good managers, or one day each with a good manager and a bad one.

Automatic monitors measured their blood pressure every 30 minutes for 12 hours over three working days.

The assistants were asked to assess the interpersonal style of their supervisors on issues such as whether they consulted before making decisions.

Healthcare assistants whose supervisors were consistently unfair and unreasonable had measurably higher blood pressure than those whose bosses were not. This gave them a 16 per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease, and 38 per cent more risk of a stroke.

The report, by Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, concluded that a workplace "characterised by fairness, empowerment and consideration is likely to provide one inexpensive strategy for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disorders".