Researchers in Spain have said that top-down management, an autocratic boss who does not listen to employees -- increases healthcare costs.

How a person's work is organized can hurt health from heart disease to mental health, lead author Clara Llorens Serrano of the Trade Union Institute of Labor, Environment and Health in Madrid said.

The survey involved 7,612 employees in Spain from October 2004 to July 2005.

Published in the journal Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, the study found that healthcare costs were reduced with more democratically organized workplaces that enable employees to learn new skills; work security and salaries paid according to the number of hours worked.

It was further reported that a more participatory workplace that was most strongly linked to less healthcare costs related to a workers' degree of influence over their work and schedule, chances to use and learn new abilities and skills and to feel their work has meaning.

The study linked fewer healthcare expenses to receiving help and feedback from colleagues and supervisors; team spirit, tasks and having a clear area of individual responsibility. (With Inputs from Agencies)