Why healthy jobs matter
Why healthy jobs matter
Too many jobs cause or worsen poor worker health. Physical and/or mental ill-health caused by bad jobs impacts employers’ productivity and costs through lost working days, sickness absence and associated conflict at work. It can also force people to leave the workforce - shortening their working lives.
- 1.77 million workers are affected by poor job quality, and some workers face a higher risk
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Poor workforce health is estimated to cost UK employers up to £150bn a year through lost productivity, sickness absence and recruitment costs
- 2.6m people in the UK are economically inactive due to ill-health
What's different about this project?
Too much attention to date - from policymakers, practitioners, employers and others - has focused on trying to ‘fix’ the worker, when their health has already been harmed by their job. We need to know more about the aspects of work that support positive health,
Our vision is that all jobs are designed with good health in mind. To do so, we first need to understand how work – the quality of jobs with their work and employment practices - impacts on health. This approach is new. To be successful, we need a rigorous evidence base that builds on what’s already known. We also need to undertake new analyses and engage those with a stake in the future of jobs and health.
That’s why this project:
- has been developed in partnership with those well-placed to create healthy jobs for the future
- will use and build on existing evidence and practice in the UK and beyond
- will continue to draw on the experiences of employers, workers and practitioners to set a benchmark for creating healthier jobs.
What this project will do
To fix the problem of unhealthy jobs, we will:
- Explore the different dimensions of job quality and how they interact with physical and mental health
- Shed new light on health inequalities, taking account of different demographics, UK regions and industries.
- Make new and better cost-benefit calculations of healthy jobs
- Make the case for better measurement and research capacity so there is a sustained focus on healthier jobs
- Illustrate how we can create more healthy jobs, with roadmaps for change in two test areas: hospitality and in Greater Manchester
We will build the foundations for a ground-breaking approach to improving population health by achieving better working life. This will be championed by workers, employers and others committed to more healthy jobs in the UK.