Job-related ill health is costing UK businesses up to £41 billion a year, with 1.77 million workers suffering due to poor job quality according to new research from The University of Warwick.

Businesses lose an estimated 50 working days per employee annually and 9.5 million people economically inactive. The study highlights how improving job design could enhance worker health, boost productivity, and reduce strain on the public purse.

Conducted by ReWAGE – an independent expert advisory group hosted by Warwick and Leeds Universities with funding from Deloitte – the study examines workplace factors affecting employee health and calls for greater attention to job quality to help public health and economic performance.

It highlights how job insecurity, low pay, long hours, high job strain and workplace bullying contributes to poor health outcomes for employees. Conversely, job security, fair pay, autonomy, social support and a healthy work-life balance are linked to better well-being.

Current approaches to workplace health tend to be reactive, addressing worker ill health after it arises. The report suggests that a shift toward preventative measures – by improving job design – could support worker wellbeing and reduce associated costs.

“If the UK Government wants to reduce the public spend on health and welfare it needs to think seriously about preventive actions to address ill-health created by work,” says Professor Chris Warhurst of Warwick Institute for Employment Research. “If we want to reduce health and welfare costs, we need to improve job quality. The evidence suggests that good jobs provide good health.”

With the UK Government aiming to lower healthcare and welfare costs, the research calls for businesses and policymakers to consider job quality as a key factor in public health strategies. This approach could include widening job-related health risks in workplace risk assessments and establishing minimum standards for job quality.

The report also emphasises the need for improved data collection to better understand job-related health impacts, proposing that the ONS incorporate a job quality module into the Labour Force Survey. This would provide more comprehensive insights for policymakers.

The full report, The Case for Creating Healthy Jobs: A Review of the Evidence, is available at: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/rewage/publications/the_case_for_creating_healthy_jobs_a_review_of_the_evidence_evidence_paper_050325.pdf

Support by a short Policy Brief: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/rewage/publications/the_case_for_creating_healthy_jobs_a_review_of_the_evidence_policy_brief_050325_b.pdf

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Stevie Connoll – Media & Communications Officer
stevie.connoll@warwick.ac.uk / +44 (0)7824 540791

About the authors

This policy brief was authored by Professor Chris Warhurst, Dr Carla Toro, Dr Jamelia Harris, Gill Dix and Dr Rebeka Balogh of the Universities of Warwick and Glasgow.

This paper represents the views of the authors based on the available research. It is not intended to represent the views of all ReWAGE members.

This work was funded by Deloitte. For more information, visit: https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about.html  

Funding

This work was funded by Deloitte. For more information, visit: https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about.html.

ReWAGE is part of an integrated research infrastructure funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The ESRC is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. For more information, visit: https://www.ukri.org/.

About ReWAGE

ReWAGE is an independent expert advisory group modelled on SAGE that is co-chaired by the Universities of Warwick and Leeds. It analyses the latest work and employment research to advise the government on addressing the challenges facing the UK’s productivity and prosperity.

For more information, visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/rewage/.

Core funding for ReWAGE was provided by the Economic and Social Research Council.