Dr Adrian Wright, Director of iROWE and Associate Dean at UCLan (University of Central Lancashire): How ‘good work’ matters more than traditional health benefits

Dr Adrian Wright, Director of iROWE and Associate Dean at UCLan (University of Central Lancashire): How ‘good work’ matters more than traditional health benefits

Work plays a major part in moulding people’s health — in both positive and negative ways. The question is how employers can ensure they’re more often a beneficial force.

Our research at the Institute for Research into Organisations, Work and Employment (iROWE) looked in detail at the experiences of a cross section of over 200 local workers from across a mix of sectors in Lancashire. Worryingly, the headline finding was that more than half of these employees reported that their work had either caused or made feelings of stress, anxiety or depression worse in the previous 12 months.

And this was happening in spite of efforts by employers to support health and wellbeing. 82% of employers had active health and wellbeing measures in place; and half of the workers had made use of them. It’s further evidence of how the focus on employee health offerings over the past decade has failed to address the core issues around employee wellbeing.

The survey results pointed to what might be the root causes: 70% of the employees said they needed to work longer than their contracted hours; only one in three said they could get their work done inside their normal hours. At the same time, just 55% of people felt they were fairly paid. There was also evidence of issues with short-term contracts, which in turn would be affecting retention and productivity.

But there’s another side to people’s relationships with work — demonstrated by the importance of employee’s feelings of job security and the relationships formed with co-workers. There are still fundamental qualities to the work experience that people value strongly and that provide an important basis in terms of employee motivation and their wellbeing.

The research re-affirmed the need for attention towards formulation, implementation and communication of health and well-being policies ensuring there are clear links between policy, procedure and practice. We set out a list of priorities for both employers and policymakers: including the need to re-focus on people management and providing support for line managers, prioritising ‘good work’ and factors such as pay and benefits, job design, nature of work, training and development, and employee voice; review existing policies to ensure they support staff health and wellbeing (mental health, grievance and disciplinary); encourage managers check in with their employees proactively and consider how the needs of employees can best  those of the organisation when it comes to sustainable and productive work, embracing flexibility.