The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published three new research reports aimed at developing the evidence base by which progress on health and well-being at work can be measured and monitored over time.
The research comprises two surveys, one questioning employers and the other focusing on employees, as well as a study on attitudes to health and work among the working-age population.
The employers’ survey, which questioned 2250 organisations between February and May last year, found that only a slim majority of companies agreed that the financial benefits of investing in employee health and well-being outweighed the costs, and half thought their employees would not want their employers to intervene in their physical and mental health.
Whether or not this impression of employee sentiment is accurate is unclear. The study examining the attitudes of people of working age towards health and work showed that only moderate support exists for employers (53 per cent) to have a say in the length of time individuals should be signed off due to ill health, compared with 91-per-cent support for GPs having such a role.
However, more than 80 per cent of respondents think that employers should take steps to help employees with long-term conditions to carry on working.
The findings of the employers’ survey suggest there is much work to do in this regard, as two thirds of employers said they had not taken any actions to help employees with health problems stay in work, or return to work. The most common actions taken by the third who did so were: allowing employees to work different, or reduced hours; and arranging meetings to discuss extra help employees might need to stay in, or return to work.
Just over three fifths (61 per cent) offered flexible-working arrangements, such as flexi-time, working from home, and job sharing. However, just 17 per cent of employers provided stress management advice and support. This question was also asked of more than 2000 employees as part of the separate worker-perspective research, with 32 per cent reporting that stress management, or support was provided by their employer.
Asked about health and well-being initiatives offered within their organisation, only 38 per cent of employees reported having access to occupational-health services. The most common benefits cited were more than 20 days’ leave and employer pension schemes.
Nearly half (48 per cent) of respondents said they had taken some sick leave in the previous 12 months, but a similar percentage (42 per cent) also reported that, at some point, they had gone to work in this period when, in their opinion, they were too ill.
The three health and well-being research papers – RR 750 (employers); RR 751 (employees); and RR 763 (working-age population) – are available at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs-index.asp
What makes us susceptible to burnout?
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.