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A new longitudinal study of more than 9,000 UK workers shows that people with no flexibility in their jobs are four times as likely to quit work after a health decline. This poses a serious challenge to the government’s Get Britain working agenda
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People with disabilities or illnesses are 1.5 times as likely to be unemployed or inactive economically due to long-term sickness or early retirement
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A survey of 1,000 UK leaders of business shows that only 48% offer flexible working, and only 37% provide occupational health services, to help workers remain in employment. This highlights the importance of the upcoming Employment Rights Bill, and other reforms to the workforce’s health.
The Work Foundation, Lancaster University has conducted a new study that examines the reasons why workers leave the UK job market due to sickness. This research reveals how large the interventions are needed to stop the flow of people quitting their jobs because of illness.
The Work Foundation at Lancaster University has published a report today that tracks the employment paths of 9,169 UK employees aged 16-60 between 2017/18 and 2021/22, with a focus on those who fell ill in the first two study years.
Researchers found that, using Understanding Society data from the four-year period of study, nearly one out of ten (9%) employees who experienced a decline in their health left the workforce by the end. Nearly half of these employees left their jobs within the first year. Men are more likely than women to quit within the first 12 months (4,7%)
According to the Work Foundation, data show that accessing flexibility in the workplace is crucial for people with health conditions who want to stay at work. Employees with no flexibility were four times as likely to quit their jobs after experiencing a decline in health.
The Work Foundation report, however, highlights what researchers refer to as a ‘awareness-to-action gap’ amongst UK employer’s when it comes addressing illhealth at work.
A survey of over 1,000 senior business executives in Great Britain found that two thirds (64%) believed poor employee health was detrimental to the economic performance of their organization. However, less than half of employers (48%) offered flexible work arrangements to their staff.
Only a third (35%) of the businesses surveyed reported that they had taken other steps to prevent illness, including assessing mental health risks at work (36%) and making adjustments to workload, pace, and role clarity.
Ben Harrison is the Director of the Work Foundation, Lancaster University. He said that the UK Government’s agenda to “Get Britain Working” focuses on helping those who are no longer in the workforce to return. But if we don’t consider the factors which drive people to leave the labor market, we run the risk of treating symptoms instead of the causes.
It is evident that it is increasingly difficult to get someone back to work after they have left their job due to illness. In order to achieve the government’s goal of increasing the employment rate by 80%, it is essential that we take steps to stop the flow from those who leave work because they are sick and to find new ways for them to remain in the workforce.
Researchers discovered that having multiple health conditions increases the likelihood of workers quitting their jobs. After a negative transition in health, those with a single health condition or disability were 1.5 times as likely to quit work than those who did not have a condition. This likelihood increases to 2.4 for those who have two disabilities or health problems, and to 5.6 for those with more than three conditions.
Workers with poor mental wellbeing who suffer from a disability or health decline have 1.9 times more likelihood of quitting their jobs than workers with good mental well-being.
Ben Harrison continues, “We found that workers with multiple conditions, including mental health problems are particularly vulnerable to early termination from their jobs.” But crucially, the evidence shows that employers can play a major role in retaining workers who are ill. Keep Britain Working must identify new ways that employers and the government can work together in order to offer this early intervention.
Professor Stavroula leka of Lancaster University was a coauthor. She stated: “Unlike other nations like Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands the UK Government doesn’t provide adequate support for employers by coordinating preventative occupational healthcare services.
“The business leaders we interviewed acknowledged the importance of occupational healthcare, but only 37% provided these services to their staff.
The UK’s current system needs to be improved. The focus is not on early intervention and prevention to help sick workers stay in work.”
The Work Foundation report includes a number of recommendations that call on the Government:
- Assuring that the Employment Rights Bill provides for flexible and secure working conditions from day one.
- Enhance enforcement of mental risk assessments and prevention measures
- Lead a transformational strategy of occupational health services focusing on improved and expanded coverage for all employees, with large employers providing mandatory provision.
- Create a UK wide network of workforce health hubs that offer funded SME services, and are integrated with public health initiatives
- Strengthening and increasing Statutory Sick Pay to encourage retention and allow a gradual return to work
- Examine the practicalities for extending the employer’s duty of care, subsidising long-term absences, and encouraging vocational rehabilitation.
To read the report – Stemming the tide: Healthier jobs to tackle economic inactivity – and recommendations in full, please visit the Work Foundation at Lancaster University website: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/publications/stemming-the-tide
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