There needs to be ‘a national reset’ on workplace health during 2025, a think-tank has urged, with government and employers needing to come together to tackle the ‘greatest employment challenge for a generation’ and stem the flow of people leaving work because of ill health.
The call to action by the Work Foundation at Lancaster University has followed a poll of more than 1,000 senior business leaders, which found two-thirds (64%) believe poor employee health has had a detrimental effect on their organisation’s economic performance.
However, a broadly similar percentage (66%) also believe recent governments bear at least some responsibility for this decline in health among the working-age population because of inadequate healthcare provision.
Some 64% of the employers polled also believed individual workers bear responsibility because of making unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Ill-health worklessness
NHS to test return-to-work ‘accelerators’ as part of tackling ill-health worklessness
Youth worklessness and mental health: how employers can make a difference
Weight-loss jabs not the solution to ill-health worklessness
More than half (51%) recognised that employers, however, do have a role too in this decline in health because of not sufficiently supporting the health and wellbeing of their employees.
The UK remains the only G7 country with a smaller workforce than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Analysis of Office for National Statistics data by the foundation has shown that a near-record 2.8 million people are economically inactive because of long-term sickness – an increase of 676,000 since December 2019 to February 2020.
Longitudinal research released by the foundation in December tracked the employment journeys of more than 9,000 UK workers. This found that nearly one in 10 (9%) who had experienced a decline in health had left the labour market by the end of the four-year study period.
The analysis also showed that almost half of those employees had left work within the first 12 months, and accessing flexibility at work is key for those with health conditions being able to remain in work. Employees without any flexibility in their job roles were four times more likely to leave work after a health decline.
The researchers found that being affected by multiple health conditions makes it significantly more likely that workers will leave employment.
Workers with a single disability or health condition were 1.5 times more likely than those without a health condition or disability to leave work following a negative health transition.
However, this likelihood of leaving work increases to 2.4 times for those with two disabilities or health conditions and increases to 5.6 times for those with three or more conditions.
Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said: “The government have called rising levels of long-term sickness the ‘greatest employment challenge for a generation’. Addressing it will require employers and the government to work together to reset the UK’s approach to workforce health, and ensure anyone who can work is offered secure and sustainable employment.
“Reducing NHS waiting lists and providing better access to healthcare will be critical but is only one part of the story. The reality is that once someone leaves work due to ill health, it becomes increasingly more challenging to help them back into employment. We need to see employers themselves investing more in providing secure, flexible jobs in healthy and inclusive workplaces, which can support the retention of those who fall ill in the first place,” Harrison added.
Among its recommendations, the foundation is calling on the government to:
- Ensure the Employment Rights Bill enshrines secure and flexible working from day one of employment.
- Revise the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 to reflect current modern workforce challenges, and enhance enforcement of mental health risk assessments and preventive measures.
- Lead a strategic transformation of occupational health services focused on improved and extended coverage for all workers, with mandatory provision by large employers and funded support for SMEs.
- Strengthen and increase Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to promote retention and enable a phased return to work, and explore subsidising the cost of long-term sickness absence.
“Our research has found an ‘awareness to action gap’ amongst UK employers when it comes to addressing ill health at work,” said Harrison.
“Employers, particularly SMEs, are aware of the challenges but do not always have the resources or capacity to support workers to stay in work. As we approach the spending review, we would like to see the government working proactively with employers and commit to establishing a UK-wide network of one-stop workforce health hubs, offering funded SME services that are integrated with public health initiatives,” he added.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
