There’s no doubting the link between workplace health and happiness, and employer, employee, and wider economic benefits. Government’s focus is very much on moving the economically inactive back into the workplace but it needs to address why they fall out of the workplace in the first place. Although the recent consultations on occupational health are a step towards this, it’s important for government to recognise that there’s more in an employer’s kitbag that is useful here than just pure occupational health and that more is needed to encourage more employers to move towards providing a better level of long-term sick pay and support during absence.
This new report from WPI Economics makes four recommendations:
- A commitment to improve workplace health and happiness, involving UK-wide collection of data on an annual basis examining workplace health and happiness, which could be used to monitor and drive progress over time.
- A new system of Statutory Sickness Support.
- A wider definition of occupational health.
- National employer standards and an accreditation scheme for workplace health and wellbeing at work.
You can access the full report here.
