William Roberts, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, emphasises the importance of promoting health in the workplace to enhance employee wellbeing and tackle health inequalities
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home has dominated conversations around work.
However, these conversations sometimes conflate flexible work with healthy work, when this is only part of the picture.
We spend more of our lives at work than anywhere else. Someone who starts work at 18 and works full time until they retire at 65 can expect to spend more than 75,000 hours in the workplace.
We know that workplaces can be drivers of good health – places that help address inequalities and improve our wellbeing. However, as it stands, our conception of health at work often extends beyond avoiding highly damaging accidents.
In addition, healthy life expectancy is declining, and it’s costing our economy dearly. We lose 185 million working days to ill health every year, with costs to businesses estimated at £100 billion annually.
A healthy workforce drives a healthy economy. If we can turn our workplaces into places that drive better health outcomes, we can reduce pressure on the NHS, drive productivity and boost our economy.
Flexible working can offer a great many benefits for our health
Working from home can improve work-life balance, as it reduces the time spent commuting and allows for more time to do the things that make us happy and healthy, such as exercising and spending time with loved ones. Indeed, ONS data has shown that hybrid workers spend 75 minutes a week more on exercise, sports and wellbeing than those working away from home.
More flexibility can also offer benefits to parents, making it easier to manage caring responsibilities and saving them money on childcare.
However, homeworking – including access to it and the health benefits it offers – isn’t always equal.
Exclusively working from home remains a minority pursuit, with only 16% of workers working from home full-time, and 28% working in a hybrid manner. Additionally, 10% of people have the option to work from home but choose not to do so.
On top of this, those who would benefit most from home working often don’t have the option, meaning they are missing out on the health benefits it provides.
Those who can work from home in the right conditions – in a healthy environment, with the right equipment, and with minimal distractions – are more likely to reap the benefits. For example, someone working in a dedicated home office without children in the house is more likely to reap the benefits than someone working in a house share or with children at home.
Where you work from shouldn’t have a negative impact on your health. If we want to ensure that everyone’s workplace promotes good health, then we need to change.Where you work from shouldn’t have a negative impact on your health. If we want to ensure that everyone’s workplace promotes good health, then we need to change.
Workplace health support
We know that ten million people are currently without access to basic workplace health support, including protections such as health checks or vaccinations. We also understand that this disproportionately affects lower-paid or manual occupations, such as agriculture or hospitality.
The government can play a key role in changing this by ensuring that everyone has access to workplace health support, regardless of their location.
A national standard for health support in the workplace should be established, outlining a minimum level of support that all employees are entitled to receive. This would mean that every workplace does what it can to promote employee health.
We also need reform to skills funding to enable every workplace to offer wellbeing training to staff. Changes to the Skills and Growth Levy would allow this, unlocking more ongoing staff training to ensure they can promote wellbeing in the workplace. To achieve this, employers should be able to use their Skills and Growth Levy funds to cover the cost of wellbeing-related training up to Qualification Level 5.
Employees have the right to request flexible working arrangements, and as our society and economy evolve, we can expect the shift to flexible working to remain a permanent feature. As the way we work changes, so must our approach to workplace health.
