Well-being in Work: understanding the relationship between health, well-being and work

Progress so far

The Well-being in Work programme of research will be completed in three distinct stages:

Stage 1: Setting the Context

Stage 1 of the Well-being in Work initiative involved setting the socio-economic context of health and work in Merthyr Tydfil and was completed in March 2006. the final report ‘Profiling the community in Merthyr Tydfil: problems, challenges and opportunities’, can be seen by clicking here.

Stage 2: Primary Research

Stage 2 explored the relationship between health, well-being and work within two major employers in the Merthyr Tydfil area: the North Glamorgan NHS Trust and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. The research involved:

A comprehensive survey to look at what people think about their jobs, how healthy and happy people generally feel, what kind of health problems people have and how these affect them at work. 573 people took part in the survey which was carried out over a 12-month period so that we could look at what happens over time.

A qualitative study involving 101 people, using both interviews and focus groups, to investigate in detail what people think about their health and well-being in work. For example, we asked whether people think work affects their health, and what happens at work if someone becomes ill, and how they think things could be improved.

Analysis of existing anonymous information on demographics, occupational history, and sickness absence from datasets so that we could look at whether things have changed over time.

Gathering details of existing health promotion, work retention, and rehabilitation policies and interventions already going on within the two organisations.

Through this research, we have been able to further our understanding of the complex relationship between health, well-being and work, and look at what kind of interventions might be useful in improving the quality of our working lives. Some of the key findings from the Stage 2 Report are described below.

There is a high prevalence of common health problems in the workforce, with 86% of people having one or more health complaints over a one month period. Common health problems have a high prevalence in the general population, and this is by no means unique to these organisations or to this region.

The survey revealed a culture of ‘presenteeism’ in Merthyr Tydfil. Presenteeism is when people continue to be at work in spite of illness rather than taking sickness absence and is a recognised phenomenon that occurs across the UK. This highlights the complexity of the relationship between health and work, and stresses the importance of supporting people with health problems who are able to remain at work as well as those who need to stay at home.

The interviews and focus groups indicated that the way people view their working environment is crucial if they are to remain at work with a health problem. Their relationships with work colleagues were important to their well-being and the role of managers was key in providing support and enabling them to access policies and services provided by the organisations.

The research demonstrates that while strategies for improving well-being in work are much needed in this community, many of the challenges identified were consistent with studies carried out in different locations and organisations across the UK. Many of these problems can be reduced through the development of appropriate workplace- and work-focused interventions and this is what we hope to achieve in Stage 3 of the Well-being in Work initiative.

Stage 3: Intervention

Stage 3 will involve the development of interventions designed to improve the quality of our working lives. These will be based on evidence of current best practice gathered from the scientific literature, and on the findings of Stages 1 and 2 of the Well-being in Work initiative. We will focus on interventions that make it easier for people to stay at work or return to work if they have been off work due to illness, as loss of work due to illness can be damaging to our general health and quality of life.

Stage 1 and 2 demonstrate the importance of providing the right support for people at work, and that there is significant potential to introduce successful interventions at a number of levels focusing on the individual, organisations, health professionals and/or the general public within the Merthyr Tydfil community and beyond.