The University of Birmingham’s Centre for Evidence and Implementation Science awarded funding by the NIHR to assist in a major study on job quality and health.
The University of Birmingham’s Centre for Evidence and Implementation Science has been awarded new funding by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to assist in a major study on job quality and health.
The funding is part of NIHR’s £7 million initiative to address health-related economic inactivity in the UK. Job-related ill-health impacts employers’ productivity and costs, through lost working days, sickness absence and associated conflict at work. It shortens people’s working lives and results in too many people being unable to work, leading to NHS and welfare costs. The total UK cost may be more than £100 billion per year.
Professor Amy Grove and Dr Lena Alkhudairy from the University of Birmingham are leading the evidence hub component of the project, which will identify what aspects of jobs make them healthy and unhealthy, enabling ideal types of healthy jobs to be identified and constructed.
The aim of this project is to better understand the links between job quality and health, with the objective of leveraging job quality to create ‘healthy jobs’ in the UK. A healthy job maintains good worker physical and mental health.
Professor Amy Grove, Director of the University’s Centre for Evidence and Implementation Science, said: “We have a national crisis in the UK due to job-related ill health. We have high rates of absenteeism and poor productivity in certain sectors. Previous interventions have tried to solve the problem of the ‘worker’. We are flipping this narrative and aiming to fix and improve jobs, not workers.
“Improving public health and reducing health inequalities in this way has not been attempted before and is a new way of thinking about the problem. The aim of this project is to better understand the links between job quality and health, with the objective of leveraging job quality to create ‘healthy jobs’ in the UK. A healthy job maintains good worker physical and mental health. As a team, we will provide a much-needed new preventative, integrated, multidisciplinary approach that focuses on mental and physical, short and long-term health, and that recognises the multidimensional nature of jobs. The ultimate aim will be a future with no unhealthy jobs. Instead, jobs will be designed with good health in mind.”
The Creating Healthy Jobs project will be led by the University of Warwick. Professor Chris Warhurst, Director of Warwick’s IER and lead researcher on the project, said: “Good job quality is essential not just for productivity, but for people’s well-being. This research will boost our understanding of how job design supports better health. We’ll be working with employers, workers, policymakers, health organisations and others to create practical solutions that improve working lives and reduce economic inactivity.”
This research is one of four projects funded under NIHR’s Work and Health Research Initiative, which aims to support the working-age population in remaining in, returning to, and leaving work in ways that enhance their overall well-being.
For details on the NIHR Work and Health Research Initiative, visit the NIHR website.
125th Anniversary Chair
School of Social Policy
Amy is a Psychologist and Professor of Implementation Science. As a leading methodologist, she evaluates health technology and innovation to directly impact health service design and delivery
