‘We know that the longer someone is off sick or out of work, the harder it is to get back to work, and worklessness comes at great personal and financial cost’
Health at Work – an independent review of sickness absence (2011)
A healthy workforce is an efficient and productive one. Work is also one of the ways of building and maintaining good health. However, 140 million working days are lost to sickness absence every year, with 300,000 people falling out of work onto health-related state benefits.
The financial implications are vast; employers pay around £9bn per year in sick pay and associated costs, with the state spending £13bn annually on health-related benefits.
The economic benefits of creating a healthy workforce are sizeable. It is estimated that employers would save approximately £100 million per year with an estimated increase in economic output of £150 million a year.
In January 2013 the government published Fitness for Work: the Government response to ‘Health at Work – an independent review of sickness and absence’. It set out a number of initiatives and interventions to create a healthier and productive workforce as the government recognise the positive effect on people’s health and wellbeing.
It looked at these five themes:
- A health and work assessment and advisory service
- Improving sickness and absence management
- Supporting healthcare professionals
- Reforming the benefits system
- The future direction for the health and work agenda
With these key issues in mind this policy briefing will take an in-depth look at the current and future health, work and wellbeing agenda. It will provide delegates with a platform for informed debate and discussion on the best approaches in creating a healthy and productive labour force and ultimately a prosperous society, both socially and economically.
Speakers:
- David Frost CBE - Chair, LEP Network
- Dr Jenny Lisle MSc MBBS FFPH FRSA - Independent Consultant in Public Health
- Jan Hutchinson - Director of Programmes, Centre for Mental Health
- Professor Stephen Bevan - Director, Centre for Workforce Effectiveness, The Work Foundation
- Emma Mamo - Manager, Policy and Campaigns, Mind