University of Warwick awarded £1.5m to research well-being at work

The University’s Institute for Employment Research (IER) is set to receive £1.5 million to lead a major study on employee mental and physical well-being.  

The aim of the research is to “address health-related economic inactivity in the UK”. This involves exploring how work environments and job structures impact employee well-being, including long-term sickness, which now accounts for 30% of total economic inactivity.  

As lead researcher of the project, Professor Chris Warhurst has identified the main aim of the study as “boost[ing] our understanding of how job design supports better health […] to fix and improve jobs that can make people unhealthy”.  

‘Creating Healthy Jobs’, the Warwick-led project, will work with health organisations and government officials, as well as employers and employees, to study the links between poor job quality, debilitating health, and the consequent impact on economic activity

Warhurst feels “good job quality” is not only “essential” for productivity in the workplace, but also for employee health and well-being. 

‘Creating Healthy Jobs’, the Warwick-led project, will work with health organisations and government officials, as well as employers and employees, to study the links between poor job quality, debilitating health, and the consequent impact on economic activity.  

The research aims to provide “long-term strategies” for combatting “work-related ill health” and improving sustainability of jobs for the next generations.  

The University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research will receive the significant grant as part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s £7 million investment into “health-related economic inactivity”.  

The NIHR previously invested £1.5 million into 13 other “work and health research projects” in 2023. 

The study will hope to benefit from Warwick IER’s “extensive expertise in employment research” and “track record of influencing national employment policy”.  

It is one of four projects under the NIHR’s Work and Health Research Initiative which look to support the well-being of the working-age population, the other projects being ‘Workplace Intervention for Sustainable Health and Employment Support’, ‘Supply Chain Health Initiative Evaluation’, and ‘Support2Work’.