Occupational Health Assessment Limited’s research highlights the increased health and wellbeing challenges of older employees.
Research undertaken by Occupational Health Assessment Limited suggests that employers remain largely unprepared for the realities of an ageing workforce in the UK.
The recently published Keep Britain Working final report confirmed that the UK “is getting older and living longer and becoming sicker sooner”. Despite these findings more than half (55%) of the HR professionals responsible for more than 160,000 employees felt that UK employers were not fully aware of ageing workforce challenges. And just 7% of HR experts believe that existing wellbeing and absence management policies are sufficient to support older workers.
Steve Herbert, Brand Ambassador at Occupational Health Assessment Limited, observed;
“The UK workforce has been ageing rapidly in recent years as a result of pressures at both ends of the age range. Falling fertility rates are reducing the number of younger workers entering the workforce whilst the continued increases to the state retirement age results in older employees working for longer.
Around 1 in every 3 workers is already aged 50 and above, and it is likely that this number will increase again in the years ahead.”
Occupational Health Assessment Limited stress that older workers bring many benefits such as experience, reliability and fewer incidence of short-term absence. Yet this same grouping are statistically more likely to be coping with one or more long-term health conditions making any period of sickness absence potentially far longer and more challenging to support.
This assumption is supported by the Occupational Health Assessment Limited research which demonstrates that employers see greater incidence of short-term absences for younger (31%) and mid-career (35%) employees, whilst older workers are absent less frequently (5%). Yet older workers are five times more likely to experience a long-term absence than a colleague under age 30.
Interestingly the HR experts who responded to the survey felt that mid-career workers (those aged 30 – 50) are the grouping most prone to both short and long-term absences.
Magnus Kauders, Managing Director of Occupational Health Assessment Limited, commented;
“The simple realities of ageing suggest that older workers may require a deeper level of support to stay healthy and at work for longer.
It would however be a mistake to focus on older-worker support in isolation. Our research – and that of the Keep Britain Working review – clearly demonstrates that employers must provide improved health and wellbeing support across the age ranges if they are to combat increased absence, poor wellbeing, and lower productivity. We would strongly urge employers to revisit their health and wellbeing policies and consider the use of occupational health services to support more positive outcomes.
We sincerely hope that mention of The Keep Britain Working review is included in the Budget, and hope that The Chancellor will consider incentives to encourage employers to offer greater workplace wellbeing support.”
For full details of the Occupational Health Assessment Limited research findings please scroll down.
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Survey details & results
The anonymous survey was undertaken on Tuesday 16th September as part of the quarterly Occupational Health Assessment Employment Webinars series. 139 senior HR, Finance, and C-suite professionals responded representing UK employers in the Private, Public, and Third Sector. In total these organisation employ at least 160,000 employees worldwide.
Survey results and questions:
Q1) Do you think UK employers are sufficiently aware of ageing workforce challenges?
- Yes – most are prepared for this change (2%)
- Yes – at least some are prepared for this change (34%)
- No (55%)
- I’m not sure (9%)
Q2) Should UK employers be rethinking & improving absence management policies in light of a rapidly ageing workforce?
- Yes – more robust policies are needed (28%)
- Yes – at least some improvements to current policies are needed (59%)
- No – existing practices are sufficient (7%)
- I’m not sure (2%)
- N/A – absence management is generally ineffective (5%)
Q3) In which age group are you seeing the greatest number of short-term (up to 4 weeks) absences?
- Younger workers (those aged under 30) (31%)
- Mid-career workers (those aged 30 to 50) (35%)
- Older workers (those aged 50 and above) (5%)
- No clear groupings (18%)
- We don’t see the value of absence data (1%)
- I’m not sure (10%)
Q4) In which grouping are you seeing the greatest number of long-term (four weeks or more) absences?
- Younger workers (those aged under 30) (4%)
- Mid-career workers (those aged 30 to 50) (36%)
- Older workers (those aged 50 and above) (25%)
- No clear groupings (12%)
- We don’t see the value of absence data (0%)
- I’m not sure (11%)
- N/A – we have not experienced long-term absences (11%)
About Occupational Health Assessment Limited
Occupational Health Assessment Limited is a team of highly qualified and experienced specialists who aim to help employers identify and reduce their workforce health risks.
Headquartered in Guildford, Surrey, the team delivers occupational health support right across the UK and provides assessment appointments within 48 hours of a request. This rapid response service ensures that businesses are provided with all the key data to make robust and swift decisions to reduce absence, support employee wellbeing, avoid presenteeism, mitigate litigation and avoid unwanted negative publicity.
Occupational Health Assessment Limited are a Certified B-Corporation and SEQOHS Accredited occupational health provider and have been independently assessed as meeting high standards of care and service by the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.
Occupational Health Assessment Ltd in numbers:
170 years of combined OH and employee benefits expertise and experience
165 appointments available weekly
325 thousand client employees covered
48 hours to get an appointment
“The service is congratulated on their high level of appreciation and support regarding individual experience, knowledge, and skills and the ongoing development of their staff” SEQOHS Assessment Report
Website: www.occupationalhealthassessment.com
