Office for National Statistics
The Healthy Workforce
Book

The Healthy Workforce

Enhancing Wellbeing and Productivity in the Workers of the Future (Future of Work)

Stephen Bevan and Cary L. Cooper
Emerald Publishing Limited, 2021

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7

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Scientific
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

Chronic stress and illness – both physical and mental – are the major causes of lost productivity in most Western economies. Labor researchers Stephen Bevan and Cary L. Cooper examine the massive impact of ill health on productivity. They sift historical and current research to identify the most practical, evidence based solutions for delivering effective workplace health interventions. They tell how to create a workplace culture that helps employees stay productive and well, now and into the future.

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects may end workplace culture as you know it.

Today, governments, businesses and workers worldwide are reflecting on their ways of living and working, thanks to the COVID-19 crisis and its transformative effects on social, economic, public health views and practices. Some long for a return to normal; others have found opportunity in the crisis.

The pandemic demonstrated the value of social capital by highlighting the mental and physical costs of isolation, and also reminding everyone of the importance of their relationships with family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. The experience sparked renewed interest in investing in social capital, a critical glue that holds communities together.

The pandemic precipitated a shift to flexible, remote working, straining many organizations’ long-term efforts to maintain traditional work environments and cultures.The change brought enormous gains in terms of individual well-being and productivity, even as the rapid, enforced culture shift stressed systems and highlighted failings in pre-pandemic infrastructures.

Stopgap measures put...

About the Authors

Stephen Bevan is Head of HR Research Development at the Institute for Employment Studies (IES). Cary L. Cooper is the 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at ALLIANCE Manchester Business School of the University of Manchester. He is President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and of the Institute of Welfare, and is Chair of the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Work.

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