One in four working people aged 55+ with a health condition are considering leaving work as a negative culture and bureaucratic procedures put many off speaking to their employers until a crisis point. This is according to a new report from Ageing Better, ‘Health warning for employers: supporting older workers with health conditions’, which claims that employers are not properly supporting older workers experiencing long-term physical and mental health conditions. Health is the most important factor affecting older workers’ decisions to stop working before reaching State Pension age. Ageing Better’s research finds that early access to support, small adjustments to the workplace and working patterns, and empathetic management are crucial to enabling people to manage their health at work and remain in employment. But the research also found that workers are often put off speaking to employers until the last moment due to poor workplace culture and overly bureaucratic procedures.

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It probably comes as no surprise to learn that people work better if they’re happy, but according to a new survey over three quarters (79 percent) of workers believe their boss doesn’t care whether or not they are happy at work, even if being happier helps improve their performance.  The 2018 Happiness Survey from One4all asked employees from different age groups, genders and industries about the impact their happiness at work has on their productivity, and found that 39 percent of workers will work harder if they are happy in their current role or place of work. It suggests that happiness amongst workers goes a long way: almost a third (30 percent) of workers said they would even be more willing to work overtime or for longer when they are happy. The data also revealed that 38 percent of workers say their happiness impacts their performance at work, which means employee productivity and results also see a positive effect from a happy workforce.

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One in four workers (25 percent) feel their job negatively affects their mental health, while nearly a third (30 percent) say their workload is too high, according to a brand new report from the CIPD, the UK Working Lives survey. Although the survey found that two-thirds of workers (64 percent) were satisfied with their job overall, one in ten (11 percent) report regularly feeling miserable at work. More than a quarter (28 percent) of senior leaders say that they find it difficult to fulfil personal commitments because of their job, while over a quarter (27 percent) say that their job does not offer good opportunities to develop their skills, jumping to two in five (43 percent) among unskilled and casual workers. Focusing on the three main groups in the labour market, those at the lower levels are far less likely to have access to skills and training, those in middle management feeling significantly squeezed by their workload and those at the top find it difficult to maintain a work/life balance.

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Two new reports published today reflect increasing concerns about stress and mental ill health at work and a lack of understanding by many organisations in how to combat the problem. A new study by Bupa claims that mental health is now a priority at board level for almost two-thirds (65 percent) of businesses, rising to 72 percent among large corporates, while mental health is now a bigger issue than physical illness among employees for nearly a third (29 percent) of businesses. Yet while an overwhelming majority (96 percent) of businesses want to help support their people, many (57 percent) do not know how to best support employees with these challenges. Two in five (39 percent) admit that awareness and understanding of mental health issues is still low across their organisation. These findings are echoed in a report carried out by Perkbox that claims work is by far the most common cause of stress (59 percent). Yet almost one in two (45 percent) of British businesses do not offer anything to help alleviate this, despite the fact that 1 in 4 (25 percent) struggle to be as productive at work when stressed.

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