Making good work the foundation

Perhaps this isn’t unsurprising given the UK’s economic landscape, which has long been defined by rising unemployment, economic stagnation, and growing levels of economic inactivity. Add into the mix, global social and political instability and an AI revolution that threatens to transform everything we know about work, and it becomes easy to understand why anxiety and stress levels are on the rise.

Mike Robinson: "Good work is good for people."

In 2023, Gallup reported that almost 90 per cent of UK workers were unhappy at work and we see confirmation of this across other datasets. Earlier this month, PwC published a report showing that 20 per cent of all workers have considered leaving their job at some point in the last 12 months and 10 per cent have considered leaving the labour market for “an extended period of time.” This would be the worst of all worlds, harming not only the economy and employers but employees too.

The solution to these challenges is not simple, but a fundamental premise remains true: that good work is good for people. It helps to improve physical and psychological health, embeds healthy routines and encourages individuals to feel that they are part of a collective endeavour. Taking a wider view, good work contributes to economic growth through increases in productivity and profitability. It can get people back to work, and support them to remain there, reducing economic inactivity and the growing welfare bill associated with it.

We know that work has a significant impact on our ability to live well, and perhaps more importantly, feel that we’re living well. The average person spends an estimated one-third of their life at work, which for better or worse, has profound impacts on the wider human experience. As we look ahead to the future, to workplaces fifty or a hundred years from now, we hope to see environments in which all workers can move beyond stress, anxiety and burnout; but this is not a foregone conclusion.

How we embed good work as a foundation and how we ensure that every worker in every workplace can thrive is no small undertaking. It requires government leadership, regulatory intervention, industry willingness and an open mindset ready to challenge age-old misconceptions that leave workers open to harm.

As the Employment Rights Bill continues to take shape, we stand at a critical juncture. The policies set by this Parliament will define workplace experiences for generations to come, underscoring the vital need to embed good work as a foundation today, to help the workers of tomorrow to thrive.

The Employment Rights Bill offers policymakers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine our entire approach to work and build our national employment strategy on a solid foundation of good work. This would leverage new and developing working styles, unlock lost productivity through technological advancement, and respond to the growing challenges of today and tomorrow. After all, we know that the prosperous economies of the future will be the ones that choose to embed good work as a foundation, understanding that the most important asset of any society, like any business, is its people.

The challenge, and opportunity, for the policymakers of today is to be bold. To reimagine. To transform. To lay the foundations of good work today that builds the thriving workplaces of tomorrow.

Mike Robinson FCA is Chief executive of the British Safety Council