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new dynamics of ageinga cross-council research programme
Working Late: Strategies to Enhance Productive and HealthyEnvironments for the Older Workforce
Cheryl Haslam (PI); Stacy Clemes; Joanne Crawford; Alistair Gibb; Diane Gyi; Roger Haslam; Martin Maguire;
Hilary McDermott; Kevin Morgan; Colette Nicolle. Loughborough University; Institute of Occupational Medicine
Key fndings
An age diverse workorce maintains knowledge,skills and experience within organisations.Promoting an age positive culture is key andexamples o best practice can help organisationsmanage age diversity.
Flexible working practices such as exi-time,part-time working and working rom home canprove benefcial in helping employees continueworking into later lie.
Work is becoming increasingly sedentary andthis is a major public health issue, as sedentarybehaviour is an independent risk actor or a widerange o chronic diseases.
The research developed tailored workplaceinterventions to promote physical activity andreduce sedentary behaviour in workers o allages. The Walking Works Wonders interventionimproved productivity and quality o workinglie and reduced sickness absence, providingeconomic benefts to organisations.
Issues with the journey to work may inuenceemployees choices about whether to continueworking into later lie. The Journey to Workresource has been developed to help exploredierent methods o travelling to work and
to acilitate discussion among employees andemployers.
The research team developed the Organiser orWorking Late (OWL) which encourages managersand workers to think about all aspects o theirhealth in relation to design at work.
Older workers have concerns about being ft orwork and their ability to do their job in the uture.Workers can provide useul input to designwhen thinking about reducing physical stress onthe body. More than 200 design ideas relating
to healthy working and reducing physical andmental stress on the body were captured romworkers. Over hal were deemed as low/no costideas.
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and organisational policies, the impact o age
discrimination legislation and the logistics o the
journey to work.
3. Identiy optimal, evidence based occupational
health provision and collate current best practice
in occupational health services accommodating
the older worker.
4. Develop, implement and evaluate workplace
interventions to promote the health and
workability o workers across the lie course.
Produce evidence based interventions and
innovative health education materials to promote
health at work.
5. Focus on work environment design to develop
the Organiser or Working Late (OWL), a web
based resource to acilitate the design o work
systems, equipment, tools, technologies, acilitiesand the built environment to achieve inclusive,
productive workplaces.
The Study
Working Late was a our year collaborative research
project involving interlinked research studies. The
research team was multi-disciplinary, comprising the
disciplines o psychology; gerontology; occupational
health; biology; ergonomics; engineering and health
economics.
The Working Late team
Background and methods
By 2020 over a third o the UK workorce will
be aged over 50. It is now essential to acilitate
extended working lives by promoting health in
the workplace. Working Late investigated the
policy issues associated with later lie working and
developed interventions and design solutions topromote health, productivity and quality o working
lie o older people. The research involved a mixed
methods approach comprising: ocus groups,
interviews, surveys and interventions. The project
was underpinned by user engagement involving
agencies, employers and older workers to guide the
research process.
Aims
Working Late investigated later lie working acrossthree main contextual themes: employment
context, occupational health context and the work
environment. The project objectives were to:
1. Adopt continuous and active engagement with
agencies, employers and older workers to guide
the research process and deliver eective and
wide ranging dissemination o the fndings and
outputs.
2. Identiy barriers and acilitators to working late,including examination o work participation
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User engagement
User engagement and
dissemination
The Working Late
project involved user
engagement orums
with older workers,
representatives
rom industry, trade
unions and members
o the NDA Older
Peoples Reerence
Group (OPRG) to
inorm the research
programme.
To ensure wide distribution o the research
outputs, a mixed media dissemination strategywas employed whereby fndings were shared
with the scientifc community, organisations and
policy makers through: journal articles, conerence
papers, press releases, news reports, videos, the
Working Late website (www.workinglate.org) and
social media promotion (twitter.com/workhealth).
A Working Late newsletter was produced on a six
monthly basis. The fnal research outputs were
presented and the project resources launched at
the Working Late ShowcaseEvent held in
London in March
2013.
Dynamics o later lie working
Ricardo Twumasi, Dr Hilary McDermott, Professor
Kevin Morgan and Professor Cheryl Haslam
Many legislative changes have occurred in recentyears in response to the ageing population. These
include age discrimination legislation, removal o
Working late
showcase event
the deault retirement age and equalisation o mens
and womens state pension ages.
Given the wide spread impact o these changes, this
research sought to identiy the practice and policy
implications o later lie working.
A comprehensive
literature review wasconducted which
helped develop the
interview schedules
used in this research.
A total o 110
interviews were
conducted, comprising
51 employees aged over 50 years, 20 employers,
27 job seekers over the age o 50, and 12 recentlyretired individuals. Following data transcription
and analysis, fndings were presented, discussed
and validated over the course o 4 expert panels
with Human Resources proessionals, Occupational
Health experts, line managers, employment lawyers,
trade union representatives, civil servants and
academics. Finally, a series o representative video
case studies were flmed using quotes and, in some
cases, participants rom the interview section o
the study. These were accompanied with a series o
responses rom experts.
Key fndings
Overall, employers reported that older workers
were essential in maintaining knowledge, skills and
experience within their organisations. Recruiting
and retaining older workers was reported
as a beneft in responding to the changing
demographics and needs o customers and clients.
However, a minority o line managers, who had
little experience o the benefts o age diverse
workorces, reported selection o candidates on the
basis o age, irrespective o organisational policy or
discrimination legislation. In line with this, older job
seekers oten elt that age was taken into account
when applying or jobs. Older job seekers reported
that they sometimes conceal details that can be
used to calculate their age on their CV, or specifcally
target age riendly employers rather than make
complaints about applications they eel may havebeen rejected due to age. Older job seekers elt
Dynamics of later life working
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that job centres ailed to meet their needs, but they
highly valued job clubs and job-seeking networks.
Oering exible working practices such as exi-
time, part time working, job sharing and working
rom home, and workplace accommodations can be
benefcial in helping employees continue working
into later lie. However, it was interesting to notethat older workers would like these polices available
or all age groups and are against specifc older
worker policies. Although these policies are most
sought ater by employees with health concerns
or caring responsibilities, they oer benefts to all
employees and age groups. Oering policies that
aim to extend healthy working lives across the
workorce is an important step in taking a lie span
approach to promoting longer, healthy working
lives. An age positive organisational culture is
essential in responding to the demographic changes
o the workorce. Examples o best practice and
promotion o best practice initiatives may help
organisations, particularly those without Human
Resource departments, to respond to an age diverse
workorce.
The journey to workColette Nicolle, Dr Martin Maguire, Rachel Talbot
and Becky Mallaband
Issues with the journey to work may be a actor
inuencing workers decisions about whether to
continue working in later lie. This aspect o the
Working Late project examined the journey to work
rom the perspective o older workers and explored
the problems that older workers may experience
with their commute to work and the strategies they
adopt to mitigate travel issues.
The frst stage o the research involved identiying
the main issues associated with the journey to
work and their inuence on employment. This was
achieved by holding user engagement discussions
with experts, employer representatives and older
workers. The discussions inormed the development
o a questionnaire to examine the extent to which
the journey to work may prove a barrier to older
workers. A total o 1,215 completed questionnaires
were returned which provided insight into travel
difculties encountered as well as potential uturetravel difculties anticipated. In order to gather
more detailed inormation on issues with the
journey to work, 36 interviews were conducted with
employees over the age o 45. Finally, 12 employers
were interviewed to assess the ways in which
employers may assist employees with their journey.
Key fndings
A wide range o strategies were identifed toalleviate problems with the journey to work,
including: downsizing to a smaller or more efcient
car; adopting a more efcient driving style; and
obtaining a season ticket loan to make purchasing
the season ticket aordable. Other strategies
included: changing travel route; car share; exible
working; and working rom home. It was interesting
to note that where travel issues were reported,
the likelihood o an employee reporting problems
with their journey to work did not increase withage. However, implications o travel difculties
may change as individuals become older. Where a
younger person is having problems, they may be
likely to change jobs but where an older person
is having difculties they may be more likely to
consider giving up work. The research also explored
initiatives employers use to assist their employees
with their journey to work. For the majority o
employers, no specifc schemes were adopted
except or general working practices, such asworking rom home and/or other exible working
patterns.
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The Journey to work resource
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The research led to the development o the Journey
to Work resource pack which was designed and
assessed by employee and employer representatives
with an aim to eed into practical policy initiatives
to support older workers. The resource can be
accessed at www.workinglate.org/research/journey
and downloaded and printed, as well as being easily
navigable with a PC or tablet to ensure ease oaccessibility in the workplace.
Occupational health provisionDr Myanna Duncan, Dr Aadil Kazi, Dr Stacy Clemes
and Professor Cheryl Haslam
This aspect o the research evaluated the strategies
used by occupational health (OH) departments to
promote health at work. Interviews with OH experts
and organisational stakeholders (n=51) identifedcurrent health promotion initiatives and contributed
to the design o an employee survey. The survey
(n=1,141) explored employees experiences o OH
services, general health and job attitudes. Four ocus
groups were conducted with employees and 2 were
conducted with OH proessionals to explore barriers
and acilitators to delivering health interventions.
Key fndings
Contact with OH services and participation in OH
initiatives was rarely reported by survey participants.
Where contact did occur, common reasons included:
musculoskeletal disorders, pain management and
sickness absence monitoring. Where OH initiatives
were promoted, the majority o employees ailed
to participate because the initiatives were deemed
unsuitable or because the initiatives were elt to be
poorly executed with limited inormation and/or
communication to employees.
The research obtained data on employees physical
activity levels, indicating that less than a quarter
o the sample met recommended guidelines or
physical activity. Data was also gathered on sitting
time in a range o dierent contexts, or example,
at work, in transport and at home. Sitting at work
accounted or more than hal o the total daily
sitting time and individuals were sitting or almost
as much time as they were sleeping at night. When
Body Mass Index (BMI) was examined in relation tositting time, individuals in the obese BMI category
(30+) reported signifcantly higher sitting times
compared to individuals in the normal (18.5-24.9)
and overweight (25-29.9) BMI categories.
Interventions to promote health andwork abilityDr Aadil Kazi, Dr Myanna Duncan, Dr Stacy Clemes,
Lois Edwards, Dr Paul Miller and Professor Cheryl
Haslam
A total o 1,120 employees took part in a 12-month
intervention, which promoted physical activity at
work. Participants were recruited rom 10 dierent
worksites across the UK: Dundee, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Newcastle and
Ipswich (3 sites) and were drawn rom 2 dierent
organisations (1 medium public sector, 1 large
private sector).
The 10 worksites were each allocated to 1 o3 conditions: staged intervention, standard
intervention or control group. In the staged
intervention group the health inormation received
was tailored according to recipients readiness or
change. Those thinking about increasing their levels
o physical activity were given practical advice about
changing behaviour whereas those not thinking
about increasing their physical activity levels were
targeted with awareness raising inormation about
the risks o sedentary behaviour and the beneftso physical activity. In the standard condition,
participants received generic physical activity
promotion material already available via health
promotion organisations. All participants received
Working Late pedometers to record daily step
counts.
Health assessment
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Participants received one-to-one physiological
health assessments at six monthly intervals over
the course o one year. Assessments included
measures o: blood pressure, resting heart rate,
waist to hip ratio, height and body composition
analysis. Participants also completed psychological
health measures in the orm o a questionnaire at
each assessment period. Following the one yearintervention period, a urther 2 health assessments
were conducted at 18 and 24 months to evaluate
the longer term impact o the intervention.
To supplement the quantitative data collected rom
the health screenings, 56 interviews were conducted
with participants. These interviews provided real lie
examples o the ways in which participating in the
health intervention impacted individuals lives both
inside and outside o the workplace.
The Working Late team partnered with the
Royal Society or the encouragement o Arts,
Manuactures and Commerce (RSA), to launch a
national competition or designers to develop
innovative ways o encouraging people to be more
active at work. The competition was judged by a
panel chaired by Proessor Jeremy Myerson, Director
o the Helen Hamlyn Centre o Design at the Royal
College o Art. The winners o the competition
were graduates rom Kingston University, JennyRice and Rachael Ball Risk, who designed Walking
Lunch. Walking Lunch involves placing a large map
(1 metre diameter) in a communal area o a worksite.
The map has a radius o 1.5 km and displays the
surrounding areas o the workplace. The aim is to
encourage employees to use their lunchtime breaks
or a local walk. When employees arrive at an area
on the map, they might take a photo on their mobile
phone or digital camera, and come back to the ofce
to print out the photo and pin it to the map using
tags. The tags have space or employees to record
the number o steps taken to get to the location
in the image and any other relevant inormation.
This may encourage other employees to visit these
areas. Employees participating in the Walking Works
Wonders intervention were also provided with an
individual (smaller) paper version o the map to
track their journey and make any notes.
Key fndings
Individuals provided with staged intervention
inormation demonstrated the biggest reduction in
BMI. Walking or staged and standard intervention
groups increased whereas the control group showed
a reduction. There were signifcant reductions
in sel-reported sickness absence or employees
participating in the study: this averaged to 1.16
days per person per year. Employees also reported
their work perormance increased by 10% in the
past year. There were no dierences between the
results or employees aged over or under 50 years
old, indicating that the intervention is eective orworkers o all ages. Finally, an economic evaluation
calculated that the return on investment or the
intervention was strongly positive. Specifcally, or
every 1 invested, savings o up to 32 could be
made in terms o reduced absence and increased
perormance.
Workplace health interventions
researchfndings I part 1
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Ageing productively through designDr Elaine Gosling, Dr Diane Gyi, Professor Roger
Haslam and Professor Alistair Gibb
Through close collaboration with industry, this
component o the research aimed to encourage
managers and workers to think about healthy
ageing at work. This led to the co-developmento the Organiser or Working Late (OWL) resource
which aims to acilitate communication in relation to
design in the workplace. Underpinning the research
was belie that industry can learn rom older and
experienced workers about good design, in terms o
encouraging healthy behaviour and healthy ageing.
A total o 21 industrial collaborators participated
in a questionnaire survey (n=719) which explored
the design o work tasks, tools, environments and
the eect o these on workers, both physically and
mentally. Ergonomic observations and interviews
were conducted with employees (n=32) in 4
collaborating organisations, including construction,
ofce work, manuacturing and animal care.
The aim was to gain in-depth understanding
o how employees interact with the design in
their workplace. This resulted in 130 hours o
observations. Images, audio and video recordings
were captured to highlight individual working
conditions. Following the observations, a series oocus groups were conducted where employees
were encouraged to reect upon their work, how
health and ageing impacted on their ability to
work and discuss design ideas and solutions to
specifc problems. These fndings contributed to
the production o the OWL resource, iteratively co-
developed by the research team and participating
organisations. The resource urther included
evaluation by 15 programme testers, managers and
associated stakeholders who ocused on checkingthe accuracy and quality o the content during
implementation and evaluation.
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Key fndings
Many workers rom a cross-section o dierent
industries and job types experienced a high level o
musculoskeletal symptoms. The prevalence was high
or both older (aged 50 and over) and younger (aged
49 or less) workers. Workers aged 50 years and over
expressed concerns about being able to remain ftand healthy or work, their ability to complete job
tasks and keeping up work perormance as they
age. Workers recognised that their workplaces
could be better designed to promote their health
but they perceived they were not empowered to
make changes. The concept o a workplace good
design champion was suggested to acilitate the
identifcation and implementation o good practice.
More than 200 design ideas relating to healthy
working and reducing physical and mental stress onthe body were captured rom the research, with over
hal deemed as low or no cost ideas. The outputs
rom the research led to co-development o the OWL
resource which aims to acilitate communication in
relation to design in the workplace. OWL includes
design tools, personal stories, audio and video clips
o design ideas to assist discussion o health needs
with employees. The tool is based around two
themes namely: the body at work, which includes
a suite o image and word cards based aroundthe body, the work environment, equipment, and
actions; and healthy ageing though design, which
demonstrates the diversity o the ideas and personal
stories workers had in relation to their health and
age at work. OWL can be accessed online at
www.workinglate-owl.org through a PC, tablet or
smart phone to make it as versatile and accessible as
possible on dierent platorms.
The body at work cards
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Conclusion
The Working Late project has raised the profle o the ageing workorce and produced new knowledge o how
organisational policy and practice impacts on the employment experiences o older workers. Investigatingexperiences o older job seekers has highlighted some o the ways employers may discriminate on the basis
o age. The journey to work and the options, enablers and barriers workers may ace were investigated and
a travel resource was generated to help identiy and manage commuting problems. The research evaluated
employees experiences o previous workplace health promotion initiatives and used the results to inorm the
development o a new and innovative physical activity intervention. The Walking Works Wonders intervention
was designed, implemented and evaluated in worksites across the UK. Results showed that it improved health,
productivity and quality o working lie, and now considerable scope exists or many more employees and
organisations to beneft rom this intervention. Finally a web resource: the Organiser or Working Late (OWL)
was developed to support workers and managers using tools that aid communication in relation to good
design and ergonomics, promoting an inclusive workplace and acilitating later lie working.
Design I Print I www.shefeld.ac.uk/cics/printanddesign I August 2013
Published by the NDA Research ProgrammeDepartment o Sociological Studies
University o Shefeld
ElmfeldNorthumberland Road
ShefeldS10 2TU
www.newdynamics.group.she.ac.ukEmail: [email protected]
ndafndings 22
Contact detailsProfessor Cheryl HaslamWork & Health Research Centre
School of Sport, Exercise & Health SciencesLoughborough University
LeicestershireLE11 3TU
www.workinglate.orgEmail: [email protected]