working late: nda findings 22

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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

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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]

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Contact detailsProfessor Cheryl HaslamWork & Health Research Centre

School of Sport, Exercise & Health SciencesLoughborough University

LeicestershireLE11 3TU

www.workinglate.orgEmail: [email protected]

working late: nda findings 22

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