A new report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found that one in four workers feels their job negatively affects their mental health.

The study, builds on previous research to develop a measure of job quality in the UK (the Job Quality Index). It found that one in four workers (27 per cent) thinks that their job does not offer good opportunities to develop their skills, jumping to two in five (43 per cent) among unskilled and casual workers. Amongst those in low-skilled jobs, more than a third (37 per cent) said they had not received any training over the last year.

Combining previous research on the factors that affect job quality with a 6,000-sample survey, representative of the whole UK workforce, the CIPD concluded that there are some major systemic issues with overwork, stress and a lack of training and development in UK workplaces. It therefore made a number of recommendations for both employers and the government, as follows. 

Employers should:

  • Offer clear pathways for progression
  • Ensure that all employees have a meaningful voice in the organisation through both individual and collective channels, and via formal and informal mechanisms
  • Increase the provision of flexible working practices
  • Monitor workloads and deadlines to ensure people do not feel under excessive pressure at work
  • Conduct a stress audit and direct resources to reduce or eliminate the sources of stress at work.

Government should:

  • Increase the quantity and quality of vocational education and training by reframing the Apprenticeship Levy as a more flexible training levy and ensuring that all the money raised is spent on adult skills and training
  • Promote lifelong learning.
  • Provide funding for better support for small firms at a local level to help them improve their people management and development practices. Small businesses often do not even have the basics of good people management practice in place and too many owner managers lack the time, resources or knowledge to improve how they manage and invest in their people
  • Ensure the Health and Safety Executive has sufficient resources to encourage all employers to meet their existing legal duty to identify and manage the causes of work-related stress.

Jo Seery of Thompsons Solicitors commented: “The study shows that the “good work” advocated by Matthew Taylor in his Review of Modern Working Practices is a long way off for some employers. Job insecurity, uncertain employment status and poor training are often the result of a poor business model which seeks to transfer the risks of business to the worker. 

The cost to employers who do not invest in their workforce is clear. Workers health suffers and companies become unproductive. Research after research shows that those employers who recognise unions and engage in collective bargaining have better health and safety standards and are more productive. The positive role unions have to play cannot continue to be ignored.”

Visit the CIPD website to read the report in full.