Strategies to Enhance Productive and Healthy Environments for the Older Workforce Mr Aadil Kazi

Dr Myanna Duncan, Professor Cheryl Haslam

Objectives
Introduce the Working Late project

Overview of the research phases

Maintaining and improving health across the

life course
Explore physical activity levels Evaluate occupational health initiatives Feedback from organisational stakeholders

Ageing
Increasing age of the UK workforce

Important to maintain health, productivity and quality of working life Need to promote a healthy working environment

Working Late
Collaborative Research Project supported by the New Dynamics of Ageing programme

Aims
Explore the dynamics of later life working

Develop interventions to improve health and workability Develop design solutions to improve the quality of working life

1. User Engagement
Engagement with users to inform research process Research presented to, discussed with, and modified by selected user groups

2.1 Later Life Working

Examine work participation and recruitment opportunities Impact of age discrimination legislation

Interactions between work and family commitments

2.2 Journey to Work

Information, support and technology required to accommodate changing needs Relationship between travel and organisational factors Impact of family commitments

3.1 Occupational Health

Identification of current occupational health strategies Evaluate workplace policies and strategies for promoting health and workability Aims to develop innovative health promotion interventions

3.2 Interventions
Development of health education materials to engage and motivate employees Implement occupational health physical activity interventions Long term intervention to test and evaluate health promoting activity interventions

4. Ageing Through Design

Explore the design needs of ageing workers:
a)Equipment, tools and workspaces b)Job design and planning

Develop design models for an inclusive workplace using Organiser for Working Late

Current OH Strategies
Summary:
Survey with employees:
Identify use and experiences of OH Feedback from health initiatives Physical activity levels

Interviews and focus groups with managers and Occupational Health professionals

Questionnaire
Personal and Organisational Demographics Use of Occupational Health Lifestyle and Physical Activity Domain Specific Sitting Time Questionnaire Work Ability Index General Health Questionnaire Job Attitudes (job satisfaction, organisational commitment, job motivation, intention to quit)

Results
August 2009 to March 2010 596 responses June 2010 to July 2010 217 responses February 2011 to April 2011 328 responses Total: 1141 completed questionnaires 145 Organisations: Private sector: 59.3% Public sector: 40.7%

Demographic Profile
Male: 45% Female: 55% Age = 43 11.9 years

Height = 171 10.2 cm

Weight = 78 18.4 kg BMI = 26.5 5.2 kg/m

Results
66% of respondents regularly engage in physical activity Recommended: 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity, 5 times per week
(Pre July 2011)

Meet guidelines

Not meet guidelines

50 and younger 51 and older

13.4% 8.0%

50.2% 28.4%

New Activity Guidelines

ADULTS (1964 years) 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate intensity activity in a week Or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity in a week Or a combination of moderate and vigorous intensity activity + Activity to improve muscle strength 2 days a week Minimise amount of sedentary time OLDER ADULTS (65+ years) Activity to improve balance and co-ordination 2 days a week

Sedentary Time
Activity In transport At work Watching TV Using a computer Other leisure activities (socialising, cinema, etc) Sleeping at night Feet up (lying down) Workday 1hr 5m 5hrs 7m 1hr 34m 52m 40m 6hrs 42m 1hr 46m Non workday 54m 55m 2hrs 41m 1hr 30m 2hrs 25m 7hrs 20m 2hrs 36m

Sitting Time
600

Time spent sitting in each domain (minutes)

500 400 300 200 100

Other leisure Computer at home TV At work Transport

Workday

Non workday

Relationships
Significant positive correlation between sitting time spent at work and:
Sitting time outside of work General Health Questionnaire Body Mass Index

Body Mass Index

620

Sitting time on a workday (minutes)

600 580 560

540
520

Normal

Overweight

Obese

BMI Group

Press Coverage

Occupational Health
34% of the sample had contact with OH
Poor Satisfactory Good

Excellent

Occupational Health Services

Sickness absence monitoring Back care, MSD and pain management Additional workplace health screening Stress management Accident/incident assessment and advice Counselling Pre-employment health screening Work related illness/disease Disability
14.7%

14.4% 12.7% 7.9% 7.9% 8.9% 6.4% 6.3% 5.4%

Occupational Health Initiatives

Do you know of any health initiative(s) being promoted in the past 12 months?
Yes = 52.4% No = 27.1% Unsure = 20.5%

Workplace Health Initiatives

What health initiatives? Physical activity Mental health promotion 24.3% 19.1%

Health screening
Information on illnesses and diseases Smoking and alcohol programmes Nutrition and healthy eating

15.0%
15.0% 14.5% 11.2%

Participation
Yes: 37.7% No: 62.3%
Do not want to be told what to do Not enough time Not applicable (e.g. non-smoker) Poor quality initiative

Not interested to change routine

Field or home worker

Just heard about the initiatives today!

Read the information but did not act on it

Feedback
What could be improved? More accessible Company cooperation Improved resources Descriptions Make available for all sites and all staff. Run regularly and at different times Support from senior managers and company allowing staff to participate Improve information targeted and easy to understand, more publicity, more than just a website

Feedback
What is good? Knowledge and awareness Employee health Workplace atmosphere Initiative specific Descriptions Increases awareness of health issues, provides ideas and facts, improves understanding Helped improve health (e.g. stop smoking, lose weight) Improved team relationships, team building, shows company cares Inclusive, enjoyable, proactive, varied, accessible, valid, choice to participate

Interviews & Focus Groups

34 interviews 2 focus groups Themes: Barriers to delivering OH services Characteristics of effective interventions Managing the older workforce

Barriers
Lack of trust

Historically in the UK, if you were sent to see occupational health, the next thing you got was your P45.

Barriers
Knowledge of services

There is a high level of ignorance among many managers of exactly what occupational health does and how it can provide them with a service.

Effective Interventions
Relevance

Trying to run interventions which have a relevance, so where there are a lot of musculoskeletal disorders, having something like a back care clinic.

Managing Older Workers

Weve even retired some people from jobs if theyre over a certain age and then re-employing them in an alternative job. It has to be client focused. It is not something that we should assume one size fits all.

Summary
Findings highlight low engagement and awareness of OH department and initiatives
Scope for promoting incidental activity & reducing sedentary time

Summary
Challenges for OH provision at the individual and organisational level Research has helped to identify what OH initiatives employees may value Evidence based occupational health provision for an older workforce

Contact

A.Kazi@lboro.ac.uk www.workinglate.org