Workplace illness 'to get worse'

An ageing workforce and higher rates of illness and disease among employees will pose a serious threat to British business by 2030, a report has warned. Private healthcare company Bupa estimates the number of workers with chronic conditions will rise by at least 7 per cent to more than four million. Rates of mental illness and serious diseases, such as heart problems, will also soar.

Bupa warns the problem will damage all companies' long-term productivity. Its report concludes employers should take a wider view of workplace health interventions, and this 'requires employers to embed workplace health more closely in organisational culture. It also requires them to align investment in workplace health more closely with other aspects of human resources, such as skills and training, job design and working practices.

By investing to improve the quality of work, employers can help to promote the positive relationship between good work and good health.' The report, published in partnership with The Work Foundation, The Oxford Health Alliance and RAND Europe, brings together more than 200 pieces of research to provide an insight into how the health of British workers will change over the next 20 years. The study estimates that the average age of the workforce will reach 43, while 68 will become the average age of retirement by 2050. The increasing age of the workforce will be one factor fuelling rates of ill health. Musculoskeletal disease will rise by 8 per cent to affect more than seven million people, while heart disease will rise by 11 per cent to affect more than a million. Rates of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and asthma are all likely to increase sharply. And rates of mental illness will rise by 5 per cent to 4.2 million.