Workplaces, employment and wellbeing: Analysis of the Britain's Healthiest Workplace dataset

This research project will seek to examine the relationships between health and work. Using
data collected since 2012 for Britain's Healthiest Workplace survey which covers a large
number of employers and employees in the UK, this research will take a quantitative
approach to understanding how the two are intertwined and how this can be utilised within
social policy and business practice to develop a healthier, more cohesive society which
benefits employers and employees.
Both labour and the social conditions underlying health and wellbeing have been key
considerations within sociology, harking back to the most classic of sociologists in Marx,
Weber and Durkheim. The changes in labour practices over recent decades provoked by the
dominance of neoliberalism and the processes of globalisation are well documented and
with even greater change impending due to the development of AI technologies, a continued
understanding of the societal importance of work will continue. Additionally, of current
pressing concern is the mental health crisis which is currently facing the UK. The Mental
Health Foundation (2016) highlight that in England and Wales, 1 in 6 adults regularly suffer
from a common mental health problem. The continual growth of concern amongst health
specialists regarding mental health rates (NHS Providers, 2017) is echoed in research
showing that productivity loss through mental health is just as significant as through physical
health issues (Hafner et al, 2015). Businesses are gradually beginning to respond to the
causes of this which range in severity but it is important to note that these issues can be
internal or external to the workplace (Siegrist & Wahrendorf, 2016) and so the need for
healthier workplaces is a key factor in improving health outcomes across the country.