We are conducting an extensive review of current research related to job-loss risk factors and associated methods to retain and support aging workers. Our aim is to develop and assess the feasibility and acceptability of an OH surveillance process to proactively identify aging workers who are working and at risk of premature job-loss, who are provided with a non-clinical biopsychosocial intervention together with routine OH advice to reduce the risk of premature job-loss and extend working lives. The findings from this pilot study will inform the feasibility of a wider national identification and intervention research project.
There were 446,601 people above the age of 70 still in work last year, a rise of 61% compared with 277,926 in 2012
Rest Less in the Guardian April 2023 “British workers increasingly likely to work into their 70s, research suggests” by Rob Davies
Our research identifies aging workers (50+) at high risk of job-loss and seeks to develop OH interventions aimed at helping workers extend healthy working lives. It will identify opportunities to prevent premature job-loss through risk assessment screening long before job-loss and implement a supportive programme of OH directed early interventions to facilitate low cost/low maintenance adaptations and adjustments as required by the Disability Regulations of the Equality Act (2010).
Our Research Questions
How many individuals are designated as being at high risk of premature job-loss on applying the health surveillance questionnaire definition of “at risk of job-loss” to a UK working population, and what are their characteristics in terms of age, sex, socio-economic status, ethnicity and multimorbidity?
Is a tailored demedicalised biopsychosocial intervention intended to extend working lives and improve quality of life feasible to deliver and acceptable to individuals, employers, and managers across a wide range of occupations including individuals of differing socio-economic status?
What tools and interventions can be developed and managed effectively to support aging workers and enable them to remain in work with support from employers and occupational health services as required?
power-research.org 