The aim of the study is to design innovative workplace interventions to support the health and wellbeing of mid to later life workers.
14 October 2021
Supporting Healthy Ageing at Work (SHAW) project is a three-year, £2m project (Mar 2021 – Feb 2024) funded by the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge as part of the Social, Behavioural and Design Research Programme. The aim of the study is to design innovative workplace interventions to support the health and wellbeing of mid to later life workers. The approach requires close engagement with employers, employees, professional bodies, and other key stakeholders, to deepen understanding of how work and health are intertwined in older workers’ everyday lives.
The study takes the interdisciplinary, mixed method approach, drawing on large quantitative household survey datasets for statistical evidence on health, finances, and work in later-life, coupled with primary qualitative data collection. We are partnering with case study organisations in the finance, manufacturing, and social care sectors, as well as with a group of self-employed workers. We worked with 158 employees aged 50+ in these organisations to better understand the sorts of health issues that they face. We are particularly interested in older workers’ experiences of 'hidden health' issues that tend to be overlooked in workplace health interventions such as menopause, cognitive ageing and decline, financial wellbeing and health needs of informal carers.
In the second phase, we engaged 48 participants in a year-long co-design process to develop and test workplace health interventions. Data was collected using design activities and probes, workshops, interviews self-reported questionnaires and wearable devices. This process has resulted with the development of SHAW App, a web-based digital tool that is envisioned to help mediate reflection on individual health and review of wellbeing over time, as well as curating information on relevant organisational supports in place, and to support better communication in the workplace.
This project is led by Professor Professor Wendy Loretto in collaboration with Dr Jakov Jandric. For more information about the project visit the SHAW website.