Topic description and stories

Getting ‘work’ right is good for people and the nation. It contributes to increasing productivity, better living standards and economic growth.

One day of paid work a week is all we need to get mental health benefits of employment

19 June 2019

Latest research finds up to eight hours of paid work a week significantly boosts mental health and life satisfaction. However, researchers found little evidence that any more hours – including a full five-day week – provide further increases in wellbeing. 

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Staff counselling.

Feeling better for longer

26 Mar 2012

Research into the effectiveness of staff counselling reveals that workplace support can have a striking and sustained effect for employees with...

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Final assembly at the Lotus Cars factory, Hethel, Norfolk.

Job security and pay fears at heart of manufacturing’s “image problem”

08 Mar 2012

Misplaced fears about job security and low pay could thwart efforts to strengthen British manufacturing and rebalance the economy, a new analysis of...

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TUC Demonstration

The State of the Unions

11 Nov 2011

Don’t write off the unions yet – a new study reveals how trade unions are adapting to 21st century pressures in an effort to reclaim the hearts and...

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Computer Keyboard

PCs to blame for rise in stressed out workers

30 Sep 2011

New research shows early adoption of PCs led to a rise in work intensity in the UK

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Advertisement from Daily Mail Ideal Labour-Saving Home, 1920

Who mops the floor now? How domestic service shaped 20th-century Britain

28 Jul 2011

From the fictional Downton Abbey to the modest suburban semi, domestic service has had a prominent role in the story, whether real or imagined, of...

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1984 Port Talbot Miners Strike

Brave New World?

17 Sep 2009

British trade unionism was not undermined by Margaret Thatcher, but by the dawn of a new, brutally competitive age that weakened it dramatically in...

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Money

Men hit harder by credit crunch stress

06 Mar 2009

Men who think they may lose their jobs are likely to become more depressed and anxious than women, even though they claim to be less concerned, new...

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