Work, Learning and Wellbeing, 2021-2022

Is it possible to change working practices so that workers are happier, more productive and absent less often? How can growing numbers of older workers best adapt to working later in life and find new jobs in changing labour markets? What lifelong learning opportunities do adults require in order to thrive in globalised and technologically advanced economy? What are the societal costs of ignoring worker wellbeing? This research is concerned with addressing questions such as these and identifying practical interventions, tools and processes that can protect and enhance the wellbeing of workers, adult learners and those seeking work. Wellbeing comprises many components. In relation to work- and adult learning, wellbeing is formed from multiple factors including: the experience of positive emotions in work and in learning and infrequent experience of negative emotions; job satisfaction; work-life balance; work and learning performance; skills development. Understanding such a diverse concept requires expertise from a range of research areas, including economics, education, law, public health, employment relations and psychology. This project will build upon the wealth of existing research and data to identify what can be done to protect and enhance the wellbeing of workers, adult learners and those seeking work.

In the first phase of the research, we will identify nine priority areas for action. To help us identify and refine priorities, we will engage with different user groups through public consultations. We will then address two main issues. 1. We will examine 'what works' for protecting or enhancing aspects of wellbeing. In each priority area, we will begin by identifying, systematically reviewing and evaluating the best possible research in order to identify factors that can protect or improve wellbeing. 2. Then we will examine 'what works for whom and in which circumstances'. We will do this by analysing the best existing data - for example the most comprehensive nationally and inter-nationally representative surveys. We will take the results from our reviews of existing research and examine if some factors promote wellbeing more for some groups (eg. younger workers, workers in service jobs) than for others. We will examine trade-offs and spillovers between different components of wellbeing within or between different groups. For example, do people take on new work that is difficult and stressful in the short-term so that they may acquire skills and have a more interesting job in the longer term? Do organisations that promote work-life balance also promote intergenerational benefits through the educational attainments of workers' children, as workers spend more time helping their children learn through culturally or physically rich activities? By examining what works for whom and in which circumstances, trade-offs and spillovers, we will produce a rigorous assessments of the costs and benefits of specific interventions for a range of groups.

The team will be mindful of two major principles. First, 'what works' needs to be actionable by workers, adult learners, those seeking work and those close to them (eg. line managers, educators, careers advisors, job centre staff) - so the research will focus on what can be done 'on the ground'. Second, because wellbeing is comprised of many things, we will seek interventions that offer improvements across a broad range of the elements of wellbeing and a broad range of people. By doing so the results which speak more effectively to policy actors who have to account for the inter-dependencies of specific interventions in the context of heterogeneous users.

Throughout the research, the team will engage with the public through extensive use of social and traditional media, public lectures, workshops and talks. This engagement will inform the guidance we offer so that it is heedful of the complexities, obstacles and trade-offs that stakeholders encounter when initiating action.<p>Is it possible to change working practices so that workers are happier, more productive and absent less often? How can growing numbers of older workers best adapt to working later in life and find new jobs in changing labour markets? What lifelong learning opportunities do adults require in order to thrive in globalised and technologically advanced economy? What are the societal costs of ignoring worker wellbeing? This research is concerned with addressing questions such as these and identifying practical interventions, tools and processes that can protect and enhance the wellbeing of workers, adult learners and those seeking work. Wellbeing comprises many components. In relation to work- and adult learning, wellbeing is formed from multiple factors including: the experience of positive emotions in work and in learning and infrequent experience of negative emotions; job satisfaction; work-life balance; work and learning performance; skills development. Understanding such a diverse concept requires expertise from a range of research areas, including economics, education, law, public health, employment relations and psychology. This project will build upon the wealth of existing research and data to identify what can be done to protect and enhance the wellbeing of workers, adult learners and those seeking work.

In the first phase of the research, we will identify nine priority areas for action. To help us identify and refine priorities, we will engage with different user groups through public consultations. We will then address two main issues. 1. We will examine 'what works' for protecting or enhancing aspects of wellbeing. In each priority area, we will begin by identifying, systematically reviewing and evaluating the best possible research in order to identify factors that can protect or improve wellbeing. 2. Then we will examine 'what works for whom and in which circumstances'. We will do this by analysing the best existing data - for example the most comprehensive nationally and inter-nationally representative surveys. We will take the results from our reviews of existing research and examine if some factors promote wellbeing more for some groups (eg. younger workers, workers in service jobs) than for others. We will examine trade-offs and spillovers between different components of wellbeing within or between different groups. For example, do people take on new work that is difficult and stressful in the short-term so that they may acquire skills and have a more interesting job in the longer term? Do organisations that promote work-life balance also promote intergenerational benefits through the educational attainments of workers' children, as workers spend more time helping their children learn through culturally or physically rich activities? By examining what works for whom and in which circumstances, trade-offs and spillovers, we will produce a rigorous assessments of the costs and benefits of specific interventions for a range of groups.

The team will be mindful of two major principles. First, 'what works' needs to be actionable by workers, adult learners, those seeking work and those close to them (eg. line managers, educators, careers advisors, job centre staff) - so the research will focus on what can be done 'on the ground'. Second, because wellbeing is comprised of many things, we will seek interventions that offer improvements across a broad range of the elements of wellbeing and a broad range of people. By doing so the results which speak more effectively to policy actors who have to account for the inter-dependencies of specific interventions in the context of heterogeneous users.

Throughout the research, the team will engage with the public through extensive use of social and traditional media, public lectures, workshops and talks. This engagement will inform the guidance we offer so that it is heedful of the complexities, obstacles and trade-offs that stakeholders encounter when initiating action.

Planned Impact
We have a highly interactive and user-led approach to our work (as detailed in the case for support and pathways to impact). Our focus primarily is on user-benefit and user-uptake of knowledge. Nevertheless, the knowledge we produced will be a synthesis of theoretically and methodologically rigorous and systematic interrogation of the best possible research and existing data.

Beneficiaries fall into four major groups:

1) End users such as workers, adult learners, those about to enter the workforce such as students and job seekers.

2) Those that are close to end users, including GPs, trade union representatives, line managers, educators, job centre staff, careers and vocational advisors. For the end users and those close to them, benefits will come from improved understanding of wellbeing and its importance in 'living a good, productive and intellectually rich life'; how to make local adjustments in work and learning environments to protect and promote wellbeing; and, through tools and calculators to aid decision making, how different courses of action (eg. job choice) may affect different aspects of wellbeing.

3) Intermediate users, such as Local Enterprise Partnership board members, employer groups (Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Associations), further education college principals and other adult learning providers, County/City councils, public service commissioners, senior managers in private, public and voluntary organisations. For intermediate users, benefits will come through improved understanding of: wellbeing and interventions to improve wellbeing; wellbeing's contribution to organisational performance and social equality; trade-offs between performance and wellbeing; and tools and calculators for evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of wellbeing interventions.

4) High-level users, such as policy makers (politicians), implementers (civil servants, charities), influencers (professional and trades institutions and bodies such as the Institute of Directors) in the UK and elsewhere (eg. European Trade Union Confederation, EU Occupational Safety and Health Agency), and other What Works Centres (especially National Institute of Clinical Excellence {NICE}, Educational Endowment Foundation and What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth). The benefits for high-level users are similar to those for intermediate users. Improvements in understanding will be more sophisticated than other user groups, and will encompass an understanding of the evidence-base, the limitations of the evidence-base, and gaps in the evidence. There will be enhanced understanding of interventions to improve wellbeing that can be enacted, supported or encouraged through policy and how 'wellbeing' policy may contribute to, for example, national, regional and sectoral economic performance, tax revenues, and health service spend. High level users will be able to contact the team to solicit answers to specific policy questions, with answers provided through rapid evidence reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and secondary analysis as appropriate.

We will stress to all beneficiaries that interventions to improve wellbeing must be based on the best available evidence for cause and effect (which will necessarily involve developing and disseminating a simple and intuitive explanation and demonstrator for beneficiaries 1 and 2), that sometimes there may be trade-offs to be made between different aspects of wellbeing, that contextual factors need to be considered when choosing and implementing interventions, and users need to consider potential knock-on effects of unintended reductions in wellbeing outside of interventions' targets.

We have requested a total of £44,990 for our impact activities. These include: 6 conferences in cities across the UK; 3 conferences in Norwich; 90 public lectures across the UK; meetings with senior civil servants; a web-portal; briefing reports, three high quality summary reports.</p>

能否通过改变工作实践，让劳动者更快乐、更高效且缺勤率更低？日益增多的老年劳动者应如何更好地适应延迟退休，并在变化的劳动力市场中找到新工作？成年人需要哪些终身学习机会，才能在全球化与技术先进的经济环境中蓬勃发展？忽视劳动者福祉会带来哪些社会成本？本研究旨在解答此类问题，并识别可保护和提升劳动者、成年学习者及求职者福祉的实用干预措施、工具与流程。福祉包含多个维度，在工作与成人学习领域，其构成因素包括：工作与学习中的积极情绪体验及较少的消极情绪体验；工作满意度；工作-生活平衡；工作与学习绩效；技能发展。理解这一多元概念需要涵盖经济学、教育学、法学、公共卫生、劳动关系及心理学等多个研究领域的专业知识。本项目将基于丰富的现有研究与数据，确定可采取哪些措施来保护和提升劳动者、成年学习者及求职者的福祉。

在研究的第一阶段，我们将确定九个行动优先领域。为帮助识别并细化优先事项，我们将通过公众咨询与不同用户群体互动。随后，我们将解决两个核心问题：1. 探究哪些措施能有效保护或提升福祉的各维度。在每个优先领域，我们将首先识别、系统回顾并评估最优质的研究，以确定可保护或改善福祉的因素。2. 探究哪些措施对哪些群体在何种情境下有效。我们将通过分析现有最佳数据（例如最全面的全国及国际代表性调查）来实现这一点。我们将利用现有研究综述的结果，考察某些因素是否对特定群体（如年轻劳动者、服务行业劳动者）的福祉提升作用更显著。我们还将研究不同群体内部或群体间福祉各维度之间的权衡与溢出效应。例如，人们是否会承担短期困难且压力大的新工作，以换取长期技能提升和更有趣的工作？促进工作-生活平衡的组织，是否会因劳动者有更多时间通过文化或体力丰富的活动帮助子女学习，从而通过劳动者子女的教育成就产生代际效益？通过探究措施的适用群体与情境、权衡与溢出效应，我们将对针对不同群体的特定干预措施的成本与收益进行严谨评估。

研究团队将遵循两大原则：其一，有效的措施需能被劳动者、成年学习者、求职者及其身边的人（如直线经理、教育者、职业顾问、就业中心工作人员）实际执行——因此研究将聚焦于“落地可行”的方案。其二，由于福祉涵盖多个维度，我们将寻求能在广泛的福祉维度及人群中产生改善效果的干预措施。通过这种方式，研究结果能更有效地为政策制定者提供参考，他们需在用户异质性的背景下考虑特定干预措施的相互依赖性。

在整个研究过程中，团队将通过广泛使用社交媒体与传统媒体、举办公开讲座、研讨会及会谈等方式与公众互动。这种互动将为我们提供的指导意见提供依据，使其充分考虑利益相关者在采取行动时面临的复杂性、障碍及权衡。

能否通过改变工作实践，让劳动者更快乐、更高效且缺勤率更低？日益增多的老年劳动者应如何更好地适应延迟退休，并在变化的劳动力市场中找到新工作？成年人需要哪些终身学习机会，才能在全球化与技术先进的经济环境中蓬勃发展？忽视劳动者福祉会带来哪些社会成本？本研究旨在解答此类问题，并识别可保护和提升劳动者、成年学习者及求职者福祉的实用干预措施、工具与流程。福祉包含多个维度，在工作与成人学习领域，其构成因素包括：工作与学习中的积极情绪体验及较少的消极情绪体验；工作满意度；工作-生活平衡；工作与学习绩效；技能发展。理解这一多元概念需要涵盖经济学、教育学、法学、公共卫生、劳动关系及心理学等多个研究领域的专业知识。本项目将基于丰富的现有研究与数据，确定可采取哪些措施来保护和提升劳动者、成年学习者及求职者的福祉。

在研究的第一阶段，我们将确定九个行动优先领域。为帮助识别并细化优先事项，我们将通过公众咨询与不同用户群体互动。随后，我们将解决两个核心问题：1. 探究哪些措施能有效保护或提升福祉的各维度。在每个优先领域，我们将首先识别、系统回顾并评估最优质的研究，以确定可保护或改善福祉的因素。2. 探究哪些措施对哪些群体在何种情境下有效。我们将通过分析现有最佳数据（例如最全面的全国及国际代表性调查）来实现这一点。我们将利用现有研究综述的结果，考察某些因素是否对特定群体（如年轻劳动者、服务行业劳动者）的福祉提升作用更显著。我们还将研究不同群体内部或群体间福祉各维度之间的权衡与溢出效应。例如，人们是否会承担短期困难且压力大的新工作，以换取长期技能提升和更有趣的工作？促进工作-生活平衡的组织，是否会因劳动者有更多时间通过文化或体力丰富的活动帮助子女学习，从而通过劳动者子女的教育成就产生代际效益？通过探究措施的适用群体与情境、权衡与溢出效应，我们将对针对不同群体的特定干预措施的成本与收益进行严谨评估。

研究团队将遵循两大原则：其一，有效的措施需能被劳动者、成年学习者、求职者及其身边的人（如直线经理、教育者、职业顾问、就业中心工作人员）实际执行——因此研究将聚焦于“落地可行”的方案。其二，由于福祉涵盖多个维度，我们将寻求能在广泛的福祉维度及人群中产生改善效果的干预措施。通过这种方式，研究结果能更有效地为政策制定者提供参考，他们需在用户异质性的背景下考虑特定干预措施的相互依赖性。

在整个研究过程中，团队将通过广泛使用社交媒体与传统媒体、举办公开讲座、研讨会及会谈等方式与公众互动。这种互动将为我们提供的指导意见提供依据，使其充分考虑利益相关者在采取行动时面临的复杂性、障碍及权衡。

计划影响
我们的工作采用高度互动且用户主导的方法（详见支持案例及影响路径）。我们的核心关注点是用户利益及知识的用户采纳率。尽管如此，我们产出的知识将是对现有最佳研究与数据进行理论及方法上严谨且系统审视后的综合成果。

受益群体分为四大类：
1) 终端用户，如劳动者、成年学习者、即将进入劳动力市场的群体（如学生）及求职者。
2) 终端用户身边的人，包括全科医生（GPs）、工会代表、直线经理、教育者、就业中心工作人员、职业及技能顾问。对终端用户及其身边的人而言，收益将来自：对福祉及其在“过上美好、高效且智力丰富的生活”中的重要性的深入理解；如何在工作与学习环境中进行局部调整以保护和促进福祉；以及通过辅助决策的工具与计算器，了解不同行动方案（如职业选择）对福祉各维度的影响。
3) 中间用户，如地方企业合作委员会成员、雇主团体（商会、小企业协会）、继续教育学院校长及其他成人学习提供者、郡/市议会、公共服务专员、私营、公共及志愿组织的高级管理人员。对中间用户而言，收益将来自：对福祉及改善福祉的干预措施的深入理解；福祉对组织绩效及社会平等的贡献；绩效与福祉之间的权衡；以及评估福祉干预措施有效性及成本效益的工具与计算器。
4) 高层用户，如英国及其他地区（如欧洲工会联合会、欧盟职业安全与健康局）的政策制定者（政治家）、执行者（公务员、慈善机构）、影响者（专业及行业机构如董事学会），以及其他“有效实践中心”（尤其是国家卫生与临床优化研究所{NICE}、教育捐赠基金会及地方经济增长有效实践中心）。高层用户的收益与中间用户类似，但理解将更深入，涵盖证据基础、证据基础的局限性及证据缺口。他们将进一步理解可通过政策实施、支持或鼓励的改善福祉的干预措施，以及“福祉”政策如何促进国家、区域及行业经济绩效、税收收入及医疗服务支出等。高层用户可联系团队咨询特定政策问题，团队将通过快速证据综述、系统综述、元分析及二次分析等适当方式提供答案。

我们将向所有受益群体强调：改善福祉的干预措施必须基于因果关系的最佳可用证据（这将涉及为第1、2类受益群体开发并传播简单直观的解释与演示工具）；有时需在福祉各维度之间进行权衡；选择及实施干预措施时需考虑情境因素；用户需关注干预目标之外可能导致福祉意外下降的潜在连锁效应。

我们已申请总计44,990英镑的经费用于影响活动，包括：在英国各地城市举办6场会议；在诺维奇举办3场会议；在英国各地开展90场公开讲座；与高级公务员会面；搭建门户网站；制作简报及三份高质量总结报告。