There, in the TV studio the same morning as me recently, was Dame Carol Black, launching her report, Working for a Healthier Tomorrow, looking fit, as you would expect of a post-retirement age long-distance walker and runner.
Black rightly argues that keeping people in work is infinitely better for their health than a sick-note culture that ingrains incapacity. However, on present trends, by 2050 life expectancy for men born after 1985 will be 93. And while not everyone agrees that working longer would be part of the solution to the problem of funding their pensions, it does highlight the fact that health and fitness is now undeniably a business issue. For skills scarsities make it all the more important that older people don't become a massive wasted resource: without them, our organisations will suffer.
Mutual benefits
This is perhaps better understood in the Scandinavian countries. In the building department of the city of Helsinki, for instance, one of the measures introduced involves a 'health guarantee'. The worker promises to follow a healthy lifestyle, while the employer promises to facilitate this with high-quality medical care, no waiting lists, regular health checks and support for sporting activities. Excessive social drinking is discouraged, smoking has been virtually eradicated, and all workers have a specific plan and understanding with the occupational health physician to engage in regular physical exercise. As a result, retirement ages are rising, sickness leave declining dramatically.
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