"We spend a lot of our time at work. Typically around one-third of our waking hours are spent working. What we do helps define who we are, where and how well we live - even how long we live.
People not only want to work, they want to work in good jobs that they feel are rewarding. This is not just about decent pay and basic standards of employment. It is about a fulfilling working life, job satisfaction and achieving individual potential. Improving people's working lives not only improves personal well-being, it can also lead to better, more successful organisations.
The idea that we should ensure that people are not only free from injury and ill-health but actually in good physical and mental health is a positive one that puts people at the heart of any discussion of work. Accepting this principle means that we should see the role of both work and society as being not about production or accumulating wealth, but rather about the promotion of the well-being of the individual. As such it is at variance to the current approach of successive governments at both national and European level, which sees work solely in terms of the economic benefits and where economic growth is an end in itself."

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