When you meet someone for the first time, what questions do you ask? After enquiring about their name and where they live, the next one tends to be: “What do you do?”
Where you work and what profession you have an enormous impact on how others see you.
It also has a huge effect on your self-confidence and self-worth.
It offers far more than an income to provide a roof over your head or food on the table, it defines who we are, our values and beliefs.
When work is taken away, whether that be through redundancy or ill-health, it hits people hard, shattering their self-esteem.
“Returning to employment signals far more than financial security.”
Returning to employment signals far more than financial security and independence, it means rejoining the wider world and being an active member of society.
“Getting back to work meant leaving the cancer behind and getting on with my life. I was determined not to retreat from life, but to get back into the world and start living again.”
These are words of Beverley Lambert, one of our claims consultants, who is in remission from breast cancer and is back working part time at the Society.
For her, recovery was about regaining both her health and the life she had before. Work took on a much greater significance to her personally.
This importance of work is not unique to Beverley or those who have suffered serious illnesses.
Our recent survey with more than 2,400 UK workers found that more than half (51%) would be likely to continue to work if they didn’t have to for financial reasons. Some 7% said they were already in this position, illustrating that work provides so much more than money.
“The youngest respondents said they would be most likely to continue to work.”
Interestingly, it is the youngest respondents, those aged under 35, who say they would be most likely to continue to work. Almost two thirds (63%) believe they would do so. This shows there is an appreciation amongst this generation of the value of work, of having purposes and goals.
The results also indicate that work takes on equal importance for both sexes, with very little difference between the responses from men and women.
Just over half (53%) of men said they would be likely to continue to work if they didn’t have to for financial reasons compared to 49% of female respondents.
CRUCIAL ROLE
For us in the protection industry, understanding the role work plays in peoples’ lives is crucial. Knowing how much value and self-worth people draw from it helps us to frame what we do in a completely different way.
What we are offering is not just the finances to cover essential bills but a route back to their previous life.
If people have cover in place they can focus on recovery, without worrying about money.
It also provides them with the means to get the help they need, whether that’s physiotherapy, mental health support or anything else they need to get better.
Numerous studies have shown the detrimental impact isolation and loneliness has on those who ill.
“The longer people are away the harder it is to leap back to normal life.”
The longer people are away from their normal lives, not interacting with their friends, their communities and their colleagues, the harder it feels to make that leap back to normal life.
It is so easy for confidence to crumble and to doubt yourself and your abilities. Protection provides the impetus they need to take that first step.
Getting people to reflect on the satisfaction they get from their work, the amount of pride it gives them and how closely it is intertwined with their self-confidence, will encourage more to take a moment to think about why it is important to protect that.
