According to new evidence, giving employees greater flexibility at work is likely to boost their health and well being.

Clare Bambra, researcher at Durham University (DU), England said, greater flexibility "has the potential to promote a healthier workplaces and improve work practices."

Kerry Joyce, also a DU researcher, who led the study said besides physical risks, the workplace can pose a threat to health due to factors like high workloads, time pressures, lack of control and limited social interaction with others and stress in turn can contribute to conditions like heart disease, depression and anxiety.

The authors sought to determine what researchers have discovered about the effects on health of "flexible working" - measures that give employees more autonomy.

A DU release further said that they also looked at other kinds of interventions, such as involuntary part-time employment and mandatory overtime, that help employers. (With Input from Agencies)