I can’t be alone in feeling the deep irony of former prime minister Tony Blair suggesting that Brits should stop ‘self diagnosing with mental health conditions’ to save the government from the rising benefits bill, just days after the Guardian revealed retail assistants in the gig economy being charged to receive their earnings more quickly.

To pick at just one of the many threads that needs a thorough unravelling, Blair’s sweeping dismissal of the mental health conditions of hundreds of thousands of people reveals both ignorance of the evidence around work and health, and a lack of curiosity about UK’s economic inactivity rates – the ‘participation puzzle’ as researchers at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) have termed it.

For it is not simply the case that people are not working because of poor mental health – nor that the sickness bill is linked to self-diagnosis, for that matter. Instead, there is a wealth of evidence that poor quality work actually contributes to making people unwell.

It’s not controversial to point out that whilst work used to have a protective effect on health – working was better for people’s health than being out of work – this link has been broken in recent years. With the rise in insecure models of work and increasing rates of in-work poverty, it’s no longer the case that any and all work is better than no work at all.

So rather than further stigmatise people unable to work due to mental ill health, we should instead ask what employers can do to ensure the work they offer has a positive rather than a negative impact. Clue: having to sacrifice a % of earnings to get paid quickly, in a gig economy job, during a cost of living crisis, misses the mark by some considerable margin.

The government is legislating for some of this via the Employment Bill, including banning ‘exploitative’ zero hours contracts, ending ‘fire and rehire’, and creating the Fair Work Agency to ensure rules are better enforced. Raising the floor of employment to ensure all jobs meet basic minimum standards is welcome, and should reduce the number of jobs which have a detrimental impact on workers’ mental wellbeing.

But when we asked young people last year to define, in their own words, what good work means to them (a project you can read more about here), their definition made abundantly clear what more employers can do.

“Good work means feeling valued, fulfilled and supported. It means being respected and treated fairly in a workplace that is diverse and inclusive, where there is open and honest communication and decent pay. Everyone should have a voice. Good work is done to a high standard and gives you a sense of achievement. It happens in a place where you can make change happen. Good work protects your health and wellbeing. You’re excited to tell your friends and family about good work, not because they ask but because you’re proud of it.”

Beyond the fundamentals of safe conditions and decent pay – received in a timely manner without incurring financial penalties – employers can play their part through their leadership, creating cultures of respect and belonging, with open communication and where all voices are listened to. It costs nothing, yet by making more work meet these basic expectations employers can renew the positive link between work and health.