Employee Absenteeism: The Problem

*The statistical information below has been sourced from the Office of National Statistics website. Visit www.ons.gov.uk for further resources and a detailed analysis of all data sets involved. Please note that this data is pre-covid.

Employee absenteeism is a hot topic. It can be a major concern for employers - and the economy. For this reason, companies are seeking ways to minimise and mitigate the issue. One way is through the introduction and implementation of the use of employee benefits packages and the provision of company health insurance schemes and cash plans.?

Anything that can be used to assist a company to ensure that the workforce is healthy and well looked after in the event of a medical issue is another tool to be used.?

According to the office for National Statistics, 137.3 million working days were lost due to sickness or injury in the UK in 2016. This is the equivalent of 4.3 days per worker.

Minor illnesses were the most common reason for absence (34 million days or 24.8% of all days lost), followed by musculoskeletal problems (30.8 million days or 22.4 of days lost) and mental health issues like stress, anxiety and depression (15.8 million days or 11.5%).

These categories were also the most common reasons given by people for sickness absence. Minor illnesses were given as a reason for sick absence 33.1% of the time with musculoskeletal problems being reported 18.6% of the time.?

Notes:?

'Musculoskeletal problems' include back pain, neck and upper limb problems and other musculoskeletal problems. 'Other' includes the total number of days lost to diabetes as well as days lost to accidents, poisonings, infectious diseases, skin disorders and anything else not covered. ‘Respiratory conditions’ include asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease [OPD], bronchitis and pneumonia. ‘Genito-urinary problems’ include urine infections, menstrual problems and pregnancy problems.?

Certain groups were found to have higher rates of sickness. This included women, older workers, those with long-term health conditions, smokers, public health sector workers and those working in larger organisations of 500 or more employees.

An Absence Management Survey conducted by The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) found that absence levels cost approximately ￡522 per employee per year in lost working hours. This number increases to ￡835 in the public sector.

If you have 10 employees, that’s ￡5,220 annually. If you have 1000 employees, it’s ￡522,000!

The costs are further compounded when you consider the cost of recruiting new employees or temporary workers.