More than half of employees (52%) have had to take time off work because of sickness or injury, and just two in five (38%) have received paid time off for this.
The stark finding comes from a poll of 2,009 employees for health insurance and benefits provider MetLife UK. Nearly a fifth of those polled (17%) also admitted their employer does not give them sick pay, let alone more proactive interventions such as access to occupational health.
More than a tenth (12%) even had to rely on using up annual leave to keep on top of their bills in the event of sickness or injury.
More than half (52%) of employees have had to take time off work or – if self-employed – time out of their own business, due to falling ill or having an accident, according to new research from insurance and employee benefits provider MetLife UK.
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Drilling down into the figures, almost one in ten (9%) said they had had to alter their working hours to accommodate absences. When it comes to sickness, 60% have taken up to one week off work, and 17% have taken more than a week.
For those who have suffered an injury, just over a third (36%) have taken up to one week off, but one in ten (11%) have needed to take longer.
Rich Horner, head of individual protection at MetLife UK, said: “When everything goes like clockwork, life is fine. But when disaster strikes, life can feel instantly more challenging. And quite often, these disasters come up unexpectedly and can knock you off balance.
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“The last thing anyone wants, or to think about, is having an accident or feeling unwell. When trying to manage life – including caring for our loved ones, juggling work, how your employer/team will manage if you’re not there and all the financial commitments alongside – it can make an already tough situation much more stressful.”
Research published at the beginning of the year suggested sickness absence rates have barely improved since the pandemic, with UK employers losing the equivalent of 50 days of work per employee last year because of poor physical and mental health.
