Spiralling sickness absence is spurring more employers to recognise they may need to invest in workplace health support, with more than half of employees (52%) also agreeing that fast-track access to GPs or physiotherapists would make them less likely to need time off.
A survey of 2,000 employees and 500 HR decision makers by health plan provider Simplyhealth found that healthcare (45%) and education (43%) industries were the most likely to report rising sick days, followed by manufacturing (35%).
Workers from across all industries took the most time off work for mental health and musculoskeletal issues – 5.8 and 5.7 days respectively in the past year.
The majority of the HR decision-makers surveyed (70%) also said they now felt a greater responsibility to look after their employees’ health because of longer NHS waiting times.
For many, the level of sick leave was the biggest problem they had been facing over the past 12 months.
Workplace health support
Workplace health benefits prevented millions of sick days in 2021
More than four million now have access to workplace health insurance
Four in 10 employers (40%) recognised that their employees are struggling to access NHS care, with nearly six in ten (57%) of those that did not offer health cover now considering doing so – but also worried about the expense of offering workplace health.
A similar percentage of employees (72%) felt that their employer should step up and take greater responsibility for their health at work.
Manufacturing businesses were far more likely to offer health plans (45%) and medical insurance (64%) to their staff, compared with employers in education and healthcare. The latter were more likely only to provide basic occupational health care – services such as an assessment of desk set-up to reduce back pain and eye strain.
The negative impact of people being off sick is not only being felt by individual employees. Some £150bn is being lost to the economy each year from lost output to sick days, Simplyhealth estimated. In all, 81% of the companies surveyed agreed poor workplace health can decrease their company’s productivity.
Of the employees who did have access to a health plan, three in five (60%) said it was the most valuable benefit on offer to them and around half (52%) said it was what had attracted them to join their company in the first place.
Nearly three-quarters (72%) felt this benefit incentivised them to stay with their current employer and 67% were worried about changing jobs in case their new employer did not offer health cover. A total of 82% said they would value health cover for quicker GP access.
Paul Schreier, chief executive at Simplyhealth, said: “With sick days on the rise, and significant NHS waiting times, businesses are turning to private health cover so their staff can be seen quickly and stay healthy at work. It also helps them to attract and retain employees, reducing the financial burden of recruitment.
“With the costs of PMI going up, businesses are attracted to more affordable solutions that offer options to select the exact health services needed, whether it’s those in education needing more mental health support, or manufacturers needing more physio for back and neck problems.
“We welcome the recent government focus on increasing the provision of workplace health support, and it’s crucial that this continues so we can reverse the workplace sickness epidemic, along with protecting and sustaining the NHS so it can focus on more complex treatments,” Schreier added.
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