Hybrid workers who split their time between the home and office tend to experience fewer work days lost to sickness, research has suggested.
The study by health insurer Vitality found hybrid workers lost an average of 47.8 days of productive time to health concerns, including just 4.9 days due to formal absence. This compared with 50 days, and 6.1 days of formal absence when looking at employees across the board.
However, intriguingly, the research found that going fully remote can actually increase rates of sickness absence. Full-time home workers lost an extra three productive days (50.8 days in total) compared with their hybrid counterparts. Of those days, a surprising 9.6 days were lost because of formal absence.
Similarly, workers commuting into a workplace every day lost 1.2 more productive days on average than their hybrid counterparts, the Vitality research found.
Hybrid workers also demonstrated lower rates of obesity and mental ill health compared with office-based and fully remote workers. Only 20% of hybrid workers are obese, in contrast to the 25.2% obesity rate among full-time home workers, the Vitality research concluded.
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More than eight out of 10 (87.4%) of those working from home suffered from at least one musculoskeletal condition. This compared with 79.9% for hybrid workers and 78.3% for office workers.
Diet also appeared better for hybrid and office workers, with 46% of both groups managing five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, versus only 37.5% for home workers.
Hybrid workers were less likely to be at risk of suffering from depression, with just 8.1% affected, compared with 10.4% among office workers and 12.1% among those working from home.
Moreover, hybrid workers are also most likely to engage with benefits offered by employers, especially wellbeing initiatives.
On average, participation in healthcare interventions was 31% for hybrid workers, compared with 23% for home workers and only 28% for those in the office full time.
Neville Koopowitz, chief executive of Vitality, said: “The data dispels the misconceptions around home working, demonstrating that a hybrid option can be a considerably more effective model with regard to health and productivity.
“Employees who work from home full time are more likely to suffer from worse physical and mental health, while forcing employees into the office full time does not necessarily deliver the best results either.
“There is clear value in flexibility, but employers need to strike the balance and there are tangible benefits to spending some time each week in the office. Giving employees a reason to make that journey into work, and be healthier when they are there, is critical to a healthy and productive workforce,” Koopowitz added.
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