Early intervention by occupational health can slash sickness absence by nearly two-thirds, a report has suggested, emphasising the benefit of support before employees became too sick to work.
Yet the report by OH provider PAM Group has also concluded that, too often, this message is not getting through to line managers. A third (38%) still wait until an employee has gone off sick before seeking OH support, with half of employees waiting at least a month.
Sickness absence
NHS England saw record sickness absence in 2022
Sickness absence rate in 2021 was highest in more than a decade
The analysis of more than 1,300 occupational health cases concluded that referring people to OH before they become too sick to work can reduce absence by 64%.
Despite this, more than half (55%) of absent employees are only referred into occupational health once they’ve been off sick for more than a month.
There is also a direct correlation between the time taken to refer employees to occupational health and their recovery time, the report, The benefits of early intervention for preventing sickness absence, argued.
Nearly all of people referred into OH while they were still in work (91%) were expected still to be in work one month later. This compared with just 45% of those referred after one to two months of absence from the workplace and just 27% of those who had been off for more than six months.
Source: PAM OH
The main drivers of sickness absence very much remain mental health issues, such as stress, anxiety and depression, the report concluded. These were closely followed by musculoskeletal issues such as back and muscle or joint pain.
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Imogen Cardwell, clinical operations director at PAM OH, said, “Our data analysis shows the positive impact that referring people into occupational health, before they become too sick to work, can have on preventing absence.
“Providing people with access to expert support, such as physiotherapy or mental health counselling, was able to prevent two-thirds of people from going absent,” she added.
