Stress tops new sickness absence survey

Yet
another survey has identified stress as the main cause of sickness absence in
the UK, citing the condition as responsible for almost half the time taken off
work.

A
survey by Manson Warner Healthcare identified the top five reasons for sickness
absence as stress, back problems, minor illnesses, migraines and allergies.

It’s
estimated that around half a million people in the UK are suffering from stress
or depression with almost 150,000 workers taking more than a month off.

Despite
this just 5 per cent of UK companies have taken any preventative action to
alleviate the problem of stress-related illness.

Top
reasons for sickness absence, according to the Manson Warner survey:

•
stress 48 per cent

•
back problems 24 per cent

•
minor illnesses (coughs, colds, etc) 21 per cent

•
migraines 5 per cent

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

•
allergies 2 per cent

By Ross Wigham