"Sickness absence is a major productivity issue for organisations, and it’s vital that employers, whatever size, seek help or look at how they plan to manage it. "
- Chris Morgan, head of proposition & product strategy for protection at Canada Life
Of those surveyed (550), 17% of small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) said they regularly struggle with employee absence due to illness – 23% stated they’d been seriously impacted. Over a third (35%) believe employee illness creates short-term disruption.
51% of SMEs have in-house support for when employee illness begins to impact their business, however one in six (17%) of respondents said they do nothing about employee illness. SMEs argued that employee health is the individual’s responsibility.
SMEs often consult their private medical insurer (38%) in the first instance, followed by their employee benefits adviser (22%), group protection provider (17%), and local authority/business group (16%).
Discussing key reasons for investing in employee benefits, 47% said it helps manage employee absence expenses and get people back into work, while 44% said it’s a way of showing employees that management cares about their wellbeing.
“The reality is many people are living and working longer than in previous years, and employers will need to consider how they can encourage them to keep doing so in the future. But that’s not possible if we don’t encourage people to face their health challenges and help them stay in work.
“SMEs will likely be feeling many pressures on their business, sickness absence being just one. But investing in employee benefits or in services that can help with early intervention when illness occurs, will pay forward when employee ill-health strikes,” said Chris Morgan, head of proposition & product strategy for protection at Canada Life.
