"Forewarned is forearmed when it comes to reducing absence."
- Katharine Moxham, Spokesperson for GRiD
Of those surveyed (500), over 80% of employers say they currently record sickness absence but 69% of employers record the impact of this absence – 10% rise since 2023. However, a third (27%) of employers currently don’t record the impact of sickness absence.
Whilst acknowledging the complexities that employers face, Group Risk Development (GRiD) believes that not collating either of these datasets represents a missed opportunity to better support staff with effective health & wellbeing benefits.
GRiD’s research also revealed that employers believe that recording sickness absence has become more difficult due to hybrid working, with nearly three-quarters (72%) agreeing that working from home can mask sickness absence.
If employers are aware of staff sickness, they can address those absences with targeted support for mental health, and musculoskeletal (MSK) issues, amongst others. Likewise, they can aid line managers with whom absentees are in day-to-day contact.
The process of managing sickness absence can highlight trends such as significant absence in a particular department, location, or within a specific role or function that can then be improved with effective intervention.
Of those who understand the benefit of documenting the impact of staff sickness, the favoured measure was calculating the cost of sick pay provision (49%), followed by the cost of lost time (48%), and lost productivity (47%). Notably, 46% measure indirect costs whilst 36% record direct costs, such as agency fees.
To support staff, GRiD stressed that employee benefit advisers can play a key role in helping employers understand what support is available, whether that’s vocational rehabilitation or online health & wellbeing support.
With employers now having a legal obligation to tell their staff about entitlement to sick pay on day one or before, many will want to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate what other health & wellbeing benefits are available.
“Hybrid working has certainly had an impact on employers’ ability to record sickness absence and its impact: the marginal improvements in 2024’s data shows that it looks like employers are making a conscious effort to get better at collecting this data,” explained Katharine Moxham, Spokesperson for GRiD.
She said: “However, nearly a fifth are still not keeping tabs on the number of days their employees have off work, and nearly 30% of employers aren’t tracking the impact of sick days – both a prerequisite for managing absence and running an efficient business.
“There is a great deal of value in absence data for those employers who harness it effectively. That means collecting & analysing the raw numbers to identify staff who’re off work now, to be proactive in preventing future absence, as well as understanding the impact of that absence,” Katharine concluded.
