"There’s so much support within group protection benefits in particular that is designed to prevent absence and support earlier returns to work, and we encourage employers to make use of this."
- David Williams - Everywhen
58% of employers say long-term absences have a high to severe impact on the day-to-day running of their business, compared to 30% of employers reporting this level of impact from short-term absences, new research from Everywhen has found.
Employers are tracking these trends, with 89% stating they believe their business has a good understanding of employee absence. Within this, 42% log absence details, and 47% log and analyse the details.
Flexible working arrangements top the list of support offered by employers, with 41% implementing it to help prevent employees from being off work, while 43% use it to help employees return to work.
Mental health support, such as counselling, is offered by a third of companies (34%) to assist with preventing absences and returns to work. This is often available at no additional charge, embedded within group protection benefits.
The research reveals that 61% of employers use health and wellbeing support as a preventative measure to reduce the likelihood of absence and 45% use health and wellbeing support to get employees back to work sooner. However, 15% say they don’t use their health and wellbeing to help with staff absence.
Generation X, or those aged 45 to 60 years, are the most likely age group to be off work long-term, ahead of Baby Boomers, aged 61 to 79 years. Gen Z, which consists of those aged under 28 years, are the least likely to be off work long-term.
Chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes are the most common cause of employees being off work long-term, with 28% citing this reason. This is closely followed by acute medical conditions such as cancer or stroke at 27%, while 21% listed depression or anxiety related to home life.
READ MORE: 'Silent killers': workplace health checks direct 1 in 4 employees to GP
51% named minor issues such as cold and flu as the main reason for short-term absences, followed by family/caring responsibilities at 35%. Work-related mental health issues such as stress and musculoskeletal disorders also rank highly across reasons for both long- and short-term absence.
This news follows research from Vitality at the beginning of August, which revealed that over half of employees think the health and wellbeing initiatives in their workplace are nothing more than a 'box-ticking exercise.'
"It is clear that absence of any duration has a significant effect on businesses across the UK. But long-term absence is the bigger issue facing employers, and this is something that needs to be tackled," David Williams, head of group risk at Everywhen, said.
"There’s so much support within group protection benefits in particular that is designed to prevent absence and support earlier returns to work, and we encourage employers to make use of this. Often people do not even realise all the added extras that policies like group life assurance, for example, can have.
"These are frequently embedded within the product at no extra cost and are a great way for employers to see positive employee engagement with the benefits across their workforce while simultaneously improving their absence rates.
"Although it is positive that 61% of employers are using their health and wellbeing support to reduce absence, this figure really should be higher. The same is true of the 45% who use health and wellbeing support to get employees back to work sooner.
"Health and wellbeing benefits should be put in place to specifically meet objectives like this. They are not just nice-to-haves or a tick-box exercise. They should be providing a real return on the investment by keeping employees healthy, happy and at work."
