Several recent reports show sick days in the UK trending upwards. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the key reasons for the rise and share some ways that responsible organisations can manage sick leave proactively and compassionately.
First - let’s dive into some data.
According to PeopleHR, who surveyed 1,775 small and medium sized businesses:
Another recent report from the CIPD, which focused on bigger organisations, shows the same upward trends.
The CIPD research offers some clues as to what could be driving an uptick in sick days. According to the report, 76% of the 6.5 million employees surveyed took time off due to stress in the past year.
The main cause of longer term absences was mental ill health - unsurprising given that 2023 was a year dominated by significant political events, uncertainty and a cost of living crisis.
There’s also plenty of evidence to be found around long COVID as a contributing factor. The latest available figures from the ONS show us that 2.9% of the population were struggling with enduring symptoms in March ‘23.
With more teams returning to the office on a full or part time basis, the sick day stats could also be influenced by the increased risk of contagion that comes with in person work. This is compounded by evidence that our immune systems are slow to bounce back from social distancing.
One other factor might be lack of engagement. The move towards more in office work has consistently been shown to be at odds with what the majority of workers want.
Within sectors like tech, the last few years have also seen widespread layoffs. The uncertainty this provokes - not to mention the increased pressure on remaining employees - results in lower engagement. It’s not hard to see how it could also lead to an increased willingness to call in sick.
One more positive hypothesis worth considering is that people may just feel more able to take time off when they need to. There could be a number of contributing factors here, such as the whole population prevalence of COVID related ill health or decreased stigma around mental ill health.
However, this growing trend is costly for business. Research suggests that workplace sickness costs over £100 billion a year, although not all of this is down to absence - presenteeism is just as expensive.
Organisations that want to recoup some of this lost productivity - and those who take their duty of care to employees seriously - need to explore solutions to sustainably reduce absence.
It’s clear that there are many reasons for the rise in rates of absence. This also means there’s no silver bullet to fix the problem. Instead, organisations should look at solutions tailored to their team and culture.
If you’re concerned about burnout and poor wellbeing…
One simple but powerful action all organisations can take is to use data from your HR system to proactively manage your team’s holiday.
Data from the CIPD report shows that holiday days taken dropped by 7.6% from 2022-23. Not taking enough time off to rest and reset is bound to contribute to increasing stress levels across an organisation. Pulling a quarterly report to uncover who is not on track to take enough breaks throughout the year means that managers can address the problem within 1:1 conversations.
It’s also important to educate managers about early warning signs of burnout to look out for and how to address it head on.
Burnout is complex and requires managers to not just have the capacity for supportive conversations - but also address root causes. Although we often think about burnout as a workload issue, it can also be triggered by lack of clarity on priorities, lack of connection or personal stressors.
For office based or hybrid teams, coughs, colds and bugs can spread quickly. Leaders should encourage people to stay home, rest and take the time off they need to when they’re sick. During the winter, you may want to consider other precautions like masking in the office or organising flu jabs for the team.
This is particularly important if you have anyone experiencing long COVID or other forms of chronic illness within your team, as ailments that can be minor for some can impact those with weakened immune systems severely. With an ageing population and rising levels of disability, it’s essential to adapt the workplace to make it more accessible for chronically ill team members.
Looking at sick leave patterns can also come in handy here - if individuals take many odd days off here and there, it can indicate a broader problem or underlying condition. Managers should encourage team members to seek medical advice if they’re struggling to identify why they’re frequently unwell.
It’s important to investigate the key driving factors behind the disenchantment. When your team lacks psychological safety (often the case after a restructure or high levels of change), you can struggle to get honest and open feedback via engagement surveys. If this is the case, use 1:1 conversations and exit interviews to identify themes and craft a plan of action.
Time invested in rebuilding psychological safety and trust is well spent. Focus on implementing learnings, dial up communication and consider ways to reset your organisational culture, such as revisiting your values as an organisation or recontracting around ways of working.
Investing in managers is always crucial - but it’s particularly important during times of uncertainty. Managers are the ‘frontline’ of care within your organisation, so they need to be equipped with the tools and confidence to tackle difficult conversations, manage change well and escalate concerns upwards.
Reversing the trend towards higher levels of sickness absence requires an approach that is thoughtful, nuanced and non-punitive. Diving into your organisation’s data is an important first step to spotting trends and identifying what action is needed to ensure your team stays happy, healthy and well whenever possible.
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