Is Sickness Absence causing you a Headache?
Why do so many of my clients seem to be grappling with sickness absence issues in their teams? Whether they’ re a corporate or an SME: short-term, as well as long-term sickness issues are increasingly impacting the running their businesses.
According to the latest Health and Wellbeing at Work survey by the CIPD and SimplyHealth, the average sickness absence rate has soared to a record 9.4 days per employee per year. That’ s the highest level in 15 years, up from 5.8 days before the pandemic and 7.8 days in 2023.
Minor illness remains the most common cause of shortterm absence, but poor mental health and stress now feature strongly as a cause of both short and long-term absence. Mental ill health is by far the top cause of longterm absence, and it’ s also the second main cause of shortterm absence. Meanwhile, musculoskeletal injuries continue to be a major factor, particularly for longer absences( 31 %).
So, are employees becoming less healthy or do organisations need to support people’ s health and manage absence more effectively? The short answer is: yes, to both. But it’ s complicated …
A Shifting Workforce We’ re living and working longer. This means more people are managing chronic health conditions or disabilities while in employment. Add to that the lingering impact of Covid, rising stress levels, and financial uncertainty, and it’ s clear why absence rates are climbing.
The government’ s Keep Britain Working review highlights this challenge. In 2023, more than eight million people aged 16 – 64 reported a long-term health condition affecting their ability to work, yet most of them are still working. Many are managing multiple conditions, which naturally impacts how often and how long they’ re away from work. And we all know that diagnosis and treatment pathways can be long and uncertain. Waiting lists remain an issue with delayed access to care making it harder for people to stay in or return to work.
The Role of Employers and Managers This is where good management and proactive HR make all the difference. How effectively an organisation keeps in touch with absent employees and supports a sustainable return to work directly influences both the length of absence and whether someone stays in employment.
The best outcomes happen when managers maintain empathy and communication without crossing boundaries, checking in with care rather than pressure, focus on what’ s possible rather than what’ s lost. Flexibility is often the bridge between absence and engagement: phased returns, adjusted workloads, or hybrid options can make a real difference.
Managers need training to enable them to have those difficult conversations and to create a culture of trust and support. When employees feel safe to disclose a health issue early, organisations can respond faster and prevent absences from escalating. It’ s not about pushing people to show up when they’ re unwell; it’ s about helping them stay well enough to show up fully. Training managers to handle sensitive health conversations confidently and compassionately, is key to that.
Those ill health and absence figures I mentioned at the top may be rising, but so too is our understanding of what works. Keep talking, keep listening, and remember: managing absence isn’ t about managing people out of work- it’ s about keeping them in it.
As always, if you need help with training your line managers to handle absence effectively and supportively- you know who to ask!
Ruth George- HR Consultant- ruth @ ruthgeorge. com | 07899 920075
© Ruth George HR Consulting. This is not legal advice and is provided for general information only.
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