Government's wellbeing agenda under threat

These are major conclusions of the 2014 Sickness Absence survey, published by EEF, the manufacturers' organisation and Jelf Employee Benefits. The survey reveals that overall levels of absence have reached a record low of 2.1%, equivalent to 4.9 days per employee per year. This remains around the levels seen over the last few years and suggests, in reality, that the situation has plateaued with big inroads into short term absence already made. However, it also shows that long term absence has increased, with almost two fifths of companies saying long term absence has increased in the last two years. Whilst this reflects to some extent the fact that short term absence is better managed and, therefore, long term absence occupies a higher proportion of overall levels, the survey highlights an increase in stress and mental health illnesses as a cause of long-term sickness absence. Professor Sayeed Khan, chief medical adviser at EEF, said: "Driving down absence rates, helping more employees return to work earlier and, encouraging their wellbeing is critical for our economy. But, despite employers increasing investment in managing sickness absence and providing their employees with more health related benefits, the improvement in overall absence rates has more or less now plateaued. From now on the focus has to be on reducing long term absence." Iain Laws, managing director – UK Healthcare at Jelf Employee Benefits, added: "A focus on prevention must become a priority for UK employers who need to maintain a competitive workforce within an overall population that is both ageing and ailing." According to the survey, stress and other mental health related disorders have shown the biggest increase in long term absence with just over half of companies reporting it as a cause, an increase of 7% in the last five years. A fifth of companies cited it as the most common cause, an increase of 4% in the last five years This increase comes despite more investment by employers in managing sickness absence and, placing employee health and well-being programmes on a par with other business investments. Two thirds of companies now have sickness absence programmes, while 68% of companies offer access to occupational health services for employees. Over a quarter of companies also offer employee assistance programmes, health checks and health cash plans. Only 24% of employers believe that the 'Fit Note' has resulted in employees returning to work earlier, compared to 40% who said that it had not. More companies disagree (45%) than agree (16%) that the advice given by GPs about employees' fitness for work has improved. The gap between those who rate the advice positively and those who view it negatively has widened substantially over the past two years. The survey of 335 companies was carried out in Spring 2014.