The call was made on the back of the UK's largest business survey on sickness absence from EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, and Jelf Employee Benefits. It shows employers and GPs are struggling to address mental health issues in the workplace and growing concerns at long-term absence trends.
Professor Sayeed Khan (pictured), chief medical adviser at EEF, said: "While overall absence levels remain low, there continues to be a marked difference between short and long-term absence which is creeping up. Without a renewed effort to tackle its root causes it will continue to act as a drag on the economy and efforts to improve productivity and boost growth."
He added: "Of particular concern is the gradual increase in stress and mental health related problems over the last five years with which GPs and employers are struggling to deal. As a society we can no longer ignore the very real impact of these issues both on the individuals concerned and the wider economy.
"Whilst employers and GPs appear able to manage other causes of absence they must now be given the tools to deal with stress and mental health issues in the same way."
According to the survey, overall sickness absence remains low at 5.1 days (2.2%) with half of employees having zero absence. However, this masks evidence that the ' sickness presenteeism' which marked the period of recession is fading away: absence levels increasing slightly by 0.2 days, the number of manual workers reporting zero absence falling for the first time in five years and the fact only 55% of companies hit their absence target, the lowest since 2008.
While overall absence levels remain low, however, there is a marked difference in long-term absence with two fifths of companies reported an increase while only a fifth reported a decrease. This is the largest increase in five years, a period where long term absence has been gradually increasing.
Back pain and musculoskeletal disorders remain the main cause of long-term absence (38%) with stress and mental health disorders the main cause of absence for one in four companies.
However, stress and mental illness is regarded as the most difficult form of absence to make workplace adjustments for with almost a third of companies saying this is the case. Furthermore, a third of employers said that they do not have approaches for managing mental health related long-term absence, while evidence suggests GPs also find it difficult to suggest workplace adjustments, highlighting the need for more training in this area.
Just one in 10 companies provide training for line managers in mental health issues and only 2% of companies have an open mental health disclosure policy.
The survey also shows that employers' approach to managing absence remains mixed. Encouragingly, the number of companies setting absence targets is increasing (a third have no target compared to two fifths last year) and two fifths can make workplace adjustments or provide training to manage long-term absence.
However, almost three quarters of companies don't measure the cost of sickness absence. In addition, 70% don't measure the return on their investment for the health & well-being benefits they offer while only 3% do.
EEF has made several recommendations to create conditions for the service to succeed:
- Ensure the service is resourced with healthcare professionals with knowledge of different industries so that appropriate interventions and adjustments can be made.
- Ensure return to work plans are discussed with all relevant parties before they are agreed and finalised.
- A discussion between the employer and Fit for Work service before it is agreed with the employee.
- Introduce health tax credits or allowable business expenses to incentivise employers to pay for treatment recommended by the Service or Occupational Health provider.
- Mandatory referral of employees who are likely to be absent for more than four weeks.
- Statutory Sick Pay paid only on condition the employee co-operates with the Fit for Work Service.
- Restrictions on GPs signing employees off for more than four weeks unless the patient engages with the service.
The survey covers 345 companies and approximately 85,000 employees. It was conducted in late 2014.
