With a new ‘era of turbulence’ driving absence rates to a record high, there are key hurdles businesses will need to jump this year, says Janet O’Neill
The number of working days lost to sickness absence in the UK has hit a record high, with a new era of turbulence set to undermine the health of employees even further.
Not only has the amount of absence due to respiratory issues doubled since the pandemic, but stress and anxiety linked to increasing AI adoption and financial hardship is set to see mental health issues increase even further.
At the same time, the rise in the number of people living with long-term health conditions and pressure to make wellbeing programmes more inclusive, means employers will have to think more carefully about how they support people to work in a reduced capacity.
Address the risk of employees catching respiratory illnesses
Respiratory conditions have now overtaken mental health as the major cause of sickness absence, with the number of people requesting sicknotes due to lingering illness after a virus soaring. This is due to three serious viruses, including flu, the rhinovirus and JN.1 variant of Covid.
Although this hasn’t driven up hospital admission rates, the impact of employees taking 4-6 weeks, instead of days, to recover, should not be underestimated. Employers can help to protect their workforce by discouraging anyone with symptoms from attending work and reminding employees of the importance of hand washing, healthy eating, good sleep and flu vaccinations.
Help employees struggling with financial hardship
Basic needs, such as food and heating, have become luxuries for many employees, forcing millions to choose between heating and eating. Not only does this pose health risks but worrying about money reduces their capacity to take on other pressures so that even something small can cause them to become more emotional in the workplace.
Managers should be mindful of this and offer compassionate enquiry into how they are so they can direct them towards support. For example, many people in work who are struggling assume they’re not entitled to any state benefits, when they could be one of the 7 million people not claiming benefits that could save them hundreds of pounds a month.
Reduce the impact of AI adoption on mental health
Increased adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is set to affect even more jobs in 2024, with the World Economic Forum predicting that one in four jobs will be affected over the next five years. In total 85 million roles are expected to be lost to automation and AI tools, ranging from ChatGBT to Gamma and Numerous AI, designed to carry out previously human tasks.
For a long time, technology has been evolving faster than human psychological processes can keep up with. However, this ‘new era of turbulence’ will lead to an unprecedented surge in stress and anxiety for all workers if employers do not take stock of the risks and train employees to develop the emotional resilience skills needed to weather the change.
Support people with underlying health conditions
Hidden health conditions, ranging from anxiety to menopause and heart conditions, affect one in five people, with one in three choosing not to tell their employer. This means 16 per cent of employees are not getting the support they need to stay in work. Also, many of the 7 million people now waiting for NHS treatment are struggling to manage their condition or pain.
Critical to helping those with a health condition remain in work is putting in place ‘reasonable adjustments’ – such as allowing someone waiting with a hip operation to have a desk downstairs or someone with anxiety who struggles to sleep to start work a bit later. Research into the benefits of early intervention found that 91 per cent of those offered support, while still in work, were able to remain in work, compared to just half (53 per cent) of those offered support once they’d become too sick to work.
Create more equitable wellbeing as part of ESG agendas
As ESG agendas shift from just looking at environmental and diversity targets, a new focus is on demonstrating how they’re keeping employees physically and mentally healthy. A key part of this will require collecting data on which demographics have access to which benefits and measures in place to ensure this is equitable and inclusive.
Critical to this will be analysing data from wellbeing partners and automating analysis so that time and effort can be put into understanding the workforce and creating strategies tailored to different demographics.
Janet O’Neill is head of occupational health training for PAM OH Solutions
