The number of people in the UK out of work due to sickness and ill health is growing by 300,000 a year…
This worrying and economically damaging figure is increasing each year, indicating the poor shape of the UK’s workforce and economy. Annually, there are an estimated 185.6 million working days lost because of sickness or injury in the UK and this is not only worrying on a whole for the state of people’s health - it's key to the economic problems facing our country. It's reported that sickness is currently costing UK businesses over £22 Billion...
How UKIM Occupational Health & Wellbeing can help employers:
At UKIM Occupational Health & Wellbeing, we work effectively with our highly skilled healthcare professionals to support businesses across the UK so that these costs can be reduced, and workers are healthy and performing at the best they can.
With our ever-growing expert teams of psychologists, counsellors, neurodiversity specialists, occupational health nurses, technicians, physicians and more, we support employers by keeping their workforce healthy.
From preventative strategies to treatment and aftercare, employees are supported from beginning to end with their healthcare journey, so that they can remain at work, or return to work smoothly. Our services include:
- Employee Wellbeing
- Case Management
- Pre-placement Assessments
- Physiotherapy
- Health Surveillance
- Psychology & Counselling
- Absence and Presenteeism Management
- Menopause Support
- Neurodiversity Support
The benefits of occupational health for employers:
Ultimately, keeping employee’s healthy means that there’ll be reductions in sickness absences for businesses and in turn, reducing all costs of sickness. Did you know that sickness has hidden extra costs with issues like presenteeism? This means that sickness overall costs businesses more than £22 billion and actually can reach around £100 billion.
Having occupational health support means that workforces are more productive and focussed so that businesses can run more efficiently and gain higher returns on investment. Fit, healthy and productive workforces also means that for businesses, there’s higher retention rates as staff are overall happier at the organisation and not as likely to be off on long-term sick. This also reduces costs for organisations as there’s less of a need for recruitment.
- Reduced sickness costs
- Reduced sickness absences
- Better retention
- Higher productivity
- Lowered presenteeism
- Improved employee morale
- Help with staff returning to work
Why are sickness rates so high?
There are a range of contributory factors towards this shocking statistic, but one of the main causes is poor mental health. Stress, anxiety and depression are some of the most cited reasons for workplace absences, and long-term sickness seems set to increase, with an estimated 875,000 workers suffering from these issues, resulting in 17.1 million lost working days.
There’s a lack of support for mental health in the UK as NHS waiting lists are so high, leading to more employee absences when they’re struggling; they haven’t had the help that they need in order to remain at work. Furthermore, a lack of wellbeing and mental health support in the workplace can be a key stressor, especially for staff members whose workloads aren’t managed properly. If staff don’t have someone to talk to it can lead to a vicious circle when it comes to mental health and work; that’s why occupational health can be vital.
Similarly, latest reports suggest that musculoskeletal issues, either caused or worsened by the workplace, are big contributing factors towards high rates of work sickness and absences. MSK issues are not only be caused by things like repetitive strain or discomfort - anyone with existing MSK issues can have their conditions worsened at work if there’s a lack of support or reasonable adjustments made to accommodate them.
The health conditions with the highest impact on total number of working days lost are MSK (24%) and Mental Health (20%) conditions.
How does occupational health reduce workplace sicknesses?
Investing in occupational health and wellbeing means that there are preventative strategies in place to reduce the number of employees being off sick. Mental health issues can be managed as sufferers have the correct support available - whether that’s helping them cope with stress, or anxiety, or providing clinical help with counsellors and psychologists for more complex issues such as depression etc.
This support should be wide-ranging to tackle the many forms of poor mental health. Having occupational health support also means that MSK issues, or other conditions that can impact a person physically like the menopause, can be addressed through processes like reasonable adjustments and workplace assessments.
