Over the last year, workers in the UK have taken more days off sick than at any point over the last decade. Research from the CIPD found that employees took an average of 7.8 sick days, which was up from 5.8 in late 2019.
This is obviously a worrying signal regarding employee wellbeing. The data showed an increase across the board, but the rates varied widely depending on the employer. Public-sector workers took over two weeks of sick leave on average, which is almost twice as much as employees in private-sector service companies. Additionally, larger companies reported higher rates of employee absence compared to smaller ones.
So what is going on? More than a third of employees attributed Covid-19 as a significant factor for short-term absences. However, minor illnesses, injuries, and mental health challenges were also cited as reasons for taking sick leave. Stress emerged as a common cause of absence in over a quarter of employers.
It’s evident that both the pandemic and overall wellbeing have played substantial roles in shaping sick leave patterns. Employee wellbeing continues to be an area of focus – and has to be more robust that free gym membership and financial-wellbeing lunch and learns.
Your wellbeing approach must be holistic, and employee-centred. A great place to start is to download our free wellbeing toolkit which we initially put together at the beginning of the pandemic. The toolkit is grounded in positive psychology and includes resources covering the following areas:
- Resilience
- Emotional Intelligence
- Introducing the PERMA model (the original and best model of wellbeing) and achievement
- Relationships
- Engagement and Flow
- Positive emotions
- Meaning and purpose
- Bringing it all together to develop your wellbeing approach
Access the toolkit here for our eight week programme sent directly to your inbox for free.
Want to know more about how we can help and support you with wellbeing? Get in touch today
