Self-inflicted sickies and write-off days cost UK economy £73bn
Workers in the UK forfeit more than a month productivity each year through absence and underperformance caused by illness, according to Vitality.
The new analysis of the insurer’s Britain's Healthiest Workplace survey – carried out by researchers from Cambridge University, RAND Europe and Mercer – lays the blame squarely on employees, with half of days off caused by lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise and poor nutrition.
Of the 34,000 respondents surveyed in 2016, one-third suffered from a long-term health condition like high blood pressure which increased their risk of illness, though 63 per cent of this group mistakenly classed themselves as healthy.
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Vitality estimates the cost of this downtime at £73bn a year, with the data suggesting workplace wellness – an industry worth $43.3bn globally – could deliver a return on investment by reducing sickness and absence below the average 27.5 days.
Organisations in the top 20 per cent of 2016’s Britain’s Healthiest Workplace ranking got more than five days’ more productive work out of their employees each year than those in the bottom fifth of the table.
Vitality strategy director Shaun Subel said the findings “not only demonstrate the scale of the UK’s productivity challenge, but point to an exciting alternative in the ways employers can manage this problem.”
“Traditionally, we have seen that employers looking to boost the productivity of their business often focus on measures such as the automation of human tasks or process re-engineering to pursue efficiencies.
“While these measures are important they have definite trade-offs in terms of cost, sustainability, and potentially being perceived negatively by employees. Health and wellbeing, on the other hand, is an area where this trade-off does not exist – while wellbeing interventions can be of relatively low cost compared to the alternatives.”
The UK is the four highest spender on workplace wellness in the world, according to The Global Wellness Institute. But a global study published by the think tank last year found less than one-third of workers offered help with their health from an employer take the offer up.