Partner Article

Bosses sickened by cost of absence

TWO thirds of UK businesses are suffering the effects of long-term sickness absence from staff because of a lack of financial protection, a new report has found.

According to new research from finance group Unum, more than half (55%) of UK companies say they continue to pay employees’ full salaries for six months or more if they are off work due to illness or injury.

Many of these employers are shouldering the burden, with only 22% protecting their own business and all or some of their employees by offering any form of financial protection, such as income protection or critical illness, as part of their employee benefits package.

Companies both large and small are affected by long-term sickness absence, with 69% of companies with more than 500 employees saying they had seen a financial impact on their business and 40% of companies with fewer than 500 employees.

Marco Forato, Unum’s chief marketing officer, said: “Employee long-term absence as a result of illness or injury is a real financial burden for UK businesses. In the current challenging business environment this issue is only likely to place greater strain on employer.”

Alastair Ross, who runs North East human resources firm We Do HR, said many companies in the region were not quick enough to address a staff attendance problem quick enough.

He said: “The real key is having a clear sickness policy, which is well communicated to staff and where the process for reviewing the health of the employee is not just left for months because the employer is scared to do anything.

“It is important that the objective of any process is to help and support the employee back to work as quickly as possible and good use of effective return to work interviews on every occasion of absence. Engaging & motivating staff also goes a long way to reducing ad hoc days off. “Most common issues are not addressing the illness quickly enough by requesting medical information, being scared to deal with employees who are on the sick and then making “quick” decisions to dismiss. If SME’s ensure strong and fair policies, most employees will respond positively to them.”

On a regional basis, Unum’s research shows that companies based in Yorkshire and Humberside are potentially the most exposed to long-term sickness absence issues with 41% of workers having taken a month or more off work as a result of illness or injury. This compares to 34% in the North East.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .