sickness

A new report by the Office of Health Economics (OHE) reveals that respiratory infections account for huge productivity losses in the UK.

UK businesses lost £103 billion to employee sickness in 2023, with mental health, stress, and musculoskeletal injuries driving long-term absences. Presenteeism—working while unwell—costs an additional £25 billion in reduced productivity, revealing deeper systemic workplace culture issues beyond seasonal illness.

UK sickness absence is forecast to cost businesses £22 billion in 2024, with 158 million days lost due to illness. This represents a significant increase from pre-pandemic levels, prompting employers to implement flexible working policies and improve workload communication to reduce absences.

A third of employers fail to record the impact of sickness absence, missing opportunities to provide targeted health and wellbeing support. New research shows 69% of organizations track sickness impact, up from 59% in 2023, but 27% still don't measure these critical workforce health metrics.

The Pan American Health Organization has issued an update on Oropouche Fever1, continued MPOX outbreaks, and warnings of a new Covid strain.

875,000 workers were suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2022/23, resulting in an estimated 17.1 million working days lost.

51% of the UK workforce say their career has been impacted by taking on responsibility for different generations of their family's health and wellbeing.

New research has examined the most common causes of all NHS staff with psychiatric illnesses proving the leading cause of employees missing work.

A further quarter also said they did not feel heard or listened to by their line manager during a period of ill health.

Research finds employers admit to offering workplace benefits not to reduce sickness absence but to improve productivity.