Younger ‘Gen Z’ workers have higher rates of absence than older employees, and this appears to be driven by financial worries according to new research.
Cash plan provider Health Shield Friendly Society has found that the youngest employees in the workforce, aged 18 to 24, take on average three more sick days a year than their older colleagues.
This age group was also significantly more likely to take time off for mental health reasons. In contrast those aged 55 to 64 were least likely to have time off for mental health reasons.
It appears that concerns over their finances could be contributing to higher levels of sickness absence. In the survey, 44 per cent of employees in this younger age group stated that they worry about money every day. This was higher than for other age cohorts.
Health Shield says this reflects the difficulty that young people are facing, dealing with the impact of steeply rising prices at the outset of their careers. Many will lack savings to fall back on and are likely to have significant debts accrued through higher education.
According to Deloitte’s Global 2022 Survey, 46 per cent of Gen Zs live pay cheque to pay cheque.
The latest figures from the HSE for 2021/2 underline how mental health in the workplace has deteriorated. Stress, depression and anxiety are now the leading causes of work-related ill-health. In 2021/2 the rate was higher than pre-Covid levels and 451,000 new cases were reported in the year.
Health Shield’s own data from their EAP supports this. 47 per cent of all calls are related to mental health. This is far higher than for any other issue. Almost 25 per cent of calls are from those aged between 20 and 29. This compares to under 15 per cent of calls from those aged 50 to 59.
Health Shield says that better mental health support for younger workers is needed. As well as ‘Gen Z’ it says this should extend to millennials where separate research indicates high cases of burnout among this cohort.
Matt Liggins, head of wellbeing at Health Shield said: “This survey highlights a real concern over the health of the youngest members of the workforce. Those aged 18 to 24 should be in the best of health, yet they are taking significantly more sickness absence than much older counterparts.
“While it may be that younger people are more willing to be open about their struggles with mental health – saying a lot about progress made by employers to remove traditional stigma – these findings do suggest it is a serious issue that employers should be addressing urgently.
“Finances seem to be a major cause of 18-24 year olds’ mental health struggles. The cost of living crisis is affecting them deeply and with prices and interest rates continuing to rise, this is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
“It is the responsibility of employers to step up and support all their employees at this difficult time, but it makes sense to focus on those that need it the most.”
