Lower productivity caused by ill-health sickness is costing UK businesses an extra £25 billion a year, according to a new report from the Institute of Public Policy Research.
The think tanks says that since 2018 UK business are paying an additional £30 billion a year as result of the UK’s rising long-term health problems, but only £5 billion of this is a result of absences in the workplace. A far greater cost comes from the ‘hidden’ problems of presenteesism and lower productivity in the workplace.
This Healthy Industry, Prosperous Economy report says UK workers are among the least likely to take sick days and most likely to work through illness, compared to employees and workers in other European and OECD countries.
In total it says employees in the UK now lose the equivalent of 44 days’ productivity on average due to working through sickness, up from 35 days in 2018, and lose a further 6.7 days taking sick leave, up from 3.7 days in 2018.
It says that with the right support in an appropriate job, people with some health conditions can benefit from good work. But when compelled to work despite being ill – because of poor work culture, limited access to sick pay, financial insecurity or other factors – employees can slow their own recovery time, increase their risk of further sickness later, and spread infectious illnesses to others – all lowering productivity.
The IPPR says that this is “bad for business and bad for workers”. Thepaper, the final interim report from the cross-party IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity, argues health and work can interact in a vicious or virtuous circle – but that we have the former in Britain today.
IPPR is proposing a bold pro-business health plan which reimagines the role of business in health – clamping down on businesses that harm health and scaling up businesses that create good health.
The plan proposes:
- A new tax incentive for companies that commit to significant improvements in the health of their workforce, including the security, flexibility and pay of their staff, focused on SMEs.
- A new ‘do no harm’ duty for employers, to ensure regulation them on health outcomes, not just safety inputs
- Compulsory reporting on worker health – modelled on climate emissions reporting – to help private investors differentiate between health-orientated and health-harming businesses
IPPR senior research fellow Dr Jamie O’Halloran says: “Too often, UK workers are being pressured to work through sickness when that’s not appropriate – harming their wellbeing, and reducing productivity. Our demonstration of the ‘hidden’ productivity costs of working through sickness should catalyse a change in approach.
Kieron Boyle OBE, chief executive of the Impact Investing Institute and IPPR Commissioner said:
“Businesses and investors increasingly see health as an asset, not a cost. This report is a blueprint for their role in creating a healthy and prosperous economy for everyone.
“The ideas it contains would help mobilise billions of pounds of capital for healthier lives — providing an engine for the new government’s health mission aspiration to boost healthy life expectancy across the whole country. Institutional investors are excited by real-world solutions in areas like preventative health that can deliver long-term, inclusive growth and better lives.
“Just as private investment can help deliver big societal goals like net-zero, so it can support a transition to a health-led economy that is fairer, more prosperous and which works better for us all.”
Commenting on the report Canada Life’s managing director for group protection Dan Crook says: “It is concerning to see such an uplift in the hidden productivity costs of employees working through sickness, and a significant number of workers not taking the time off to recover when unwell.
“Our research shows that, over the past two years, 68 per cent of UK workers – equivalent to 21.7 million people – have continued to work while feeling unwell.
“Creating a workplace culture where employees feel at ease to take sick leave and step away from their day-to-day work to focus on their health, without question or hesitation from the employer, must be a priority.
“As the report rightly outlines, the Government, employers and insurers, like ourselves, all have a vital role to play in sustaining and improving the wellbeing of the UK’s workforce.”
He adds that Canada Life’s group risk policies provide financial, emotional and practical support to around three million employees across the country.
“We urge the Government to work with businesses to explore what more can be done to support employers and employees to manage challenges relating to ill health, which will in turn boost workforce productivity.”
