One in six or 16 per cent of UK businesses do not monitor employee absenteeism, despite the financial impact of sickness absence on employers.
That is according to MetLife UK and YuLife’s Prevention Advantage guide, which warns that failing to monitor absence data can leave businesses reacting to problems rather than preventing them.
The firms have launched The Prevention Advantage guide as part of their partnership, to help businesses focus on preventing sickness absence rather than managing its financial consequences after the fact.
It notes that around 43 per cent of employers that do not track absenteeism said their business is too small to require monitoring, while 26 per cent said it is not a business priority. A further 14 per cent said absence tracking takes too much time and effort.
The guide also found that 16 per cent of business owners do not calculate the cost of sickness absence, despite long-term absence costing businesses an average of £20,735 per employee.
MetLife UK and YuLife said delayed intervention can make employee recovery more difficult and increase costs for employers.
The firms said that prevention-led workplace health strategies can deliver measurable financial returns by encouraging healthier daily habits among employees. They say that a business with 25 employees could save £3,243 a year in short-term absence costs, or £130 per employee, through prevention-focused wellbeing initiatives.
MetLife UK data also found that providing early intervention support within the first four weeks of an employee developing a health condition results in a 96 per cent return-to-work rate. Meanwhile, YuLife’s data similarly found that more than half of employees who took mental health-related sick leave returned to work within three months.
MetLife UK CEO Dominic Grinstead says: “Group Income Protection will always have a vital role when sickness strikes. However, the world of work has changed and one of the most valuable things GIP can do is help prevent absences from happening in the first place. Acting earlier keeps people in work, businesses productive, and the whole system more resilient. Workplace health needs to be a business priority if we’re to keep work working. Together with YuLife, we’ve built a model that actively prevents avoidable illness while continuing to protect employees when they need it most.”
YuLife CEO Tal Gilbert says: “The insurance industry has known for years that employee benefits are not valued when they simply sit unused. What we’ve built at YuLife is something employees genuinely want to engage with: grounded in science, fun, and rewarding. When you embed that inside Group Income Protection, you make the product work long before a claim is ever made. That’s the future of health at work, and with MetLife UK, we’ve made it real. It’s good for employees, good for employers, and good for the nation.”