Sickness absence: thinking beyond Covid-19 – Personnel Today

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The impact of furlough, shielding, home working and sickness absence because of Covid-19 itself have, unsurprisingly, dominated the health and wellbeing agenda for the past 16 months. Yet, as we look now beyond the pandemic, James Grindlay argues OH will need to respond to massive unaddressed issues around absence, sickness and presenteeism that predate the pandemic and have not gone away.

The impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on sickness absence – in other words, those taking time off from work due to illness – cannot be underestimated: 39% of companies have included the virus among their top three causes of short-term absence while a further 16% suggest that it has been the cause of a lengthier off period.

Meanwhile, mental ill health remains the number one cause of long-term absence, followed by musculoskeletal injuries and stress. However, absentee figures have not always occurred in the way that employers might anticipate. Indeed, by certain metrics, the overall rate of people calling off work has actually fallen. How could this be?

The pandemic has greatly affected absence data in a number of complex and contradictory ways. While it is certainly true there is an increased absence because of the virus itself, a number of governmental measures, such as the furlough scheme, greater social distancing and a vast uptake in the number of people working from home, have all meant that the general trend has been one of fewer recorded absences.

The impact of furlough

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) found in its retention scheme statistics that, as of the 15 February 2021, the number of jobs furloughed reached 11.2 million, with 1.3 million employers