Over 600,000 people too sick to make it into work in a typical week

RA Now

Almost 650,000 UK employees phone in sick every week, research has revealed.

The public administration and defence sector has the highest levels of absence, with about 51,000 people not making it in to work in a typical week, according to the British Heart Foundation’s Health at Work programme.

The research also shows that many people’s ill health limits their ability to do their job properly, even when they can make it into work. Forty four per cent of the eight million workers reporting a health problem lasting more than a year say they cannot fully perform their working duties.

Sickness absence is estimated to cost the UK economy £100 billion a year, according to the government-commissioned report, Health at Work – an independent Review of Sickness Absence.

The British Heart Foundation’s Health at Work programme is a partnership with 7,000 employers to help them create wellbeing initiatives to improve the health and productivity of their workforces. The charity offers free tools and resources for companies to use to encourage employees to reduce stress and eat well.

“Sickness absence is a major concern for the health of our nation and costs businesses millions of pounds every year,” said Lisa Purcell, project manager for the Health at Work programme. “But it doesn’t have to be like this. The risk of numerous health conditions reported by workers… can be significantly cut with improvement to their lifestyle. At the moment, too many businesses are missing this golden opportunity to improve the health, morale and productivity of their workforce.”