22 June 2005 - Time To Get Down To Business
Lord Hunt urged managers to redouble their efforts to tackle workplace absence, which costs the economy £11 billion a year.
At the Symposium conference for human resource staff and professional management, Lord Hunt said:
“Employers have a crucial role to play in reducing the number of people who become ill, and managing their return to work. Where sickness absence is not managed actively and employees are not rehabilitated, employers suffer the unnecessary loss of trained staff and the costs associated with this.”
But Lord Hunt also emphasised the financial and mental costs to those absentee employees.
The estimated costs of work-related ill-health to employees in 2003/2004 were between £5.9 billion and £9 billion.
Lord Hunt said: “Just as there are costs to the employer, there are costs to the employee. Pay as overtime and bonuses may be lost as a result of long-term or persistent absence. It also affects occupational related pensions and savings.
“Studies show that unemployed people suffer from increased mortality, greater suicide rates, and higher levels of depression and anxiety which worsen with the duration of not working.
“Research shows that after six months off work there is a 50 per cent chance of ever returning to work, after 12 months there is 25 per cent chance of return, and after two years the chance of return is practically nil. “
Lord Hunt heads a cross-government Ministerial Task Force, set up to address the problem, which resulted in 29.8 million working days being lost due to ill-health.
It is estimated that sickness absence costs employers £567 per employee every year.
Lord Hunt added: “The Government wants to help those who can work, to get back into work. The Health and Safety Executive have provided excellent guidance on improving attendance at work.
“I must stress that it would be wrong to demonise sickness absence.
It is right that when people are genuinely sick they should not come to work – “presenteeism” is
not the objective.
“Those who are off work sick have the right to expect sensitive treatment and support. We are not seeking to attack genuine absence, but to bear down on the causes of sickness, to help those who are able to return to work to do so and to be responsive to those who have responsibilities outside.
“We need to ensure that organisations recognise that doing more to prevent people from falling ill at work and getting them back sooner, as well as discouraging abuse of absence, is a key component of their efficiency."
Notes for editors
- Further study figures, provided by the CBI is available at www.cbi.org.uk
- Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development: employee Absence 2004 (www.cipd.co.uk)
- Health and Safety guidance on sickness absence is available at www.hse.gov.uk/sicknessabsence
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