Employees lose the equivalent of 30.4 days of productive time every year due to sick leave and under-performance related to ill-health.
The 2017 Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey found the combined economic impact relating to absence and presenteeism was £77.5 billion a year for the UK economy. This is an increase from the 2016 survey which showed a productivity loss of 27.5 days at a cost of £73 billion.
The study of almost 32,000 workers showed that, although some sectors performed better than others, there were still high levels of productivity loss across the board and in all organisational sizes.
The findings also pointed to a growing presenteeism problem, with average sickness absence reducing from 3.3 days in 2016 to 2.7 days in 2017. In conjunction, presenteeism increased from 24.2 days in 2016 to 27.7 days in 2017.
‘For too long, the link between employee lifestyle choices, their physical and mental health, and their work performance has been ignored. Our data demonstrates a clear relationship - employees who make healthier lifestyle choices benefit from an additional 25 days of productive time each year compared to the least healthy employees, and also exhibit higher levels of work engagement and lower levels of stress,’ said Shaun Subel, Director of Corporate Wellbeing Strategy at VitalityHealth.
‘As a result, effective workplace health and wellbeing solutions can deliver tangible improvements in employee engagement and productivity, and make a significant impact on an organisation’s bottom line.’The survey was developed by VitalityHealth and is delivered in partnership with the University of Cambridge, RAND Europe and Mercer.
