Employee absence is currently a major issue for UK businesses with employers facing a yearly bill of around £9 billion for sick pay.

It is therefore important for companies to focus on introducing and improving current absence management strategies.

The negative effect of absence is not only financial

The consequences of absence are negative, not only due to the absence itself in terms of statutory sick pay, occupational sick pay or paying overtime for temporary cover, but also to the knock-on effects that absence can have.

It has been found that when employees need to cover for their absent colleagues, the increase in their workload can be detrimental to their morale.

This increase in workload can also lead to higher risk of mistakes and lower motivation due to the delays and lack of consistency that often comes as a result of frequently absent colleagues.

Stress is the most common cause of long term sickness absence

Stress related illness is an increasing issue within UK business. In 2015/16, stress accounted for 37% of all work related ill health cases and 45% of all working days lost due to ill health.

Often mental illnesses, particularly stress-related illness, can often be overlooked due to their ‘invisible’ nature relative to physical illness.

More than a third of all sick leave is taken on Monday

Some employees may feel the weekend is not enough so they take the extra day. The fact that Monday is the most popular day for sick leave suggests that this sick leave is likely not due to a physical illness that happens to occur on a Monday, but rather stress. Stressed employees may feel the weekend is not long enough and therefore did not provide them with enough of a break to feel as if they can dive back in to their working lives on Monday morning.

This indicates that stress may not only be a common cause of long term sickness absence, but also short-term sickness absence.
 
Specialist training can help reduce absence rates

The knowledge that stress related illness is such a prominent problem within UK business has provided industries with an understanding of what to target when introducing interventions to reduce staff absence. A variety of training for managers and staff is proved to help businesses reduce absence.