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Average employee absence levels have increased slightly, ‘presenteeism’ at work has hit record levels and ‘leaveism’ is becoming an issue.

These are three of the findings to emerge from the Health and Well-Being at Work survey from the CIPD, its eighteenth annual look at issues of health, well-being and absence in the UK (the previous one being published in 2016). The survey is based on replies from 1,021 organisations across the UK in reference to 4.6m employees. Below is a synopsis of some of its findings:

• Absence levels: the average level of employee absence has increased slightly compared with the previous survey in 2016, from 6.3 days per employee (or 2.8% of average working time lost) to 6.6 days (2.9%) in 2018. Longer-term data, however, suggests a weak and fluctuating but generally downward trend in average absence rates. (The contemporaneous EEF absence survey suggests broadly comparable figures.) Public sector employees had nearly three days more absence than employees in private services (8.5 days versus 5.6 days), 2.3 days more than employees in manufacturing and production (8.5 days versus 6.2 days), and 1.2 days more than those in non-profit organisations (8.5 days versus 7.3 days).
• Causes of absence: minor illness remains the most common cause of short-term absence, while mental ill health, musculoskeletal injuries (including back pain), stress and acute medical conditions are the most common causes of long-term absence. This year, however, more organisations include mental ill health among their most common causes of short- and long-term absence.
• Managing absence: most use a combination of measures to manage absence (e.g. return-to-work interviews and trigger mechanisms). But, despite the importance of line managers in managing short-term absence, only a half (53%) of respondents report that line managers are actually trained in absence handling in their organisation.
• Presenteeism: coming to work when ill has more than tripled since 2010 - 86% of respondents said they had observed presenteeism in their organisation over the last 12 months, compared with 72% in 2016 and 26% in 2010. But just a quarter of those who have experienced presenteeism say they have taken steps to discourage it over the last year, a figure that has almost halved since 2016 (48%).
• Leaveism: two-thirds (69%) of employers report that leaveism (people using allocated time off, such as annual leave, to work or if they are unwell, or working outside contracted hours) has occurred in their organisation over the past year. Nearly three-fifths report that employees work outside contracted hours to get work done, nearly two-fifths that employees use allocated time off (e.g. holiday) when unwell, and a third that employees use allocated time off to work. But, as with presenteeism, just a quarter of those who’ve experienced leaveism have taken steps to discourage it.
• Mental health: significantly more employers (55%) have reported an increase in common mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, among employees in the last 12 months, compared with 2016 (41%). Nearly three-fifths include it among their top three causes of long-term absence (56% of organisations compared with 42% in 2016). Most employers are however taking some action to manage employee mental health, the most common approach being to offer a phased return to work and/or other reasonable adjustments. There has been a considerable increase in the proportion of organisations that are increasing awareness of mental health issues across the workforce (51%, up from 31% in 2016) and in the proportion of organisations with mental health/well-being champions (18%, up from 6% in 2016).
• Disability/long-term ill health: around three-fifths say their organisation has a supportive framework in place to recruit (59%) and retain (60%) people with a disability or long-term health condition. But just a third of employers provide training and guidance for line managers, despite saying that developing line manager knowledge and confidence is the most common challenge they face in managing those with a disability and/or long-term health condition.