The UK’s sickness absence rate — the percentage of working hours lost because of sickness or injury — rose to 2.6% in 2022, according to official data published today.
This was an increase of 0.4% from 2021 and the highest it has been since 2004, when it was 2.7%. In total, an estimated 185.6 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in 2022, a record high.
According to experts whose views were totally ignored by elitist mainstream media, which continue to quote the same old corporate rent-a-gobs, stress is one of the main contributors to the sharp increase in time off work.
Stress can be caused by a multiplicity of factors, but the cost of living crisis, job insecurity amid the uncertain economic climate and the isolation caused by remote working were singled out as key drivers. Just as a meteor thew size of Mexico hurtling at our planet would be, but sadly is not.
Reflecting on the data, Dr Jo Burrell, a clinical psychologist at workplace wellbeing specialists, Ultimate Resilience, said:
Stress, anxiety and depression have been the leading causes of workplace sickness absence for several years. Ongoing instabilities within the job market, the cost of living crisis and global threats such as climate change can contribute to the daily pressures people experience and create fear and uncertainty about the future. This increases people’s vulnerability to stress and more serious ongoing mental health problems, leading to increases in sickness absence. Other factors such as workload and a lack of control or support in the workplace can also contribute to stress and sickness absence.
Entrepreneur Bradley Lay, whose views also fell on deaf ears as the UK’s bovine hacks continued to wheel out the same old spokespeople, agreed with Jo, and raised the issue of the boundaries between work and personal life being blurred when people WFH.
The UK workforce is in crisis. Employee burnout and remote working, where people are often in isolation, are likely to be key contributors to skyrocketing sickness absence rates. Many people are also feeling added pressure as a result of rising costs due to inflation. Though the pandemic accelerated the shift towards remote work, employees are now struggling with isolation and a lack of work/life balance.
Meanwhile, Steven Mather, director at Leicester-based Steven Mather Solicitor, pointed out the sheer toll such high levels of sickness absence are taking on the UK’s small businesses, before finishing with another killer line that the legacy media yet again overlooked:
The increase in sickness absence will come as no surprise to many business owners, as people are taking more time off than ever before, often due to stress. For a small employer it really does put pressure on the business and other employees. That has a knock-on effect and will result in the employee who stayed to help then being off sick themselves. Stress is still a top reason for absence and I don’t see that getting better even with various mental health benefits in place. Yoga in the workplace once a month won’t cure the feeling of being overworked, underpaid and undervalued.
