Wellbeing | Are employers failing sick workers?

The coronavirus pandemic has challenged the basis of many companies’ illness policies.

The virus, which takes a minimum of three weeks for patients to recover, forced businesses around the globe to review how they perceive absence due to illness within their organisations, with those employees who have been negatively impacted by such absences calling on leaders to integrate greater lenience into their measures.

However, regardless of this review of such policies, a new study conducted by Group Risk Development (GRiD) has found that one-third of employers do not make any early interventions to help staff return to work in the event that they’re absent for longer than six months owing to ill health, disability or injury.

Similarly, 32% of employers don’t have any financial support in place for staff if they are absent for half a year or more. Of those employers that do not offer return-to-work interventions for employees, 52% said they simply can’t afford to implement such measures, whilst one-third believe that it is not their responsibility.