Beyond SSP | Workplace sickness is spiking, should your policies change as a result?

In the UK, workers are currently taking more sick days than at any point in the last decade. Recent research from the CIPD found that staff took, on average, 7.8 sick days in the past year, up from 5.8 before the pandemic.

That’s a huge rise in the average volume of illness experienced by each individual in the workplace, and a huge concern to HR as the owners of wellbeing initiatives.

So why has sickness risen to such drastic heights? The reasons behind this surge are varied, but unmistakably linked to the current state of affairs within both the workplace, and in people’s personal lives, too.

Burnout is at an extremely high level; economic instability mean organisations are doing more with less, leading to stress, whilst the lingering effects of Covid-19, and the cost-of-living crisis deepend the anxiety felt by most.