Financial wellbeing | Employees returning to work too early after illness, due to cost of living pressures

Employees returning to work too early after illness, due to cost of living pressures

By Tracey Ward, Head of Business Development & Marketing at Generali UK Employee Benefits

As the cost of living crisis continues to take its toll on the economy and on health and wellbeing, there’s a potential risk of employees returning to work too early after illness, because they’re worried about the finances, says Kay Needle, early intervention and rehabilitation expert at Generali UK Employee Benefits.

This brings with it the combined possibility of worsening employee health and increasing presenteeism; potentially even loneliness and the knock on impact that can bring on physical and mental health, as our experts explain.

Almost a year ago now, a survey by the Royal College of Physicians found that over half of people in the UK felt their health had been negatively impacted by the rising cost of living; 84% saying this was due to increased heating costs, and over three quarters (78%) reporting a decline in health due to the rising cost of food. Meanwhile, 16% of those impacted had been told by a doctor or health professional that stress caused by rising living costs had worsened their health.

The cost of living crisis has arguably only worsened since that survey was carried out, as detailed in this recent article by the London School of Economics, which details significant and wide-ranging negative consequences for mental and physical health and wellbeing.

We spoke to both our in-house experts and wellbeing partners to find out how this is playing out in practice following their experience with clients.

Kay adds: “Recently, we’ve noticed a slight increase in absent employees requesting accelerated return-to-work plans as they have a financial need to return to work, where full sick pay is expiring. This could potentially reflect a need for employers to be vigilant about presenteeism and consider how they are financially supporting people on long term sickness – through a group income protection policy, for example – as well as ensuring employees are truly fit to work before re-entering the workplace.”

Dr Julie Denning, Chartered Health Psychologist and Managing Director of Working To Wellbeing, also Chair of the Vocational Rehabilitation Association agrees, adding that it’s generally understood that ill health is associated with decreased income. This can have the undesired impact of pushing people back into work before they are ready, potentially worsening their health and ability to work in the long term.

“We know of one patient who has decided to sell their house because of price and mortgage rate rises, combined with a reduced income. They aren’t able to go back to work yet because of their health symptoms.

“We also know of one patient recently saying how grateful they were to have the lifeline of income protection insurance, as it gave them the opportunity to receive support from us to properly get better and to not rush back to work before they are ready.

“He knew of others with a similar condition who haven’t had group income protection support and, because of the cost of living crisis, have had to return to work too early, adding that this has made their symptoms 10 times worse.”

So, how can employers and their benefit providers help? “Personally, I think the most important thing we can do to help is to try to de-stigmatise talking about money,” says Kay. “It’s one of the last British taboos, and particularly so in the workplace where wage can be a sensitive subject; one that employers often actively discourage discussion around.”

“The Employee Assistance Programme is one of our most valuable resources as it can provide not only an independent and confidential place to discuss concerns, providing emotional support, but can also signpost into organisations for debt management guidance, for example.”

Loneliness: cause and prevention

On the subject of emotional wellbeing needs, loneliness is also a growing public health concern. It has been linked to numerous physical and mental health problems, such as depression, heart disease and a weakened immune system, with research indicating that loneliness is likely to increase your risk of death by 26%, according to information in an article by Campaign to End Loneliness.

Loneliness can impact people at any age, but research has found that young people are increasingly at risk and the effects of inflation are currently compounding this; due to perhaps taking on extra work to make ends meet, impacting social life and impeding the ability to be optimistic about the future.

Generali’s Wellbeing Investment Matching partner FlourishDx, a platform designed to help organisations improve mental health outcomes, focused on ‘Loneliness as a psychosocial hazard’ as part of its Psych Health and Safety Podcast series. In this episode, Jason van Schie, psychologist and co-founder of FlourishDx, interviews Christine Yeung, CEO and Founder of Beyond Story; an expert in loneliness and its relationship with health outcomes and work.

Christine explains that loneliness can increase burnout, reduce productivity, creativity and impact retention. She adds: “The workplace is a critical environmental determinant of loneliness…Meaningful work, job design, relationships with others are all impacted by how we think and feel at work, just as is the case for social determinants…You can be around others, but not feel safe to speak up, feel unseen, feel that your talents are not being leveraged and valued. That’s also loneliness. It’s not about how many Facebook friends you have. It’s about the quality of your relationships.”

The approach to psychology has changed, says Christine. “It was previously seen as a matter for the individual – the thinking that people bring mental health, or loneliness, with them to work. Work wasn’t seen as an influencing factor or determinant.”

She adds that it’s slowly being understood that employers have to consider environmental and social factors. “That’s why we need to start with job design. Environmental factors are key to prevention.”

This is where a platform like FlourishDx comes in, helping organisations look under the bonnet, to identify psychosocial hazards, such as loneliness, and put in place targeted measures to mitigate them.

The cost of living crisis might not be going away any time soon, but there’s plenty of support out there for employers and employees in the meantime.

Find out more about Generali


Disclaimer:

All information contained herein represents the views and opinions of the author as at the date of writing and is provided for general information only. Nothing herein constitutes or is intended to constitute financial or other form of advice and no individual should rely upon the information provided in making a specific investment decision without first seeking independent professional advice.

Promoted by
Generali UK Employee Benefits

Generali UK provides Group Life Assurance, Group Income Protection - plus added-value wellbeing services - to the UK employees of multinational clients. Generali UK is also pioneering Wellbeing Investment Matching, helping clients fund discrete, tailored wellbeing initiatives where a need has been identified.

Access to a range of multinational pooling and captive solutions is available via: Generali Employee Benefits Network (GEB), and a range of non-life coverages is available via Generali Global Corporate & Commercial.