UK employers recognise their key role in helping the country’s 2.8 million people economically inactive due to long term sickness back into work, according to research from Aviva.
While the scale of the challenge was illustrated in data from the Resolution Foundation, Aviva has released findings from research with 504 UK employers which found more than four fifths of employers (82%) agreed that they play an important role in helping employees return to work after ill-health.
Nearly three quarters (74%) of employers felt that their organisation was good at supporting employees back into the workplace.
Aviva’s research also confirmed that employers would welcome guidance and support to help them better manage their employees’ return to work after ill-health.
Nearly half of employers wanted more guidance on how to access best practice services (45%), such as occupational health, vocational rehabilitation support and wellbeing services to help prevent ill-health.
The same number wanted more help in making these services affordable through incentives or tax concessions.
And a similar number of employers (43%) felt that government should have a greater focus on public health and support people to live healthy lives.
However, while most medium and large employers taking part in the survey have defined processes to assess and address an employee’s return to work, a significant gap in the support available from micro-SMEs which account for around 95% of the UK’s businesses, according to Parliamentary research.
More than half of businesses employing one to 9 employees said that they do not have any return to-work processes in place (51%) and three quarters of employers from organisations of this size said that they do not have any vocational rehabilitation or occupational health support.
In comparison, one in 20 (5%) employers with over 100 employees said that they do not have any set procedures in place or support services.
Over half (53%) of companies with 100 or more employees offer occupational health support and over a quarter (26%) offer vocational rehabilitation assistance to employees returning to work following long-term sickness absence.
Significantly fewer micro SMEs offered early intervention support such as occupational health (5%) and vocational rehabilitation (5%).
Larger organisations were also more likely to offer wellbeing benefits (45%), private healthcare (38%), employee support groups (38%) and digital GP service (26%).
Despite some positive progress, the reality is that the number of employees who are not fully fit for work is on the increase.
Research from the Health Foundation project found that by 2040 over 9.1 million people in England will be living with major illness – around one in five of the adult population.
Much of the projected growth in illness relates to conditions such as anxiety and depression, chronic pain and diabetes – reinforcing the need to establish a best practice approach to vocational rehabilitation, that aids early intervention and offers ongoing support for employees’ health and wellbeing.
Encouragingly, the Aviva research showed nearly two thirds (63%) of employers agreed that it was important to get people back to work as quickly as possible following ill-health and over a third (36%) said that they offered wellbeing support to help encourage their employees to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Jason Ellis, sales and distribution director for group protection at Aviva, said: “The UK is seeing more and more people leave the workforce due to ill-health, and this trend is likely to continue.
Employers play a crucial role in addressing this issue, so it’s reassuring to see many companies have processes and support systems in place to help employees return to work and stay there after experiencing health problems.
“However, our research shows a significant variation in the level of support different organisations offer. This highlights the need for the introduction of best-practice guidelines and better education and access to return-to-work support for both employers and employees.
“It’s essential that employers intervene early and that an employee’s return to work is carefully managed.
“Expectations should be agreed upon and clearly communicated from the start, with progress checked and adjustments made as the employee’s circumstances change.
“Without a clear, transparent strategy, there’s a risk the employee might have an unnecessary extension of absence.”
