Short-term sickness is up from 5.8 days per employee per year before the pandemic to 7.8 days per year (CIPD), according to a white paper launched today by the WPA.
The white paper highlights the relationship between UK primary healthcare and its impact on workplace health, wellbeing and productivity.
The white paper also shows that more than 2.5 million people are economically inactive due to long-term sickness (ONS).
The white paper, by health journalist and commentator Suzanne Clarkson, brings the latest facts to life with the longer-term goal of encouraging and creating the foundations for happy, healthy and thriving workforces.
The white paper underlines the impact that waiting for a GP appointment has upon business productivity, employee absenteeism, presenteeism and consequently the overall UK economy.
Depression, bad nerves or anxiety are also on the increase – up 40% between 2019 and 2023 – and represent the largest contributors to long-term sickness.
Musculoskeletal (MSK) issues are up from 17.6% in 2022 to 18.4% a year later and around three in four employers have observed presenteeism among employees.
Mark Southern, sales and marketing director at WPA, said: “The unfortunate challenges we are seeing in the provision of primary care in the UK is having a direct impact on the wellness, and therefore productivity, of the workforce.
“Business leaders recognise the importance of having a happy and healthy workforce and the clear link to performance.
“Solutions include simplifying access to care and co-locating benefits in one place like an app.
“Technology is increasingly becoming the solution to make complex issues more straightforward.
“We are fortunate that the technology exists to directly impact the issues around primary care access and provide the workforce with a digital platform that is available 24/7 to help reverse the current trends of employee health and wellbeing.
“The development of WPA Digital Health has been focussed on addressing the issue of access and ultimately helping employees have more control of their health”.