There were more than 1.8 million work-related ill health cases in 2021/22, with 30.8 million working days lost in 2021/22, according to the Health and Safety Executive.
The data showed the top causes of ill health were work-related stress, depression or anxiety followed by musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders.
In 2021/22 914,000 people were suffering with work-related stress, depression or anxiety, of which 372,000 were new cases, with 17 million working days lost for this reason over the period.
For MSK, 477,000 people were suffering with these disorders, of which 139,000 were new cases, with 7.3 million working days lost.
As a result, employer investment in private medical, dental insurance and wellbeing services will become increasingly important as these mental ill health and musculoskeletal (MSK) cases spiral, argued Broadstone director David Pye.
Pye said the figures laid bare the immense economic and productivity damage that ill-health in the workforce inflicts on businesses in all sectors.
“Economic inactivity is soaring and workers are struggling to access the mental or physical healthcare that they need to get on with their day-to-day working lives,” Pye continued.
“Rates of work-related ill-health have gone through the roof following the pandemic and the financial worries people are now experiencing will only be adding to the levels of depression and anxiety.
“Tens of millions of working days every year are being lost to these issues which is severely impacting the ability of British businesses to grow and succeed.“
He added that as NHS waiting lists continue to grow, ill-health in the workplace was likely to become increasingly problematic over the medium-term.
“It will leave employers grappling with increasing long-term absences, distracted by having to find and recruit experienced staff and plummeting levels of wellbeing,“ he said.
“While services such as private dental and healthcare plans may have been seen as a perk a few years back, they are now becoming an essential business consideration as a means of protecting productivity levels.”