Sickness in the Workplace Directly Impacts the Bottom line
Keeping staff healthy and happy is key, not only for retention and productivity but for the continued success of the business. Most leaders will agree with this statement but will often underestimate the impact of sickness on their organisations.
The two most common myths that business leaders let themselves believe about sickness in the workplace can end up significantly impacting profits.
Myth 1
Our Employees Don’t get Sick
SME and private sectors like construction and manufacturing reported sick days as low as 4 days or less. This number is far below average sickness of over 9 days for large corporate and public sector companies.
Do they somehow have far healthier workers than the other sectors?
Our research shows that no, they do not attract the healthiest people for their positions, but that the major reasons for this discrepancy is under reporting due to fear of losing your job, no pay during sick days, and peer pressure.
With that in mind, supporting employees’ health is just as important across all sectors.
Myth 2
I know the impact of sickness on my business
Only 22% of SME record or measure sickness level in the companies, this number goes up to 37% for mid and 52% for large businesses.
That is up to 78% of companies not measuring sickness levels. How can businesses know the impact of sickness when so many are not recording it in the first place?
Sick leave itself in the UK costs on average £500 per employee every year, but very few companies consider and measure the impact of sickness to overall profits.
A sick employee isn’t just a day’s pay. It affects so many other areas within the company such as delayed projects, lost revenue, replacement workers, overtime etc. All these things add together to significantly affect profit, and the bottom line.
Investing in workplace wellness doesn’t have to be expensive but can have significant ROI over long-term.
DocHQ working in partnership with Hampshire Private GPs
Find us on our website at : DocHQ
Twitter: @dochq_health
LinkedIn: DocHQ
Facebook: DocHQ
