Sickness Absence Just Hit a Record High. Here's What That Means for Employers
Updated: 7 days ago
The CIPD and Simplyhealth have released their 24th annual Health and Wellbeing at Work report, and the headline number is stark: average sickness absence has climbed to 9.4 days per employee per year, up from 7.8 in 2023 and 5.8 in 2022. That is a sharp rise across three consecutive years and it takes the figure to the highest level recorded in the survey's 15-year history.
Based on responses from over 1,100 HR and people professionals across the UK, this report is one of the most comprehensive snapshots available of how organisations are actually managing employee health.
Mental Health Is The Leading Driver of Long-Term Absence
Minor illness (colds, headaches, stomach bugs) remains the top reason people take short-term absence. When it comes to long-term absence (four weeks or more), mental ill health tops the list, ahead of musculoskeletal problems and other chronic conditions. Stress also features heavily in both categories.
When asked what's actually causing that stress, employers pointed first to heavy workloads, followed closely by non-work factors like personal health issues and family pressures. Management style also ranked as a significant contributor.
The Effort-Effectiveness Gap
Organisations are making progress. More than half now have a standalone wellbeing strategy (57%, up from 44% in 2020), and three-quarters say senior leadership has wellbeing on the agenda. Most are also taking some kind of action on stress, from flexible working to employee assistance programmes.
However that progress comes with a significant caveat: only half of employers believe their efforts to manage stress are effective, and more than a third say their organisation is still mostly reactive, stepping in once someone is already off sick, rather than preventing burnout in the first place.
The gap between activity and impact is where a significant portion of wellbeing investment fails to deliver its intended value.
Homeworking Cuts Absence, But Brings Its Own Risks
A more nuanced pattern emerges when looking at homeworking. Organisations with remote staff are more than twice as likely to report that sickness absence has decreased as a result, and productivity shows a similar pattern. Mental health is the exception; remote workers are more frequently flagged as struggling, and it is harder for managers to spot early signs when someone is not physically present. Despite this, very few organisations are taking active steps to check in on the mental health of remote staff specifically.
Cost Pressure Is Reshaping Wellbeing Investment
Cost pressure is now a defining factor in how organisations approach wellbeing. Employers say their biggest challenge over the next year will be finding the budget for wellbeing while business costs continue to rise. That is exactly why cost‑effectiveness is now the single biggest factor organisations weigh up when choosing which health benefits to offer, even ahead of how well those benefits address the biggest risks to staff health.
What This Means For Employers
The organisations realising the strongest returns on their wellbeing investment are not always the ones spending the most. They are the ones that target the areas of greatest risk, build managerial capability to identify issues early, and prioritise interventions that address root causes rather than short‑term fixes once someone is already off sick.
Where Nutrition Fits Into The Case
Most of the levers highlighted in the CIPD report including workload, management capability and remote working practices, operate at the organisational level and take time to shift. Nutrition works differently. It acts directly on the energy, resilience and mood that underpin many of the risks the report identifies: sustained energy to manage workload pressure, stronger immune function to reduce short‑term absence, and steadier mood and focus to support mental wellbeing. It is also one of the more cost‑effective interventions available, which matters given how many employers named budget pressure as their top challenge for the year ahead.
If your organisation is reviewing its wellbeing approach and wants a practical, evidence‑based way to move from reactive to proactive, we would welcome that conversation.
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