THE annual cost of sickness absence for businesses in the UK has climbed to £29bn, equal to some £600 per employee, says Price Waterhouse Coopers.
Associated with sickness absence are direct costs such as replacement labour and overtime by staff covering the absent colleague. Indirect costs include more stress on other staff covering absent employees, reduced productivity and customer service, time taken for a replacement to learn the role and become productive, training and support to other staff.
Unwell employees who come to work can also have negative impacts, including reduced productivity, work-related accidents, equipment breakage, errors in judgment, conflicts and interpersonal problems.
The Centre for Mental Health calculates the cost to the UK economy of unwell staff at work as £15.1bn a year, while absenteeism costs £8.4bn.
In the long-term, it says, the costs associated with sickness absence can be reduced by investing effort into keeping workforces healthy and safe. The Health for Work Adviceline, which is part of the NHS Health, Work and Wellbeing initiative, offers web-based guidance to employers, employees and GPs on work health issues. www.health4work.nhs.uk

This article has been reproduced from the Contract Flooring Journal. You can find them at www.contractflooringjournal.co.uk.

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