Sickness Absence Rate at Record Low

According to the most up to date data from the Office for National Statistics, employees took fewer days off because of illness last year than at any time since records began.

While the COVID-19 pandemic itself may have led to additional sickness absence, measures such as furlough, social distancing, shielding and working from home appear to have helped reduce other causes of absence.

The UK sickness absence rate was just 1.8% in 2020, the lowest recorded level since the ONS began collecting consistent data in 1995. In 2019 the rate was 1.9% and the downward trend continues with sickness absence at 2% or below since 2013.

Since April 2020, Covid accounted for 14% of all occurrences of sickness absence. Minor illness, which includes coughs and colds, remains the main reason for sickness.

The ONS said it could not quantify how many people shielding were employed and able to work from home, how many were furloughed or how many are otherwise classified.

In April 2020, nearly half (47%) of people in employment did at least some of their work from home. This together with social distancing and self-isolation may have led to less exposure to germs and minimise some of the usual sickness absences.

We all know that feeling that you just feel unwell but not ill enough not to go to work - how many times has that happened to you? The trust that has developed over the last year working from home allows us not to have to commute to work when we feel well enough to work from home. This should be mistaken with 'duvet days'.

Looking at days lost through sickness, the UK recorded 3.6 days per employee in 2020, down from 4.2 days in 2019 and 7.2 days in 1995, when the annual analysis started. Caution should be used with 2020’s figures because of the impact of furlough.

Women’s sickness absence fell to its lowest rate yet, 2.3%, while men’s fell to 1.5%, only the second year it has fallen to that level.

With homeworking now a possibility for many, one benefit that has come to light is that working from home is a viable option for many office workers, enabling them more free time due to not commuting. Flexible working enables staff to start and finish work early from the comfort of their own home, when they are not well enough to travel to and from the workplace, take breaks when needed as well as attend doctors’ appointments more easily and potentially a quicker recovery. It also mitigates spreading of germs and the usual sickness absences within the workplace thereby reducing sickness absence further. This also applies if an employee injures themselves and unable to commute to work.

I recommended that business have a thorough and comprehensive sickness absence policy. Within the policy, there should be guidelines about home working and illness. This way, everyone in the company knows what is expected and you as a business is not leaving yourself susceptible to failing to fulfil your duty of care.

The policy could be as simple as declaring if an employee phones in sick or is signed off by a doctor, they should not work under any circumstances. The type of illness or injury will have an impact on whether working from home is appropriate. It will come down to the Manager’s judgement of the scenario at hand.