Why sickness prevention just became your responsibility

UK employees now take an average of 9.4 sick days a year, the highest level the CIPD has recorded in 15 years. That figure was 7.8 days in 2023 and 5.8 before the pandemic. Mental ill health causes more long-term absences than any other reason, according to 41% of organisations.

Typically, figures like these prompt a review of absence policies. However, this time government action has led the way. The Keep Britain Working review shifts employers’ focus from managing absence to actively preventing ill health.

What the reforms say

Sir Charlie Mayfield’s government-commissioned review put a price on the problem. Ill health is costing UK employers £85 billion a year, roughly £120 in lost profit for every day of sickness absence. 

The review recommends collaboration rather than regulation. More than 60 major employers have joined the ‘Vanguard Phase’, a three-year programme testing what keeps people healthy and in work. Participants commit to a ‘healthy working lifecycle’, and their evidence will shape a voluntary, certified standard for employers by 2029.

While none of this is a legal duty yet, the direction is clear. The Government has concluded the NHS cannot solve working-age ill health alone and now expects employers to own part of the answer. The smart move is to benchmark against the Vanguard evidence before you’re required to.

The NHS cannot solve working-age ill health alone and now expects employers to own part of the answer

Why does the number keep climbing?

In the same CIPD survey, 74 per cent of organisations say senior leaders have employee wellbeing on their agenda, and most offer more support than five years ago. Yet absence has climbed anyway.

The issue lies in timing. Most wellbeing resources are only activated during a crisis. EAPs are accessed at breaking point, occupational health referrals occur after an employee is signed off sick, and counselling typically begins only after HR receives a fit note.

When it’s too late and expensive to intervene

Two things work against early intervention: employees hide stress, and employers rarely prompt them to use what’s already available. Indeed, 35 per cent of workers are uncomfortable telling their manager about high stress, a figure that rose this year, while 40 per cent of employers leave benefit take-up entirely to employees to initiate.

The time between ‘fine’ and ‘signed off’ is a long stretch where someone is still at work, functioning and receptive to help. We call it the coping window. Supporting people inside that window prevents absence. Support after that window is just managed absence.

HealthHero designed its EAP for the coping window, with confidential counselling available 24/7 every day of the year. See how it works.

The issue lies in timing. Most wellbeing resources are only activated during a crisis

Three ways to support your team whilst they’re still coping

Safety teams learned decades ago that accidents fall when you track near-misses, train supervisors, and remove hazards. It wasn’t by making ambulances go faster. Preventing ill health works the same way.

1. Open the front door earlier

Count the steps between an employee starting to struggle and a conversation with a counsellor. Every form, gatekeeper and week of waiting filters out the very people prevention needs to reach. 

Early access means self-referral without a manager’s sign-off, appointments within days and more than one way to book. Just under half (48 per cent) of employees who used a virtual GP through work avoided time off, and 46 per cent returned to work faster after illness.

For example, a worker with building stress is more likely to book a 10-minute evening counselling video call from the sofa than call a helpline from the staff room. 

This is how HealthHero’s EAP works. Employees refer themselves, by phone or through the My HealthHero app, with self-help guides and online CBT sitting alongside. There are no forms, no need for approval, and no reason to put off getting help. 

2. Give managers mental health training

Managers are the earliest detection system an organisation has, and most have never been trained. Only 29 per cent of organisations train line managers to support staff with their mental health. Where organisations provide training, 63 per cent say their managers feel confident to spot the signs of mental ill health. Where they don’t, that falls to 45 per cent.  

Confidence can change what managers do. A trained manager knows what to watch for, such as rising overtime, unbooked holidays or people working while unwell, what to say when they notice it, and where to point someone for support. HealthHero builds all three into its EAP. 

3. Design the return before the exit

Prevention also means stopping a short absence from turning into a long one.  Nine in 10 employees return to work after receiving structured support, but only three in 10 have access to it. 

Timing also has a huge effect on the outcome. Contact within the first fortnight, a phased return agreed early and adjustments made without ceremony all raise the odds of someone coming back. Silence until week four lowers them. 

This pattern is familiar to anyone who has seen how a four-week absence easily drifts into four months. The employee waits to feel ready. The employer waits to hear something. Nobody talks during the fortnight in the middle, when a plan would have changed the outcome.

Managers are the earliest detection system an organisation has, and most have never been trained

Making it work at your size

An SME can build all three changes on a modest budget. Manager training costs little compared to a single long-term absence. A return-to-work protocol costs nothing beyond the discipline to follow it. An EAP itself costs less than many assume, with HealthHero’s starting from £0.34 per person per month.

Actionable insights

1. Map wellbeing spend against the coping window and rebalance towards early access.
2. Train line managers first; it has the highest return.
3. Get in touch within the first two weeks of an absence. When you wait until week four, you’ve usually lost the moment.
4. Make support available before someone’s off sick, not after.
5. Don’t assume people will ask for help:  40 per cent of employers just wait.

Are you ready to see what prevention could look like for your workforce? Get a quote for HealthHero’s EAP today.