Reading the CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work 2023 report gives an excellent insight on why sickness absence has been increasing by an average of two days per employee over the past decade.
Mental Health is in the top three reasons for both short and longer term absence, which chimes with what we’re seeing from the usage across CiC EAPEmployee Assistance Programme and wellbeing services. Financial wellbeing, world events and returning to the norm after the pandemic are just a few of things that employees have asked us to support them with.
Our data follows the report’s findings that stress from workload still has the highest impact on employee wellbeing. So it was encouraging to see the high level of EAP and counselling services being used and to see evidence that budget is being set aside for employee wellbeing, with this still a high priority on senior leaders’ agendas. But, as the report highlighted, the biggest challenge was the lack of line manager skills and confidence.
We believe a holistic wellbeing strategy incorporates a proactive approach to training and support for both managers and staff through a combination of e-learning and face to face delivery and are ready to support more employers with these challenges.