Staff sickness is costing UK businesses more than ever. According to the latest report from the CIPD and Simplyhealth, employees took an average of 9.4 sick days over the past year. That’s almost two full working weeks away from the office and a sharp increase from the 5.8 days reported pre-pandemic in 2019.
As a business leader, you don’t need telling that every absence has a knock-on effect. Productivity dips, workloads get redistributed, and morale can take a hit. But while sickness absence might feel like something you simply have to absorb, the truth is that proactive investment in employee wellness can significantly reduce its impact.
Why wellness matters to business performance
It’s easy to dismiss wellness initiatives as ‘nice to have,’ especially at the moment with tight budgets, but the data makes a strong case for their role in business resilience. More than three-quarters of organisations in the CIPD report said they had seen an increase in stress-related absence. Stress is no longer a side issue - it’s one of the primary drivers of lost working days.
By putting wellness at the centre of your HR strategy, you’re not just supporting your people, but you’re safeguarding productivity, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, the bottom line. It’s also an excellent benefit and something increasingly expected by top candidates. A culture that encourages healthy habits and supports employees through mental and physical challenges helps prevent small issues from snowballing into long-term absences.
Practical steps that make a difference
You don’t need a state-of-the-art office gym or nap pods to make wellness work. Small, targeted interventions often deliver the most meaningful results:
· Flexible working practices: Giving people autonomy over when and where they work helps reduce stress and improve work-life balance.
· Training line managers: Your managers are the first line of defence. Equip them to spot early warning signs of burnout or disengagement.
· Access to support: Whether it’s mental health first aiders, employee assistance programmes, or health plan partnerships, make sure employees know where to turn.
· Promoting healthy habits: Encourage regular breaks, walking meetings, or initiatives like “no meeting Fridays” to help reduce fatigue.
For HR professionals, sickness absence data is a goldmine of insight. Tracking trends by department, season, or role type can highlight underlying issues - whether it’s workload pressures, workplace culture, or even ineffective management practices.
Using this data strategically allows you to make targeted changes. For example, if stress-related absences spike in finance during year-end, you can introduce additional resourcing or temporary cover to spread the load.
Wellness as part of your talent strategy
Wellness isn’t just about reducing absence. It’s also about attraction and retention. High-performing professionals expect employers to care about their wellbeing. Failing to prioritise it risks not only higher sickness absence, but also higher turnover and weaker engagement.
If you want to be seen as an employer of choice, wellness needs to sit alongside pay, benefits, and career development in your talent strategy.
Work with us to find leading talent and keep your teams supported.