The People Bulletin

Stress still the top cause of long-term absence

03 November 2011

New research has shown that stress is a bigger problem for businesses in terms of absence than acute medical conditions such as cancer.

New research from Group Risk Development (GRiD), the trade body for the group risk industry, has highlighted how serious stress remains as a cause of absence from work.

The figures, obtained by interviewing 500 employers, found that stress-related mental ill health is the most common cause of long-term absence (an absence lasting more than four weeks) for almost one in six employers (15%). This is the second highest cause of absence behind home and family issues (20%), and is even ahead of acute medical conditions such as heart attacks or cancer.

Feeling the pressure

Tellingly, the problem of stress seems to be worse in the public sector, with 27% of public sector employers citing this as their main cause of absence compared with 13% in the private sector. Following a year of budget cuts and redundancies, it indicates that these pressures have had an impact on the health of the workforce.

As a result of high absence levels through stress, almost one in five employers (19%) stated that stress or other mental health issues are the biggest health-related problem for their business. This percentage rises to over a quarter (27%) for businesses with over 100 staff.

Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said:

“Stress is often overlooked as a cause of long-term absence from work, compared to acute medical conditions such as heart attack or cancer. These figures prove just how big a problem absence through stress is for employers, and provide a timely reminder for businesses to take action over what is often a preventable condition.

“In times of increased economic pressure it is important for employers to consider firstly the wellbeing of their employees and what wider implications are suggested by high levels of stress or other mental illness, and secondly what provisions they have in place to ensure both the employee and the employer are adequately protected in case of long-term absence.

“As welfare reform moves forward, any business that has already embraced the value of integrated health, wellbeing and absence programmes will feel vindicated; any business that has not already understood how crucial this is will come to do so”.