More than a third of manufacturers have reported a rise in long-term sickness absence from 2007 to 2008, despite a fall in overall sickness absence in the sector.
This is one of the most significant findings of the 2009 sickness-absence survey, released on 18 May by EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, and risk-insurance provider, Unum.
Overall, sickness absence in the manufacturing industry has fallen from 6.8 days per employee in 2007 to 6.2 days per employee in 2008. However, 36 per cent of employers surveyed reported an increase in long-term sickness absence over the same period.
EEF members questioned cited ‘surgery, medical investigation, or tests’ as the cause of almost 60 per cent of all long-term absences – an increase of 14 per cent since 2005 – ahead of back problems (34 per cent), cancer (26 per cent), and stress (25 per cent). Of those employers who have seen an increase, 28 per cent reported ‘waiting for appointment, or diagnosis of illness’ as a barrier to returning to work, and 25 per cent cited ‘waiting for treatments or operations’.
The research shows that 45 per cent of companies are dissatisfied with the current sick-note system, with only 28 per cent satisfied. More employers now view ‘waiting for the sick note to expire before starting rehabilitation’ as a barrier to successful rehabilitation, when compared with four years ago. However, fewer employers now see GPs as a barrier than was the case in 2005.
The EEF’s chief medical officer, Professor Sayeed Khan, said the research shows that the flaws lie more in the system than with individuals. He told SHP: “Training line managers in dealing with short-term sickness absence works. It doesn’t work as well for long-term absence. This raises questions about the quality of long-term absence-management training – do line managers know what their role should be? And how much can line-managers do, as it’s often a system failure.”
According to EEF, these results not only confirm that employers – particularly small firms – require their employees to be given faster access to NHS treatments and secondary care, but also that occupational-health training of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals needs vast improvement.
Prof Khan pointed out that the NHS’ 18-week referral-to-treatment target is too long for employers to wait for their staff to be given treatment, adding: “For SMEs, that could amount to job losses.” He also said that training in improving the knowledge and skills of GPs in dealing with health and work consultation – which is happening via the Royal College of General Practitioners – needs to be matched in secondary care for a variety of professionals working in this field.
On the issue of improving access to treatment, Prof. Khan said: “There needs to be a campaign by professionals outside of the NHS, by the likes of IOSH, employer organisations, and the trades unions.”
He also pointed to the Government’s £13m ‘Fit for Work’ pilot, which aims to join up several local services – including skills advice, employment advice, health and well-being services, and wider social support – as an approach that could prevent people who become sick from dropping out of employment altogether. Allowing such a service to be “provided in a single locus, where people are dealt with by a number of professionals, instead of being shoved from pillar to post” would not only speed up the process but improve the consistency of advice provided, claimed Prof Khan.
The eventual replacement of the sick note with the ‘fit note’ – a recommendation put forward by Dame Carol Black in her review of the health of the working-age population – should also help break down the perception among managers that employees who have been signed off sick cannot return to work until the note has expired.
Commented Prof Michael O’Donnell, chief medical officer at Unum: “Dame Carol Black’s ‘fit note’ will be a major step forward in addressing attitudes towards sickness, and the sooner we can introduce it, the better. Changing the mindset and, therefore, attitudes, is the critical first step in bringing about a real and effective change in approach by all parties.”
Added Prof Khan: “The ‘fit note’ is a real opportunity for health and safety professionals to get involved, as they can help their employer carry out the risk assessment for the employee returning to work. There will be a need for training of health and safety professionals in the occupational health side of things, but there is a real opportunity here.”
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
