One in five businesses is completely unaware of government recommendations to reduce work-related illness by making adjustments to work practices.
This is according to Aon Consulting, which surveyed more than 600 employers, asking them about their attitudes to welfare reform. The survey results showed that 63 per cent of employers have no plans to amend current sickness and absence benefits – for example, by actively promoting return-to-work strategies.
Starting from next year, more than 2.6 million people currently claiming incapacity benefits will be subjected to new, more stringent work-capability assessment criteria, with the aim of returning those who are deemed able to work back into the workforce.
Matthew Lawrence, senior consultant at Aon Consulting, commented: “Long term, businesses will need to adjust to these circumstances, and, indeed, changing a company’s approach to sickness, illness and absence can provide both short and longer-term benefits.
“For example, having formal absence processes in place, utilising occupational-health resource effectively, and introducing a wellness programme can very quickly help reduce the number of sick days taken by employees, as well as helping reduce the number of long-term injuries sustained at work, such as back injuries, and increasing productivity.”
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.
