This is clearly not sustainable and is having serious detrimental impacts at all levels of the economy. For workers, being off long-term exacerbates the risk of further long term mental and physical health issues, and the vast majority want to get back to “normal life” as quickly as possible.
Helping people back to work benefits employees, their families, employers, and the wider economy. There is a clear impact on employers – budgets are already stretched and many have skill shortages.
Small and medium businesses, the engine of the economy, are worst hit by the rising number of employees on long-term sick, picking up 76 per cent of the total lost productivity bill in 2023, totalling £24.7bn.
How insurance helps
Despite the figures, there are solutions. The insurance model of procuring and pooling vocational rehabilitation with financial benefits and other health services is both cost-effective and well-suited to SMEs.
It gives employees at small companies access to human resource facilities that their employers may not themselves be able to offer.
The link with the employer is retained and helps to support a successful return to work through vocational rehabilitation services such as mental health support, access to rehabilitation clinics and return to work planning.
Nine out 10 ten group income protection policies currently in force belong to SMEs, and around one third of policies cover businesses with fewer than 10 workers.
An analysis by the Association of British Insurers of some 16,000 cases found that nearly nine in 10 people remained in the workforce following access to rehabilitation services through insurance.
The combination of rehabilitation and early intervention, together with a greater focus on preventative initiatives, can have a transformative effect on people’s lives, leading to a healthier, more fulfilled, and more productive workforce.
Despite these benefits, consumer polling by Zurich last year found that just one-third of employees on long-term sick leave were offered rehabilitation support by their employer, and just 22 per cent were offered relapse prevention services.
It is important to recognise vocational rehabilitation is only part of a holistic government approach required to getting people back to work.
This will include areas such as health, education, skills, childcare, elder care and transport, but the insurance industry absolutely has a role to play.
Why rehabilitation matters
As part of an awareness campaign that Zurich ran this year, Invictus gold medallist JJ Chalmers, who was injured while serving in Afghanistan in 2011, called on companies to follow the military’s lead when it comes to helping employees on long-term sick back into the workplace.
