Employers not doing enough to help the long term sick get back to work

A new poll from YuLife suggests that there are significant gaps in the ability of employers and the NHS to support the long-term sick in their recovery and rehabilitation. The survey of UK employees conducted by YouGov sets out to explore workers’ experiences of recovery after long-term illness or injury as well as the overall state of workplace wellbeing. According to the report, a majority (52 percent) of employees who have experienced an illness or injury lasting more than two weeks said that their employer did not help with their recovery and return to work. Around one in five UK employees (21 percent of the workforce) has experienced a long-term health-related absence from work with no recovery or rehabilitation assistance from their employer.

When asked to imagine suffering an illness or injury that would keep them off work for two weeks or more, a majority (56 percent) of respondents said that they are ‘not confident’ in the NHS’s ability to support their rehabilitation, with just 8 percent of people saying that they are ‘very confident’ in the NHS. When asked about the likelihood that their employer might provide assistance with their recovery and return to work, over a third (35 percent) of UK employees thought that their employer would be unlikely to provide assistance, and only 17 percent thought that their employer would be ‘very likely’ to assist.

When asked about the key factors that would be important to achieve an effective recovery after an illness or injury, 76 percent of respondents claimed that rest and time off work would be the most impactful, with the next most popular responses being short wait times for medical appointments (56 percent) and high-quality medical advice and treatment (56 percent). 30 percent of respondents consider mental health support and therapy to be a significant factor, but there is a significant age divide: for under 35s this was a more significant factor (38 percent), as opposed to over 55s (15 percent).

Additional findings include:

• When asked which of a range of factors play an important role in helping them achieve personal health and wellbeing goals, only 20 percent of respondents claimed that their work was important. The most significant factor helping to achieve their goals was friends and family, named by 67 percent of respondents.
• Around half of all employees (47 percent) say that emotional challenges or mental illness have affected their productivity at work over the course of the past year, while 30 percent say that physical illness or injury have affected their productivity across the same time frame.
• Around half of all employees say that their workplaces do not actively encourage them to engage in activities that support their physical wellbeing (47 percent) and mental and emotional wellbeing (43 percent).
• 59 percent of respondents claimed that it would be an important factor for them when searching for a new role for the employer to offer comprehensive benefits to support well-being and rehabilitation, with only 33 percent saying it was not important to them.
• 50 percent of employees think that their employer is responsible for offering them tools and support to achieve their health and wellbeing goals.