The cost of employee absence due to sickness has risen, increasing the burden on small to medium businesses, according to the annual HSA and Employee Benefits magazine’s Healthcare survey.
The research found that the majority of respondents from smaller companies claim have seen the cost of sickness absence rising from less than 1% of payroll in 2005 to between 1% and 2%.
According to the survey, few companies have implemented procedures to reduce the impact these absences are having. It found that only 20% of companies with fewer than 500 employees have a stress prevention policy in place, compared to 56% of companies with more than 500 employees.
It also revealed that a staggering 47% of small companies have no strategy in place to reduce sickness absence.
The survey was carried out during March 2006 among registered users of www.employeebenefits.co.uk and readers of Employee Benefits Magazine.
Head of corporate marketing at HSA Suzanne Clarkson, said: “It is worrying that sickness absence is costing smaller companies more and more, especially when we consider that the effect of cost can be far greater on them.
“It is therefore essential that decision-makers at smaller organisations look at effective ways of managing sickness absence such as implementing sickness absence policies.”
