The Frost/Black review addressing long-term sickness absence can help drive UK growth, but SMEs are core, says John Letizia.
Small businesses simply do not have the luxuries of these economies of scale. The absence of one member of staff can result in vital knowledge, skills, experience or contacts being lost, severely affecting productivity and income. Equally, a smaller balance sheet can leave much less scope to invest in employee assistance or occupational therapy.
While the NHS is a much-loved and respected British institution, its great strength has historically been in responding to acute illness and accidents and is currently less well placed to help individuals manage and recover from long-term and chronic health problems. In the worst case, a business can be crippled if it does not have a back-up plan.
That is why the Frost/Black Review has such potential. It focuses on exactly the kind of targeted grassroots reforms that will have the biggest impact. By supporting the wealth creators in the engine room of our economy, it has a vital role to play in delivering growth for the country.
In the current economic climate there are plenty of competing issues and special interest groups demanding government attention. However, the case for following through with the review’s recommendations is particularly compelling given that, as big an issue as sickness absence is now, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Going back to the Unum/Oxford Economics research, the number of workers with cancer is expected to almost double to more than a million by 2030. Their economic contribution is expected to top £29bn.
By the same token, there would then be 136,000 people potentially encountering barriers that prevent them from returning to the workforce, costing the economy £3.5bn per year.
What is particularly striking is that those figures are for cancer alone. However, more than 70% of healthcare costs are related to chronic lifestyle illnesses. That means there is a huge range of other causes of absence that need to be considered.
If we factor in the impact of other chronic complaints such as diabetes, heart disease or musculoskeletal problems, without action on absence management, the UK could face a future in which thousands of people who want to work are unable to because the right support is not in place – at a substantial loss to the economy.
At a time when the country is also adjusting to an ageing workforce, there must be serious questions asked as to whether we can afford to let this scenario come to pass.
Catalyst for action
This is not a new challenge – indeed, it has been considered by successive governments for several decades. It is to be hoped that Frost/Black can act as a catalyst for a longer-term examination of the issue, providing potential solutions that plan for five, ten and even 20 years into the future, rather than simply addressing the here and now.
Achieving a forward-thinking approach such as this will require government departments to work closely together on the issue, as it is not just a question of sick workers – it is also about the benefits they receive, the pressures on their social lives, challenges around social mobility and skills sets. Creating an annual state summary or progress report could be an effective way of ensuring that momentum is sustained.
It is important to keep this debate in perspective. Clearly effective sickness absence management is not a miracle solution for all the country’s economic problems.
However, keeping those with manageable conditions engaged in the labour market is exactly the type of government intervention that encourages businesses to invest, hence it is easy to see how the Frost/Black Review could form an effective part of a strategy for economic growth.
John Letizia is head of public affairs and CSR at Unum
