Employers are failing to get to grips with sickness absence and many are unaware of their current absence levels and the associated costs.
This was mainly due to a lack of focus on understanding and measuring sickness absence and has been compounded by a lack of integration between absence and healthcare strategies.
According to new research from Aon Hewitt, a significant number of businesses do not know or were uncertain of the accuracy of the data regarding sickness absence within their organisation.
The Aon Hewitt Benefits and Trends Survey polled 185 employers in the UK representing a combined workforce of 650,000 employees globally.
It revealed that employers are missing opportunities both to improve the health of their workers and to cut costs.
A third (32%) of those polled said they did not know how many days employees are absent through ill-health annually.
And of those who could give a figure, 60% were not very confident of its accuracy.
Illustrating the lack of a coordinated approach, half the respondents thought the components of their benefits programme were completely separate (13%), while another 36% said they were only loosely related.
Many companies have also failed to grasp the true cost of sickness absence to their organisation.
More than half (53%) admitted they do not measure the total cost of employee healthcare (all health-related activities) and a further 14% did not know whether their organisations measure the total cost of health.
Of those who do measure the total cost, many seem to be underestimating it.
The vast majority of the survey respondents said that health costs their organisation less than £1,000 a year per employee.
However, past research from Aon Hewitt has shown that the average cost of healthcare is usually between £2,000 and £3,000 per employee per year.
Two thirds of those who do not measure the cost of absence said they would like to measure return on investment in employee health.
James Kenrick, healthcare consultant at Aon Hewitt, said the results showed there was a widespread lack of knowledge among the UK's employers about levels of absence through sickness and the wider costs of healthcare.
"This suggests a lack of focus on absence rates and on health generally," he said.
"It is clear that there is a need for healthcare measurement and for tangible improvement on the current situation - but without an accurate picture of sickness absence and healthcare costs, employers will struggle to make and measure improvements.
"Employers who are not measuring rates of absence through sickness should start as soon as possible.
"In our experience, once management is aware of high sickness rates and the corresponding costs, it takes only a modest degree of intervention to bring rates down swiftly.
"The sorts of actions employers can put in place quickly - and often at relatively low cost - include return-to-work interviews and triggered referrals for rehabilitation," he added.
