Among British small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) 23% do not have an absence management system in place, research from Jelf Employee Benefits has found.
Of the 69% who did have a system in place, 75% report that it is not providing them with sufficient absence or health data to inform an effective wellbeing programme.
Healthcare provision is going to be a priority area for 54% of those employers surveyed over the next 12-24 months.
Of employers surveyed, 76% believed employee absence was going to be an increasing problem over the medium term due to both physical and emotional wellbeing issues.
Additional health and wellbeing features within existing employee benefits were known of by 43% of employers.
The data was gathered at events run by Jelf Employee Benefits during October.
Iain Laws, managing director of UK healthcare at Jelf Employee Benefits said: "This is a missed opportunity as many of the sixty-nine per cent above may have an absence management platform in place but no process for taking advantage of the outputs.
"If the data is not understood or applied to help manage employee health risks that affect the business itself, then one of the main purposes of their absence management system is being missed and the value is lying fallow."
Laws added: "In many organisations, healthcare has had to play second fiddle to pensions within the benefits strategy but there is now a school of thought that absence could become more endemic if it is not properly addressed through effective employee health management & benefits programmes.
"It's interesting that only three per cent of respondents thought that Fit Notes have made a difference to return to work rates and this is probably a symptom of not having a robust absence management system in the first place.
"Health and wellbeing is both a preventative and rehabilitation strategy but to be successful it has to be informed by reliable absence or health data. Without that crucial link, any investment could be badly targeted and budget wasted."
