Lack of Employee Financial Protection Impacting Companies’ Bottom Lines

A recent study from Unum has shown that a lack of financial protection amongst UK workers is impacting their employers with almost 2 in 3 companies stating they had suffered from the effects of long-term sickness absence.

Of the companies polled, more than half continue to pay employees’ their full pay for 6 months or more if they are off work due to illness or injury.

It is not just larger organisations that are feeling the impact — it is companies right across the board. Looking at organisations with more than 500 employees, 69% say long-term sickness absence has a financial impact on their business, while 40% or smaller companies with fewer than 500 employees are also seeing a financial impact.

Looking across the UK working population, long-term absence is a reality for many, 31% of employees claim that they have had to take at least one month of work as a result of illness or injury. Over 2 million workers stated they have had to take more than 6 months of work due to illness or injury.

Unum’s Chief Marketing Officer, stated: “Long-term absence is a real financial burden for UK businesses. In the current economic climate long term absence is only likely to place greater strain on organisations and unfortunately our research shows that as companies are not taking steps to protect themselves or their employees, it will continue to be a financial drain on businesses for some time to come.”

If you are considering implementing a group income protection scheme to provide sick pay to your workers and help address this financial burden, or are looking to review an existing plan, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

At Drewberry we work with a wide array of organisations to ensure their employee benefits fits both the needs of the employee and the organisation and are implemented at the most competitive rates.