Mental health issues most common reason for absence - research

Stress and other mental health issues are now the most common reason for people absent from work, new research has found.

However employers are realising the importance of tackling workplace health by more actively promoting the schemes they have in place already.

The survey conducted by Simplyhealth and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) revealed that mental health problems now accounted for more than 50% of absences.

Perhaps surprisingly, this was true for both manual and non-manual work.

It also found that nearly a third (30%) of employers are placing greater emphasis on promoting access to health and wellbeing initiatives compared to last year.

Almost half (46%) of all employers contacted said they have a health and wellbeing strategy in place - with access to counseling services and employee assistance programmes the most common.

Kelly Morris, spokesperson for Simplyhealth, said: "With pay rises being frozen or restricted, employers are turning to health and wellbeing benefits to help engage employees and support them through these tough times.

"Helping to keep employees happy and healthy is key to driving productivity and to reducing stress and absence in the workplace.

"Interestingly, the absence management survey shows that those organisations that show a reduction in their absence rates are also more likely to have a wellbeing strategy in place," she added.