Wellbeing

Employers are less likely to increase staff levels in 2014 as they expect productivity to improve once the economy picks up, research has suggested.

While the economy is on the mend, employees remain impacted by high levels of work-related stress which is costing employers over £460m; research has found.

Levels of personal wellbeing are strongly correlated to regional employment rates, findings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

Absence rates have returned to 2011 and 2010 levels averaging 7.6 days per employee, after falling slightly in 2012, the annual CIPD and Simplyhealth Absence Management survey has revealed.

Employers can be required to fund private medical treatment as part of a reasonable adjustment to help staff return to work, a court has ruled.

Employers should keep in touch with their staff when they are off sick to support a quicker and easier return to work, experts say.

A significant number (84%) of 18-24 year olds, dubbed the ‘iPosture generation' have admitted to suffering some incidence of back pain in the last 12 months, which experts have attributed to the rise in hand-held technology.

The UK is a 'nation of stressed staff' - with people eating lunch at their desks, working overtime and through holidays and sickness, according to new research.

Cigna UK HealthCare Benefits has confirmed it will be rolling out two significant improvements to its Physio Direct proposition in October.

Stress levels among GPs have reached the highest peak since 1998, according to research commissioned by the Department of Health.