British employers can find cheaper to replace workers who fall sick than invest in their detention, said former chief of John Lewis in a report that calls for stronger incentives for companies to help fight bad health.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, whom the government has appointed to direct his “Keep Great Britain to work“The examination, said that the” scrambled “and” ill-aligned “financial incentives for employers and employees were one of the reasons why economic inactivity had aggravated in the United Kingdom compared to other countries.
In the United Kingdom, employers must cover the statutory salary of £ 116.75 per week up to 28 weeks – one of the lowest replacement rates of the average profits of all OECD countries.
This contributed to situations “where the financial incentive to invest in detention is lower than the recruitment of a replacement,” said Mayfield report.
The examination revealed that, even if many British employers felt strongly motivated to retain the staff, in practice, this has often had second place to “the immediate imperative to reorganize work, then to fill a vacancy” when the line managers were faced with a sudden and unforeseen absence.
In addition, he said: “The costs borne by employers for the lack of illness are lower compared to certain other European countries and may be worth paying in relation to the greatest time and the investment necessary to continue detention.”
The publication of Thursday's report follows the announcement by the Labor government of 5 billion pounds sterling of reductions in disease and disability benefits – which could leave one million people to £ 4,000 per year, and lead some to lose up to £ 9,600 per year, according to the Reflection Group on the Resolution Foundation.
Mayfield report argued that the action to prevent people from leaving work when they fell ill would make much more difference than the reforms of the well-being System intended for long -term services.
He noted that people without work for less than a year were five times more likely to return than those who have been inactive for longer.
“Our strong meaning is that prevention, retention, early intervention and rapid rehabilitation … are likely to be more effective remedies over time,” said the report.
Stronger incentives for employers to invest in health and retention of labor should underline a more effective system, according to the report, drawing attention to the Netherlands-where employers must pay at least 70% of workers wages for a maximum of two years of absence of illness, and provide professional support in the context of a back to work plan.
The strict responsibilities imposed on employers in the Netherlands have contributed to a drop in eight percentage points of economic inactivity between 2010 and 2023, noted the exam.
In the United Kingdom, as well as lower disease salaries, both the layout and the use of occupational health regimes were uneven and the managers who feared that “do the bad thing” has often lost contact with employees on a fully prolonged sick leave, added the report.
The British government legislates to widen the coverage of disease wages, including low -paid workers who are not permissible at the moment, as part of a wider set of reforms to strengthen employment rights. However, ministers do not increase the sick salary rate.
The Health Foundation's Reflection Group – which conducted a year -long survey on means of improving occupational health – published research last week calling for a statutory sickness compensation, arguing that the low level of the United Kingdom prompted people to go too quickly to long -term disability benefits.
He also called for a better design of jobs, to approach the length of gap, to the list and to the workload and to flexibility for workers in sectors such as transport or health care where roles were often intense and inflexible.
However, ministers will beware of approaching all the measures which swallow the additional costs on companies, which are already in arms on tax increases and minimum wage increases, and government agenda to strengthen the rights of workers and unions.
The Government Green Document on the benefits of benefits published on Tuesday said that changes in the “Access to work” program that help employers finance specialized aids and equipment for disabled workers.
The ministers want to expand this program, potentially with employers who come more from the bill, but the government playing a role in shaping the market and reducing the cost of specialized technology.
“We have to do much more to help people stay at work and come back quickly if they fall,” said Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in response to Mayfield's conclusions.
Mayfield, which will publish detailed policy recommendations in the fall, said that the initial results have shown that “the fight against this problem will not be carried out by small changes”.
