The fear of asking about health in the UK is driving people away from the workforce at an increasing cost to business and society, according to the Keep Britain working review.
Sir Charlie Mayfield is the former boss of the John Lewis Partnership. He has been given a task by the UK Government to find ways to keep disabled and sick people employed. Mayfield said that people are often left jobless or dependent on benefits due to a lack in health support at work.
He said that it was often advised to HR managers not to contact someone who is sick in case they are accused of bullying or end up at a court. “They’d do anything to avoid it.”
Mayfield told The Financial Times that there is a great deal of fear. He said that people are afraid to disclose their conditions, and they also worry about the line manager saying the wrong things.
Managers “run the clock” to terminate contracts, even though many people with mild anxiety and depression would have been better off remaining at work.
Mayfield will make policy recommendations to ministers this autumn. He said that the stakes are high, because an “increasing wave” of illness and disability is “landing” on a system “that has never been designed or suited” to handle it.
Mayfield was appointed as the leader of the review in November last year. She spoke at a time when ministers are under pressure to cancel planned reductions to sickness and disability benefit that would save government PS4.8bn per year but send hundreds of thousands into poverty.
Mayfield told The FT that it is in the business’s interest to provide more support to people who first develop a medical condition. He said that the UK system “starts” with employment law. . . Then there are GPs on the other side. “There’s not much in between.”
Mayfield said at the Acas annual conference two weeks ago that family doctors are under pressure to provide a note of fitness to work to people who ask for it.
He said that many people who were on sick leave ended up being on extended sick leaves until they lost their entitlement to statutory sick pay. They then claimed health benefits.
Mayfield cited the Netherlands as the opposite extreme. Employers in the Netherlands must provide occupational health support to employees who fall ill and continue to pay wages for two years if they are able to get back to work.
Josie Beal is a senior associate at Birketts, a law firm. She told Personnel Today Mayfield had emphasized the reluctance of HR managers correctly. She added: “Employers or managers may be reluctant to contact employees who are sick, especially if they have concerns about employment tribunals or employee grievances.
This was the conclusion of our recent survey, which surveyed 500 HR professionals from England and Wales about their experiences in the employment tribunal system over the previous 24 months. The employment tribunal received the majority of disability discrimination cases. Stress and the management of ill-health were also among the most frequent grievances.
The survey results showed that line managers need more training and support on how to handle difficult conversations, and manage ill health and disabilities.
She continued: “It’s important to keep in touch with employees who are on sick leave, to ensure their wellbeing and health, to maintain engagement and to encourage a return to the workplace. Employers must strike a balance to ensure regular, supportive contact without being overbearing.
We recommend that employers keep open lines of communication and support with their employees at the beginning of any sick leave period and agree on appropriate methods and frequencies of contact.
A slight fall was registered last week in the number of young people not in education or training.
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