Long term sickness in the workforce, and possible causes

Long term sickness is a constant battle for both employees and employers alike.

So what may be contributing to the record numbers of long term sickness in the workforce? In this article, we focus on five factors that can have a negative effect on mental health.

Long working hours

Long working hours are simply a symptom of modern life for many households. With more time spent in the workplace and less leisure time to unwind, attend to hobbies or family and friends, it is easy to see why such poor work/life balance can negatively impact anyone’s mental health.

People are much more connected to colleagues, email inboxes, WhatsApp, Messenger, and myriad social media channels that it can be harder to ignore work and the desire to ‘get something sorted’ than ever before.

Working from home

The COVID-19 era ushered in another era of its own – home working, or at least a massive increase in numbers working from home. Whereas many people previously had daily interaction with other colleagues, clients and people out in public, many workplaces have switched to either mostly home-work, or at least some kind of hybrid arrangement.

Whilst this may suit certain people perfectly, for many who are happier in environments with lots of stimulation and interaction – sitting at home and dealing with the workplace as their new shared working and living space is very far from ideal.

This kind of situation can easily lead to an inability to separate home and work, and even juggling the two together on an endless basis.

Rising cost of living

With inflation, food and fuel prices and childcare costs all soaring (to name just a few), there is no doubt that money pressures at home can have a negative effect on an individual, a relationship or an entire family.

Where many families have all available adults out of the house working, less time is spent together as a family and on doing enjoyable, enriching things, where stress is more likely to build up over time and lead to more long term negative mental health effects.

Pre-existing health conditions

For people who are fully fit and able to perform a continuous working week it can be hard enough, but add pre-existing health conditions into the mix and the knock-on effects can be devastating.

Then there are those who are struggling with physical and mental health conditions at the same time, with combined negative effects hampering the ability to perform working tasks to fullest capability having a further detrimental effect on mental wellbeing.

With NHS waiting lists at record levels, factor in also the negative impact felt by having inadequate or untimely access to the correct healthcare pathways, which is also contributing to the climbing number of people away from work on long term sick leave.

Personal matters

Everyone has personal issues to attend to and everyone experiences stress to some degree, but modern workers are juggling at least some of the factors mentioned earlier in this article outside of their jobs, and with time to do so often increasingly limited by time spent at work, it is inevitable that something has to give.

Being a long-term carer or having complex commitments outside of work often means that something else suffers, whether that is the ability to work or being burdened by a decline in an individual’s own mental or physical wellbeing.

A perspective from Changes Bristol:

“It’s worth reflecting on how different aspects of identity, such as gender, can intersect with working arrangements to implicate mental health. Women may experience pressure to perform at work, whilst often also experiencing gender-based discrimination, expectations to have children or carrying the heavy mental, emotional and physical load of being the main organiser of childcare and home life.

“Men may experience a societal pressure to perform at work and ‘provide’ for a family, feeling unable to show weakness or talk about their mental health for fear that it might affect how people perceive them. Non-binary or gender fluid people may experience high levels or discrimination and micro-aggressions at work, which can build up over time to have a huge impact on self esteem and mental health.

“When you consider these factors in conjunction with other intersections of identity, such as ethnicity, religion or socio-economic status, it is easy to reflect on how everyone’s experience is unique and nuanced.”

In conclusion

These are just five factors that may negatively impact the mental health of someone juggling their job with modern life. It may be the case that any, all or none of the above apply to some people who are finding themselves struggling.

It is incredibly important to make sure that however hard you are working, you must always find time to give yourself the time and space to acknowledge your own physical and mental health by recognising that something may need fixing.

Further reading

Signs of stress and how to combat it – Oakwood Solicitors

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