Key findings
A sharp increase in sickness absence
Average* level of employee absence, per employee per annum
- The average number of absence days per employee per year has risen to 9.4 days, the highest in a more than 15 years.
Minor illness and mental ill health common causes of absence
Most common causes of absence (% of respondents who include in their top three causes)
- Mental ill health is the leading cause of long-term absence and the second most common cause of short-term absence.
- Stress also contributes significantly to both short- and long-term sickness absence.
- 64% of organisations are taking steps to identify and/or reduce stress in the workplace but only 50% believe their efforts are effective.
Most organisations are taking a holistic approach to wellbeing
To what extent, if any, is your employee health and wellbeing activity designed to promote...?
- As in previous years, mental health remains a key focus of organisations’ employee health and wellbeing activity (89%).
- Compared with 2023, more organisations in 2025 are also focusing their activity on values and principles (88%, up from 74%).
Organisations aiming to offer support related to life-stage
To what extent does your organisation’s health and wellbeing activity include provision (for example, policies, guidance, awareness-raising or line manager training) for any of the following? (% reporting to a large or moderate extent)
- Organisations are supporting wellbeing related to employees’ life-stage, particularly for those with young children (75%), those experiencing bereavement (67%), or those who are managing chronic health conditions and disabilities (67%).
Line manager training has significant impact
Mental health training for managers and their skills and competencies
- The percentage of HR professionals and managers reporting that line managers buy in to the importance of wellbeing has also continued to rise (75%, up from 58% five years ago) and more believe that senior leaders have employee wellbeing on their agenda (74%, up from 61% five years ago).
- But only 29% train line managers in mental health, though 73% of those that do say managers are confident in having sensitive discussions and signposting support.
Working from home can lower absence and boost productivity
Have you seen changes to any of the following as a consequence of employees within your organisation working from home? (%)
- 36% of organisations with employees working from home say that sickness absence rates have decreased as a consequence, compared with just 16% reporting an increase.
- Respondents are twice as likely to report that productivity has increased than decreased as a result of homeworking, while 35% of organisations report that ‘presenteeism’ (working when unwell) has risen because of employees working from home.
Organisations committed to invest in wellbeing, but budget challenges remain
Do you expect your health and wellbeing budget to change over the next 12 months? (%)
- 29% expect their organisation’s wellbeing budget to increase over the next 12 months, compared with just 9% predicting a decrease.
- But finding the budget on top of rising business costs is the top challenge (39%) while cost-effectiveness is considered by most (56%) organisations when selecting health-related benefits.
Most employers offer occupational health service arrangements
Occupational health service arrangements (%)
- Occupational health (OH) services are offered by 69% of employers, rising to 86% in larger organisations (250+ employees).
- Few organisations use OH to manage health risks (31%) or develop a health and wellbeing strategy/policies (29%).
Employee views on health and wellbeing
Alongside our employer survey, we have also asked employees their perspective about health and wellbeing at work in our CIPD Good Work Index 2025.
How do employees feel about health and wellbeing at work?
- Around two-thirds of employees rate their mental and physical health as good or very good, though a sizable minority report poor health.
- A notable minority report feeling exhausted (23%) or under excessive pressure (21%).
- A quarter of employees believe work has a negative impact on both their mental and physical health.
- Less than half of employees feel work positively affects their mental health, and only a third say the same for physical health.
Work’s impact on employee health and wellbeing
- More than two-thirds of employees experienced a health condition in the past year. Most common were, backache or musculoskeletal issues (51%), anxiety (43%), sleep problems (43%) and depression (24%).
- Work was found to be a contributing factor to health conditions like RSI (84%) and was also found to be a contributing factor to mental conditions such as anxiety (62%) and depression (53%).
Drivers of negative impacts on employee mental and physical health
- Employees said that the key drivers of negative impact for mental health were:
- poor relationships with colleagues (75%)
- high workload (69%)
- line managers not helping staff to perform well in their job (63%).
- Employees said that the key drivers of negative impact for physical health were:
- poor relations with colleagues (63%)
- high workload (51%)
- exhaustion (45%).
Health and wellbeing impact on employees’ work-related outcomes
Employees who feel work negatively affects their mental health were:
- less likely to be satisfied in their role (37% vs 93%)
- more likely to quit (34% vs 14%)
- less likely to recommend their employer (29% vs 77%)
- less willing to go above and beyond (39% vs 69%)
- less likely to make innovative suggestions (54% vs 72%).
Hybrid working and homeworking's impact on employee health and wellbeing
- Hybrid working correlating significantly more strongly with positive perceptions of mental health (66% rate their mental health as good), compared with those with no availability of homeworking or those who only work from home (both 59%).
- For physical health, there is only a minor difference between positive physical health for employees who do not work from home and hybrid workers (62% vs 66%), but access to hybrid working is more strongly correlated with good physical health compared with those who only work from home (66% vs 53%).
Employees’ views of efforts to address health and wellbeing issues
- Just over half of employees feel their organisation is supportive of mental health though many feel underserved.
- Over two-thirds say their line manager is open and approachable on mental health issues.
