The Know Daily - Tuesday 26 September 2023

_{Tuesday 26 September ∙ Read in 5m 56s ∙ Listening to Lorde}

The 2023 winners of the Bird Photographer of the Year competition have been announced - and we’re preying you love Jack Zhi's dramatic winning shot of a peregrine falcon as much as we do! Check out the other prize-winning images here.

🤒 “Sicknote Britain”

The number of sick days being taken by British workers has reached its highest level in more than a decade, new research has shown.

What’s the story?
A report by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) - a trade group for people working in human resources (HR) - found that employees averaged 7.8 days of sick leave over the past year, up by two days since before the pandemic and the highest number since 2010.

For the study, the CIPD analysed the employee health of 918 organisations, representing 6.5 million workers in total. Minor illnesses like colds were to blame for the majority of short-term absences, followed by musculoskeletal injuries. Recurring cases of Covid-19 and long Covid were found to still be “a significant cause of sick days”, said the BBC.

How about long-term absences?
Almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents cited mental ill health as the reason for their long-term sick leave (defined as when an employee is off work for more than four weeks) and 76% said they had taken time off due to stress in the past year.

Factors behind this stress included cost of living and work pressures, said Sky News.

What has the CIPD advised?
The trade group has urged employers to do more to support the wellbeing of their workers. “This means managing the main risks to people’s health from work to prevent stress as well as early intervention to prevent health issues from escalating where possible,” said senior employee wellbeing adviser Rachel Suff.

Claudia Nicholls, chief customer officer at insurance firm Simplyhealth - which conducted the study - added that employers have a “vital” role to play in supporting employees via “workplace health and wellbeing services”, which in turn can “ease pressure on the NHS”.

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