New data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 1st May revealed that 148.8 million working days were lost to sickness or injury across the UK workforce in 2025, equivalent to 4.4 days lost per worker.
Responding to the latest figures, Verve Healthcare is urging employers to move beyond “tick-box wellbeing” and outdated report-only health assessments that identify problems without offering meaningful support.
According to Verve, too many organisations are investing in health checks that generate data and reports but fail to deliver action when employees need help.
Steven Pink, CEO of Verve Healthcare, which provides employee health assessments, commented:
“Employers have become very good at measuring workforce health problems and surprisingly poor at treating them.
“If an employee is identified as struggling with stress, burnout, musculoskeletal issues or early-stage health concerns, they shouldn’t be left to navigate the system alone. A health assessment without a pathway to treatment is not preventative healthcare.”
The warning comes as employers face mounting pressure from rising absence costs, lower productivity and increasing employee expectations around workplace wellbeing.
Verve is urging employers to shift investment away from passive wellbeing initiatives and towards interventions that provide employees with a clear next step after a health concern is identified.
This includes faster access to clinical guidance, follow-up support, onward referrals and practical treatment pathways designed to prevent short-term issues becoming long-term absences.
Despite the scale of the challenge, Verve says the outlook isn’t entirely negative. The stabilisation of absence rates compared with 2024 suggests employers have an opportunity.
“The numbers are high, but they’re not hopeless,” Steven Pink added. “We know what drives absence. We know what interventions work. What’s missing is the willingness to stop treating wellbeing as a reporting exercise and start treating it as a business-critical intervention.”
Steven Pink concluded:
“The latest ONS figures show the scale of the problem facing UK employers. Organisations failing to intervene early are paying for poor workforce health through higher absence, lower productivity and increased staff turnover.
“Businesses can’t afford another five years of wellbeing programmes that identify problems without solving them. The future of employee health is about helping people get better, faster.”