Well-being--absenteeism, presenteeism, costs and challenges.

EDITORIAL Well-being—absenteeism, presenteeism, costs and challenges Despite the many initiatives taken to invest in the health and well-being of employees, workplace data still record the fact that 420 000 employees in Britain in 2006 believed that they were experiencing stress, depression or anxiety at work at levels that were making them ill [1]. If workplace health and safety data indicate that the most 'widespread workplace hazard is stress' [2], then what are the costs to employees, organizations and society? Identifying costs can help make the case for the benefits that can be gained from improving the quality of working life. 'Health and well-being extend far beyond avoiding or reducing the costs of absence or poor perfor-mance' states the recent Black report but this 'requires a changed perception of health and well-being and a willingness from both employers and employees to invest resources and change behaviours' [3]. Health & Safety Executive statistics show that for 2006/07 almost 30 million days were lost because of work-related illness [4]. Stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 13.8 million days lost or 46% of all reported illnesses making this the single largest cause of all absences attributable to work-related illness. Over the last 5 years, work-related stress, depression or anxiety remains for each year the single most reported complaint. Both the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) [5] and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)/AXA [6] suggest that stress, depression and anxiety account for 40% and 37.5% of sickness absence, respectively, making it one of the top five major causes. The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health [7] suggests that the proportion of sickness absence that can be attributed to mental health conditions could be as high as 44% and suggests that 'in the absence of more detailed information', a figure of 40% represents a good point to start from. For the UK working population , 175 million working days are lost each year because of sickness absence with 70 million days lost (40%) to mental health problems [7]. With the HSE 2006–07 figures suggesting 13.8 million lost days, then work-related causes represent 20% of days lost to mental health problems. If 175 million days are lost each year to sickness absence , then what is the cost? The CIPD calculated the cost of absence at an average level of £659 per employee per year 'though less than half [45%] of organizations [in their sample] …