Clinics at work cut sicknotes

01 May 08

Source: The Guardian

Big organisations could dramatically cut absenteeism and save the British economy nearly £1.5bn a year by copying a health experiment that was introduced at the Royal Mail, an investigation by the London School of Economics reveals today.

It says the postal service cut sickness absence by a quarter over three years after putting clinics at the big sorting offices and mail centres, providing health screening and physiotherapy.

The group saved £227m between 2004 and 2007 by making its employees fitter. The Royal Mail ran health promotion campaigns targeting smoking and back pain, and hired instructors to run fitness centres at its larger sites. Short-term absence was reduced and 3,600 employees were brought back from long-term absence through illness or injury.