Staff sickness is well-renowned as being a huge problem for employers, costing them millions of pounds each year from a loss in productivity. But it seems that a new way to get around this problem is emerging much to the concern of many health professionals. It is now apparent that businesses are putting increasing pressure on workers to carry on with their jobs whilst at home, but this could actually cause more financial loss from sick days in the long term as employees fail to recover fully from their illness. Companies may be advised to invest in private health insurance for their staff as an alternative to piling on unneeded stress for their unwell staff, ensuring that they can return to work as soon as possible.


This pattern of behaviour has been identified in research published in “The Healthy Working Report” towards the end of last year. The study found that over a third of HR professionals (35%) say that their workers are encouraged to carry out basic tasks such as reading emails whilst off sick. Three quarters also said that staff are so worried about the security of their job that they are less inclined to take a day off ill than they were this time last year. A corporate private health insurance policy like those offered by Freedom Healthnet, give employees a much better chance of recovering in a short space of time. By giving a cash lump sum to patients, they will have the choice as to where and when they receive their treatment ensuring that it is as convenient as possible. The top quality health care available in private clinics will return staff to a full level of fitness, making sure that the illness is not likely to return in the immediate future and cause even more money lost to sickness for businesses.