On World Mental Health Day, Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing (Howden) is calling on employers to take preventative action on mental health, as UK sickness absence reaches its highest level in over 15 years.[i]
Figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)[ii] show UK employees are now taking an average of 9.4 sick days a year. Mental health is the number one cause of long-term absence and the second biggest cause of short-term absence. Deloitte estimates[iii] that poor mental health is costing UK employers a staggering £51 billion a year in lost productivity, absence, and staff turnover.
Emma Capper, UK Wellbeing Leader at Howden, says, “World Mental Health Day is a key moment to reflect, but mental health must be a year-round priority. The benefits of a proactive approach are too great to ignore. Too often, employers only step in once someone is already off sick due to their mental health. By that point, it is not just the individual who is struggling, the team is stretched, workloads are impacted, and costs are rising. Prevention is the most effective way to reduce absence, protect employees, and build long-term resilience.”
Howden’s Four-Stage Mental Health Support Pathway
Howden has developed a four-stage mental health support pathway that highlights steps organisations can take to strengthen mental wellbeing and reduce absence through early, preventative action.
1. Maintaining Everyday Wellbeing
Everyday mental health matters. Promoting healthy habits in day-to-day life helps build resilience and prevent more serious mental health issues from developing. To embed wellbeing into the workplace culture, employers can:
- Encourage physical activity, healthy eating, good sleep, mindfulness and relaxation.
- Build strong relationships and a sense of workplace community.
- Provide resilience and stress management training for managers and employees.
- Facilitate open conversations and ensure reasonable adjustments are in place.
- Offer support for alcohol or substance misuse where needed.
2. Taking a Proactive Approach
Mental health support is most effective when it starts early. By recognising the signs of stress and providing employees with tools to manage their wellbeing, employers can intervene before issues escalate. Employers can support early intervention in the following ways:
- Training line managers to recognise early signs of stress or mental ill health.
- Conducting regular mental health check-ins and encouraging self-assessment tools.
- Providing access to talking therapies, counselling, digital tools (such as the Thrive app), and Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs).
- Promoting external support from the NHS and mental health charities.
- Offering health assessments that include a mental health component.
3. Support When It’s Needed
Even with strong preventive measures in place, mental health challenges can still arise. It is essential that employees know where to turn for support that is easy to access, timely, and appropriate to their needs.
Employers can ensure effective support by:
- Reviewing and mapping all available support services (e.g. EAPs, counselling, private medical insurance, occupational health).
- Providing access to Virtual GPs or in-person/onsite GP services.
- Offering flexible working options and supportive HR policies.
- Training and promoting Mental Health First Aiders.
- Making internal and external resources clearly visible and accessible.
4. Recovery and Return to Work
When employees need time away from work to recover, the right support during their return is crucial. A structured, compassionate approach helps reduce the risk of relapse, builds confidence, and supports long-term recovery. To support employees through this phase, employers can:
- Use occupational health and insurer rehabilitation services to support phased return-to-work plans.
- Train managers to provide structured guidance and support during reintegration.
- Maintain access to counselling, digital tools (such as the Thrive app), EAPs and flexible working arrangements.
- Continue regular wellbeing check-ins post-return to support sustained recovery.
Capper adds: “Many of these services already exist within insurance and wellbeing policies but often go underused because employees and managers don’t know where to look. By reviewing existing resources, spotting gaps, and providing clear, practical tools, like wellbeing guides, employers can help people identify what support they need, access it earlier, and empower managers to have more confident, supportive conversations.”
“This not only reduces sickness absence, relieves pressure on the NHS, and cuts unnecessary PMI claims, but also helps build stronger, more resilient workforces, often at minimal additional cost.”
About Howden
Howden is a global insurance intermediary group with employee ownership at its heart. Founded in 1994, it provides insurance broking, reinsurance broking and underwriting services and solutions to clients ranging from individuals to the largest multinational companies.
The group operates in 55 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand, employing 22,000 people and handling $45bn of premium on behalf of clients.
For more information, please visit www.howdengroup.com and www.howdengroupholdings.com
Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing Limited is part of the Howden Group. Registered in England and Wales under company number 2248238, with its registered office at One Creechurch Place, London EC3A 5AF. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Financial Services Register No. 312841). The Financial Services Register can be accessed through www.fca.org.uk
[i] As sickness absence soars, the CIPD is supporting HR teams to make the business case for investing in wellbeing | CIPD
[ii] [ii] https://www.cipd.org/uk/about/press-releases/workplace-absence-soars-nearly-two-working-weeks-each-year/
[iii] https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/poor-mental-health-costs-uk-employers-51-billion-a-year-for-employees.html
