Occupation and technological change
[ch 1: page 13]The type of work being done is likely to have a strong bearing on sickness absence. Absence is traditionally lowest for managers, directors and senior officials, skilled trades, professional and “associate professional” occupations.
Above average levels of sickness have been recorded by ONS for: sales and customer services jobs, administrative and secretarial staff; process, plant and machinery operatives; and “elementary” occupations, with some of the highest rates in caring, leisure and other service occupations.
Technological change is also potentially significant but could have a mixed impact on mental wellbeing. In the 2018 CIPD/Simplyhealth report, Health and wellbeing at work, 87% of respondents reported an inability for employees to “switch off” out of work hours, in effect a new sort of “presenteeism”. Since the start of 2017, employers in France with more than 50 workers have been obliged to guarantee employees a “right to disconnect” from technology but there is no equivalent law in the UK.
On the plus side, technological change may have the benefit of enabling flexible working, such as home or remote working, helping employees juggle conflicting commitments that might otherwise contribute to absence.