Are Britons getting sicker and sicker – or is our health improving? There seems to be something of a paradox. According to figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) the number of sickness absences has increased from an average of 5.9 days per worker in 2019 to 9.4 days in 2024.

Interestingly, the sharp increase in the number of sick days has coincided with a rise in working from home

Remarkably, it has increased by 1.6 days in a single year – it was 7.8 days in 2023. This is based on a survey of 1,100 employers, which also found that the most common reasons for work absences of more than four weeks were mental health (41 per cent) followed by musculoskeletal conditions (31 per cent).

And this, of course, is for those who are – at least for the moment – man

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