Industry Focus: The Public Sector

When you couple the above with increasing pressures to cut costs due to historic (and ongoing) budget cuts, it has meant that managing absence in a controlled and financially advantageous manner has become a huge challenge within the sector. What is encouraging is the main contributing factors in the public sector are treatable. Both MSK and mental health disorders respond really well to a number of methods of treatment and often, go hand in hand with one another. It is very common for someone suffering with chronic lower back pain for instance to also have anxiety or depression, the two are closely linked. So a holistic and encompassing approach is often essential to dealing with absence. It’s important for organisations within the sector to have the requisite tools to ensure sustainable wellbeing for their employees and not just a quick fix. Of course this comes at a price and as purse strings tighten universally employees can find this to be a scary prospect.

 "for every £1 they invest in MSK alone they receive a return on investment of £3.50 - £4.00."

So it’s important that key stakeholders are aware of the return on investment they can see from implementing these services. We know that the cost of absence is significantly higher in the public sector (£835 avg. per employee per year) compared to the private sector so it’s really imperative for public sector organisations to have robust and effective systems in place to stem these losses. Personally the public sector clients we provide services for have found that for every £1 they invest in MSK alone they receive a return on investment of £3.50 - £4.00. Really these services keep public sector organisations running, keeping employees in work and stemming those significant losses.

But the public sector also faces other pressures as the employee count shrinks, seeing a 7% drop since 2010 with estimates indicating this will double by 2020. When we consider that public sector workers are more likely than those in the private sector to stop work because of a health condition/ disability (84% compared to 70% respectively) the sector needs to consider its strategy around retaining talent. It certainly seems that more needs to be done to support public sector employees’ mental and physical health and increase retention in respect to these issues. So it’s not just about a financial investment but an investment in staff, so at the end of the day someone is receiving the support they need to improve their quality of life; keeping them healthy and in work. And of course more staff healthy and in work ensures those crucial front-line services are being delivered, so the health and wellbeing of public sector staff really does affect us all.

Looking to musculoskeletal issues, ergonomic assessments can provide solutions for both ends of the spectrum; on the one hand they can prevent the exacerbation or cause of a musculoskeletal injury but they can also be used to aid those returning to work after an injury. But of course no two organisations are the same and to really be ahead of the curve it’s important to have data on the kind of issues that affect your organisation specifically, something we know the public sector are adept at collecting. Analysing this data can identify trends and give you a real insight into issues that can easily be overlooked. At IPRS Health we’ve seen how such analysis can really make a difference to an organisation’s absence.

" we’ve seen the ratio of employees attending work during treatment rise to almost 90%"