Tomorrow's Business Press Release of the day - Self employed take 32% less sick days than employees in the UK, study finds

Self employed take 32% less sick days than employees in the UK, study finds

Sick day findings:

On average, UK workers took 5.1 sick days, in comparison to 4.5 sick days in 2019.

Women took more sick days than men in 2019, however in 2020 men took 5.4 days (which is a 23% increase over the previous year), while women only rose slightly 4.8 days from 4.6 days the previous year.
Employed people take 68% more sick days than self-employed people (6.2 days compared to 3.7 days).

Location variations for self employed people

The locations where self employed take the most and the least sick days.

Bristol (6.1 days)
Glasgow (6.1 days)
Leeds (5.2 days)
Sheffield (4.9 days)
Belfast (3.3 days)
Edinburgh (4.6 days)
Birmingham (4.0 days)
London (3.9 days)
Manchester (2.9 days)
Nottingham (2.0 days)
Cardiff (2.0 days)
Southampton (1.6 days)
Norwich (1.3 days)
Liverpool / Newcastle (0.5 days)

Self employed people in Bristol and Glasgow took the most sick days in 2020 with 6.1 days each.

Industry variations for self employed

The industries most and least likely to take a sick day in 2020.

Legal (5.9 days)
IT and telecoms (5.8 days)
Finance and Accounting (5.7 days)
Hospitality and Leisure (4.7 days)
Manufacturing (4.3 days)
Retail (3.5 days)
Medical and Health Services (3.3 days)
Media, marketing, advertising, PR, and Sales (3.1 days)
Real Estate (2.9 days)
Construction (2.5 days)
Education (2.5 days)
Other (1.7 days)
Transportation and Distribution (0.9 days)

Self employed people in legal, IT & finance took the most amount of sick days in 2020, with over 5 days each.

Further insights

51% of people admitted they worked whilst unwell in the past 2 years, mostly due to being too busy.
Men were more likely to continue working while unwell at 57% compared to 48% for women.

See the full findings of the research by clicking here.

12th May 2021