Retail and manufacturing show the sharpest rise
The increase has not been even across sectors. Retail has seen the rate of inquiries nearly quadruple in a single year, climbing steadily each quarter through to the most recent period. Manufacturing has also moved sharply, up from 0.2 per 1,000 employees to 0.5 – a 150 per cent rise, and five times the rate recorded just a year earlier.
Sylvie Thrush Marsh, chief evangelist at MyHR, says the trend reflects broader strain on employee health rather than any single cause.
“More employees are dealing with complex or prolonged health issues, while cost and access barriers can mean people are putting off seeking care. That can delay recovery and leave both employees and employers dealing with these situations for longer,” Thrush Marsh says.
She points to sector-specific pressures in retail, where staff have high levels of public contact and, based on wider industry data, a workforce weighted toward part-time and caregiving-heavy roles. “Retail stands out because we’ve seen a significant and sustained increase in medical incapacity inquiries over the past year,” she says.
A numbers game for small employers
For SMEs, the operational impact of a single prolonged absence is disproportionately large compared with bigger employers who can spread the workload across more staff.