What a 9.4 day sickness absence rate actually means for a small employer

What a 9.4 day sickness absence rate actually means for a small employer UK sickness absence has just hit its highest level in over a decade. Here is what is actually driving it, and what a sensible employer does differently, rather than simply harder.

Across the UK, 61% of organisations now allow staff to use generative AI for work tasks, but only 31% have put together a formal policy on it in the past year (CIPD, Labour Market Outlook, autumn 2025). That gap is the real risk. It is not that AI is being used. It is that it is being used without anyone having said what is and is not allowed.

AI at work: Why we're writing about AI, and what's coming over the next few weeks