How Better Health Awareness In The Workplace Reduces Absenteeism & Presenteeism
By Dr. Joseph Novoa Libermann, a specialist in integrative women’s health and bioidentical hormone balancing for the Marion Gluck Clinic
Across industries, leaders are facing a shared challenge; how to sustain productivity while genuinely supporting employee wellbeing. The two goals are often treated as competing priorities, yet the organisations that perform best over time understand they are closely linked.
Through years of working alongside business owners and leadership teams, one pattern consistently emerges. Organisations with lower sickness absence, higher engagement, and more stable performance tend to embed health awareness into everyday working life, rather than responding only when problems become unavoidable.
Health awareness as a leadership responsibility
Earlier in my career, I managed a busy aesthetics and laser practice where performance pressures were high and the pace of work intense. Together with the clinic owner, we made a deliberate decision to view staff health as part of operational strategy, not an afterthought.
This meant practical changes such as introducing structured breaks, reducing back-to-back clinical overload where possible, encouraging open conversations about stress, and supporting staff to seek medical advice early rather than pushing through symptoms. These were not complex interventions, but they required leadership commitment and consistency.
The results were measurable. Sickness absence reduced, morale improved, and productivity became more predictable. Perhaps most importantly, staff felt supported rather than managed through exhaustion. That experience fundamentally shaped my understanding of how health awareness directly influences business performance.
In larger organisations, the impact becomes even more visible. Even a small number of absences can disrupt workflow, increase pressure on remaining team members, and affect morale. The ripple effect of poor health is rarely contained to one individual.
Why health awareness matters at work
Modern working life places sustained demands on both physical and mental health. Long hours, high cognitive load, constant connectivity, and limited recovery time all contribute to fatigue, reduced concentration, and burnout.
Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that depression and anxiety cost the economy around $1 trillion each year in lost productivity. In the UK, mental health conditions, musculoskeletal issues, and chronic fatigue remain leading causes of long-term sickness absence.
Presenteeism, employees continuing to work while unwell, is often even more costly. Research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows that people who work through illness are less productive, more prone to errors, and often take longer to recover fully, increasing the likelihood of future absence.
For leaders, this makes health awareness a performance issue, not a wellbeing initiative.
What leaders should be doing
- Normalise conversations about health
Health awareness begins with leadership behaviour. When leaders model realistic workloads, take breaks themselves, and openly acknowledge pressure points, it sends a powerful signal that wellbeing is taken seriously.
This does not require personal disclosure or turning managers into therapists. It means creating an environment where discussing workload, stress, or health concerns is seen as responsible rather than risky. Early conversations prevent small issues from becoming long-term absences.
- Shift from reaction to prevention
Many organisations only address health once sickness occurs. A preventative approach focuses on education and awareness around factors that directly affect energy, focus, and resilience.
Sleep quality, nutrition, stress management, and overall metabolic health all influence day-to-day performance. Hormonal health, affecting both men and women, are frequently overlooked despite its impact on mood, concentration, sleep, and emotional regulation. Leaders do not need to be experts, but they do need to acknowledge these factors and create space for learning and support.
- Make early support accessible
Access to early support is critical. This may include health screenings, mental health resources, occupational health input, or flexible working adjustments when needed.
The goal is not to medicalise the workplace, but to reduce the barriers employees face when seeking help. Early intervention keeps people well, shortens recovery time, and significantly reduces prolonged absence.
- Train managers to recognise presenteeism
Most managers are trained to manage absence, not reduced performance. Yet presenteeism often appears first through subtle signs, such as, reduced concentration, increased mistakes, withdrawal from colleagues, irritability, or consistently working longer hours without improved output.
Managers do not need to diagnose health issues. Their role is to notice changes, start supportive conversations, and signpost appropriate support. Recognising presenteeism early protects both the individual and the wider team.
- Measure what truly matters
Leaders manage what they measure. Tracking absence patterns, turnover linked to burnout, engagement data, and wellbeing indicators allows organisations to move from reactive responses to proactive prevention.
Used well, this data highlights pressure points within teams, roles, or workflows and helps leaders make informed decisions that support both health and performance.
Health awareness in the workplace is not about lowering expectations or sacrificing results. It is about creating environments where people can consistently perform at their best because their health is supported, not despite it.
From both a clinical and leadership perspective, the evidence is clear. Organisations that prioritise health awareness experience lower absenteeism, reduced presenteeism, stronger engagement, and more sustainable productivity.
The most effective leaders recognise that healthier employees don’t just feel better, they work better.
References
World Health Organization, Mental Health in the Workplace
NHS, Sickness Absence and Workplace Health Statistics
CIPD, Health and Wellbeing at Work Reports
Deloitte, Mental Health and Employers: The Case for Investment
About The Marion Gluck Clinic
The Marion Gluck Clinic is the UK’s leading medical clinic that pioneered the use of bioidentical hormones to treat menopause, perimenopause and other hormone related issues. Founded by Dr. Marion Gluck herself, the clinic uses her method of bioidentical hormonal treatment to rebalance hormones to improve wellbeing, quality of life and to slow down ageing.
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