Occupational Health, Safety & Prevention

New thinking from Sownd Affects is bringing renewed attention to acoustics, not as a design afterthought, but as a core component of how people think, feel and function at work. For employers, this represents a shift in perspective. The question is no longer just how to support employees, but whether the environment they are placed in is actively working against them.

The built environments people work in are often treated as a backdrop. Something fixed, functional and secondary to culture, leadership and strategy. But growing evidence suggests  physical workplaces play a far more direct role in shaping employee health, focus and performance than many organisations realise. 

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its latest data on sickness absence across the UK labour market, providing an important temperature check on workforce health and productivity as we move further into the post-pandemic era. While the headline rate of sickness absence has fallen, from 2.3 per cent in 2023 to 2.0 per cent in 2024, the underlying story reveals deeper challenges and structural pressures that UK employers can no longer afford to ignore. 

National sickness absence has reached its highest level in more than 15 years, withthe average UK employee now taking 9.4 sick days a year. At the same time, mental health has become the number one cause of long-term sickness absence and the second biggest cause of short-term absence in the UK.

The data is clear: healthier employees are more productive, more engaged, and more loyal.