Employee Leave Requests Spike As Omicron Cases Continue to Surge

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The quick-spreading Omicron variant continues to create new and urgent challenges for employers. ComPsych, the world’s largest employee assistance and behavioral health provider and the leader in absence management services, reports a spike in employee leave requests in the last 2 weeks with roughly 40 percent related to Covid. As infections rise and more schools across the country switch back to virtual classes or close, working parents are stretched thin managing childcare, illness and worries.

“Working parents are under a tremendous amount of stress - either sending their kids to school during what feels like the worst Covid wave we’ve seen yet, or scrambling to manage childcare,” said Dr. Richard A. Chaifetz, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ComPsych. “Employers must be prepared to address ongoing challenges of working parents, as well as the abrupt significant reduction in staff.”

A recent ComPsych Tell it Now℠ poll reveals 53 percent of employees are feeling more stress and anxiety as a result of the Omicron variant. Top concerns for working parents are school closures, adaptive learning transition and caregiving.

“Apart from the human toll of illness and loss and the effects on people’s mental wellbeing, absenteeism costs businesses in lost productivity. This means lost revenue, delays on projects and potential damage to work culture and team morale,” said Chaifetz. “Having a strategy in place for managing leave and absence will support both employees and the business.”

About ComPsych FMLASource

FMLASource is a ComPsych Corporation company that specializes in reviewing, approving, processing and tracking FMLA leave requests with the oversight of expert legal staff. FMLASource works with thousands of organizations throughout the U.S. to help ensure compliance with state and federal law, consistency, and facilitates communication to supervisors, managers, HR and employees. For more information, visit www.compsych.com

About ComPsych

ComPsych^® Corporation is the world’s largest employee assistance and behavioral health provider, making a meaningful difference in the workplace and in people’s lives. Our holistic approach supports mental health, wellbeing, and absence management needs and seamlessly integrates emotional, physical, social, and financial aspects, enabling companies to reach their goals. ComPsych’s GuidanceResources^® platform pioneered a comprehensive experience, combining human touch with technology-enabled resources addressing the broad spectrum of life’s issues. We design innovative “build-to-suit” programs serving more than 56,000 organizations and helping more than 127 million people across the U.S. and around the globe. For more information, visit www.compsych.com and follow @ComPsych on Twitter and LinkedIn.