Office wellbeing in the UK: Is eating a £103bn sickness bill — and £21.6bn of it is work-related. Hybrid RSI is the fixable part.

This is office wellbeing in the UK in 2025: hybrid habits, kitchen-table setups, and bodies that need smarter movement than another poster. September’s almost here. Parents everywhere are quietly celebrating the school run… then sitting back down for longer hours because the house is finally quiet. Bliss for the brain; brutal for the back.

I’ve lived this. A decade in the City, three monitors, shoulders welded to my ears, and a noble belief that “pushing through” was a skill. That burnout dragged me—happily—into yoga therapy. My first corporate class was BlueBolt (central London, VFX). Brilliant minds, impossible deadlines, shoulders like drumheads. People laughed at their own creaks… then they started feeling better. Nearly twelve years later, I still chase that moment—the sigh of relief you can hear through a laptop speaker.

Office wellbeing in the UK: The uncomfortable truth (and the money)

UK companies are burning cash on avoidable pain. The hidden cost of sickness to business is roughly £103bn a year, driven mostly by people working while ill (presenteeism)—about 44 lost productive days per employee, on top of ~6–7 days actually off sick.

Zoom in on problems caused by how we work and the regulator’s maths is blunt: work-related ill health and injury cost Britain £21.6bn. Musculoskeletal issues (backs, necks, shoulders, hips, wrists) are repeat offenders.

And the background hum hasn’t gone: the UK still lost 148.9 million working days to sickness in 2024—about 4.4 days per worker. Better than 2023, still worse than pre-pandemic.

For office wellbeing in the UK, the fixable slice is right in front of HR: hybrid RSI

Why September bites (and why hybrid quietly makes it worse)

Summer forces movement—school runs, parks, being dragged outside by tiny dictators. September hands parents their peace… and steals their posture. Hours creep up because no one’s asking for snacks. Meanwhile some firms push office days; others keep hybrid. Either way, the desk follows people home—and so does the pain.

WFH concentrates time in one posture: long sits, shallow breath, hips locked, mid-back stuck, “I’ll move later” that never happens. And yes, the duty of care extends home: DSE rules apply to long-term home/hybrid workers. It isn’t just about nicer chairs; it’s about how people move (or don’t) through the day.

What I see every week:

• Tight mid/upper back → rotation disappears → lower back over-works → ache by 6pm.

• Locked hips from sitting → knees and low back complain.

• People strong in the gym but stuck at the desk. Strength without mobility is armour you can’t move in.

None of that needs an MRI. It needs smart mobility that restores rotation and load-sharing, plus small tweaks to the set-up you already have.

What actually helps (and what doesn’t)

Doesn’t: a “stretch at your desk” PDF, a one-off Health Week, or a random YouTube playlist.Does: short, coached sessions people actually do—focused on thoracic rotation, hips, and breath mechanics—plus a quick WFH DSE reset they can set up in minutes.

Three simple wins to roll out now:

1. Two micro-resets a day (5–10 min). A repeatable rotation + hips sequence. People feel it the same afternoon.

2. Ten-minute WFH DSE refresh. Seat height, hips ~100–110°, screen at eye level, feet grounded, move every ~90 minutes. Boring, yes. Also effective.

3. Manager language that normalises movement. “Take your 10-minute reset before the 3pm call” beats “power through it.”

   
   

   Why I love running corporate classes (and why I still do)

   Over a decade ago, this wasn’t trendy. You were supposed to grind, then fix yourself at the weekend. I remember those days—the headaches, the shoulder armour, the quiet worry that this was just “how work feels.”

   Corporate classes let me give people the thing I wish I’d had:

   • A friendly, no-nonsense space where your body gets looked after, not squeezed.

   • Injury-aware coaching in real time: if someone’s wrist flares from RSI or a lower back nags, we adjust there and then.

   • A culture where turning up “as you are” is fine. Cameras on or off. Creaks welcome. You leave feeling taller, clearer, and—importantly—more capable when you sit back down.

     
     

   How I run it (kept simple so teams actually show up)

   • Format: live online, friendly and straight-talking, camera-on optional.

   • Engage: Weekly info emails and correspondence with the team, sharing wellbeing tips and 121 consultations

   • Focus: active mobility for rotation, hips, and lumbar stability—not floppy stretching.

   • Extras: I’ll share two tasters you can keep—a Desk Break reset and a 10-minute hips + mid-back flow—so people can top-up between classes.

     
     

   Try it before you commit

   Start with a free 20-minute online demo. I’ll run a focused mobility session, make quick posture tweaks on camera, and leave you those two tasters so people can keep going the same day.

   
   

   Request more info (Kay@yogabykay.com) or book a call to find out more - for yourself or your team.