The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show a significant fall in the number of days employees are taking off work due to sickness. The figures reveal employees to have taken an average of 4.1 days off in 2017, compared to 7.1 in 1993, the year records began. According to the data, the sickness absence rate started gradually decreasing in 1999, and continued to fall following the 2008 economic downturn. The overall decrease could be attributed to an increase in healthy life expectancy. However, there have also been suggestions that a rise in presenteeism, whereby people still come into work when they are ill, could also be a contributing factor.