Pandemic-related leave and claim numbers trend back up

After a two-month steady decline in COVID-19-related Short Term Disability claims and leave requests, last month’s numbers trended back up. That’s unfortunate, but not unexpected.

COVID-19 infections rose in some locations where they had been falling, as people went back to work and businesses reopened.¹ So it makes sense that we saw a corresponding climb in pandemic-related claims and leave requests coming into our Absence Management Center (Figure 1).

COVID-19-related claims and leaves also grew sharply as a percentage of total activity over the past four weeks (Figure 2).

• At the end of the week of June 7, COVID-19 triggered 12% of our claims and leave requests.*
• By the end of the week of July 5, this percentage had climbed to 17%.

It's certainly not good news that infections are resurging. We are keeping a close watch on these trends and continue to adjust our staffing and other resources accordingly. That way our clients can be sure their employees will receive the prompt, professional service they need now more than ever.

“We were pleased with our organization’s ability to respond swiftly when the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic,” says Michelle Boucher, Unum SVP of Benefit Operations.

“We were able to pivot to meet the needs of our customers and those actions positioned us to be able to respond well to what we see in the market right now — and what the data is telling us. This has allowed us to provide a high quality and consistent experience for our customers.”

The Unum Leave and Claim Trends Report offers a line of sight into leave requests and Short Term Disability claims from our extensive customer base of employers across the United States.

The report, first released in May 2020, shows volumes and the proportion of COVID-19-related claims, helping employers, consultants and brokers understand trends and benchmarks as they navigate the ever-evolving COVID-19 landscape.

• June 2020
• May 2020