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NEWS & EVENTS
| 35 million reasons to manage sickness 15/07/2010 The region's employers could be losing out on millions of pounds due to fictitious illnesses, and need to get a grip on sickness management.
That's the view of employment law specialists at Peterborough solicitors Roythornes, who were commenting on research that showed the British male is the most likely in Europe to take a 'sickie'.
The research, by Aon Consulting showed that 35 million working days were lost in the UK each year by employees taking fictitious sick days, with males more likely to do so than females. It also showed that British workers were more than four times as likely to feign illness for a day off that the Danes, who came out best in the survey.
Phil Cookson, Partner at Roythornes said:
"In today's economic climate no business can afford to have staff who are fully able to be at work, taking a 'sickie' as the knock on effects in terms of cost and disruption to the workforce will directly affect a firm's bottom line. One of they main reason this happens is because employers do not monitor their staff well enough - if you are not monitoring sickness rates and patterns, you are unlikely to spot trends in individuals which is the key to taking control."
The research showed that 'sickies' were most likely to be taken on a Friday or a Monday, or the day an employee was due back off holiday.
Phil continued
"91% of the businesses in Cambridgeshire have under under 20 employees and businesses of this size are already running as tightly as they can. If they have staff taking liberties with unauthorised days off it has a severe impact and businesses need to take control of the issue or suffer the inevitable consequences."
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