‘Sickies’ cost UK Business
£11bn a year - 29/09/04
Think before throwing a ‘sickie’…
Sick leave - real and feigned - currently
costs UK businesses an estimated £11bn
a year.
But according to the Confederation of
British Industry (CBI) absence from work
has fallen slightly since the late 1980s.
On average, public sector workers take
two days extra sick each year than their
private sector counterparts, but when
local and central government is compared
to large employers then the gap disappears.
As an employer who finds your own staff’s
sick day quota going up, take a more pro-active
approach to dealing with absenteeism and
try and find out the underlying reasons
for sickness. Stress? Boredom? The
most effective methods of tackling the
problem include return-to-work interviews
and ensuring employees make contact with
a senior manager when reporting their
absence.
As an employee, think before you pick
up the phone and make the call. If
you’ve taken sick days off in the
past and you find yourself actually ill
your boss may not look favourably on the
situation. If you really are sick and
your track record is clean, you’ll
be welcomed back to work with open arms
when the time is right. Spread your
annual leave across the year and make
sure weekends are spent relaxing, not
working unless necessary! It’s your
time, enjoy it!
Written By Simon Johnson
Xbridge
Decision Finance
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