There is generally a peak in illness-related-absences on the first Monday in February, when people are suffering from low morale because of high workloads combined with short daylight hours and post-Christmas gloom. Last year an estimated 350,000 workers threw a sickie on the first Monday, costing the economy around £30 million in lost business and productivity, according to research by Employment Law Advisory Services.
However, this year employment lawyers are not expecting the usual pattern of absenteeism.
"Taking into consideration the fragility of the economy and the jobs market we expect to see fewer people taking time off sick so early on in the year," said John Hayes, employment partner at Irwin Mitchell in London.
"Employees are worried about their jobs and keen to prove their value to their bosses; while employers are keen to improve productivity and are becoming stricter with their workforce. It is difficult for employers to challenge days ‘off sick‘ but when redundancies are looming or people are already on warnings, employers may see absenteeism as extra ammunition when faced with making tough employment decisions."
Dave Fleming, sales director at international recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark, argued that employers needed to do more to engage their workforce to alleviate the problem of employees pulling a sickie.
"We would encourage employers to focus on motivating and engaging their workforce. Over the past two years, economic uncertainty has put enormous pressure on UK workers. Now it is up to employers to foster an environment in which their employees feel their contributions are valued".
Badenoch & Clark’s recent Employment Study highlighted issues of low morale among UK workers. As many as one in 10 UK employees named their primary motivation for going to work as spiralling debt, while a fifth (21.9%) identified routine alone as the reason they go to work in the morning.
"Now the upturn is upon us, employers should turn their attention to their loyal workforce, and show how much their hard work is appreciated," added Fleming.
At Cable & Wireless Worldwide a strategy of encouraging employees to work flexibly has decreased short-term absenteeism. Half of Cable & Wireless Worldwide’s workforce is able to work from home.
"We know that absenteeism can be a serious problem to businesses. Unplanned absence costs UK business up to 16% of its payroll and is the single greatest cause of lost productivity," said Cable & Wireless Worldwide people director, Debbie Meech.
"There are many ways good communications technology can help but, if working from home is an option for staff, an agreed policy and approach to this should be identified and communicated properly. There will always be situations where this isn’t possible, but employers should wake up to the benefits of home working, as this is simply what many employees expect. A lack of cost-effective technology is no longer any excuse."
