One of the issues which doesn't seem to have been addressed in the response to the survey by Aon Consulting this week about employees taking 'sickies' is the claim that people taking days off when they are not really ill is costing the economy millions. The CBI and CIPD annual absence reports usually put the cost at about £13 billion although a lot of those costs relate to long term sick leave which is quite a different matter to nuisance 'duvet day' type absence. The reality is that it is very difficult to say how much 'sickies' are costing employers.
In many situations the individual catches up with their work, sometimes other employees - poor souls - have to cover for them. It is only when agency stuff need to be employed that there are tangible financial costs (which is why companies like Royal Mail have been able to make real cost savings through better sickness absence management).
Another finding in the research is that employees say a solution to unjustified absence leave is more flexible working. By flexible working do they really mean part time working. If that is correct then employers should seriously consider requests for part time working because what will happen if you refuse is that staff will simply throw a sickie at your expense instead.
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