Lazy Britons take more ‘sickies’ than any other major European country, shocking research has revealed.
The poll highlights the extraordinary work-shy culture among millions of Britons, many of whom just cannot be bothered to go to work.
UK workers pulled more than 35million ‘sickies’ last year – the equivalent of every worker taking at least one day off.
In fact many people never take a single day off – but others are taking several weeks a year despite being perfectly healthy.
The poll, from the employee specialists Aon Consulting, investigated the number of sickies in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Nethererlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
In total, European workers take around 122million ‘sickies’ a year – and Britons account for nearly 30 per cent of the total.
For example, a British worker is more than four times as likely to feign an illness to get time off work than Europe’s ‘most honest’ workforce, the Danish.
When asked why they had taken their most recent day off work, only half said it was for ‘a genuine physical or mental illness’.
But everybody else was faking illness, with many saying they had to look after another family member, typically a young child or elderly parent.
Aon added that the figures are likely to be ‘conservative’ – and the real number could be even higher.
Peter Abelskamp, director of health and benefits at Aon Consulting, said: ‘Over 35million days taken as fictitious sick leave is costing the UK economy millions.
‘These are probably conservative figures, considering the number of people who don’t admit to faking sickness.
‘Employers would be well advised to tackle the issues of sickness and workplace absence head on, as these seriously impact efficiency and hit their balance sheets.’
He said the number is likely to be even higher following the recent World Cup tournament.
Sickies are more likely on a Friday and a Monday, allowing workers to enjoy a long weekend without having to take a day’s holiday. Another popular sickie is the first day back from holiday.
More than 7,500 workers took part in the poll, including more than 1,000 in the UK.
A recent report, from the business lobby group CBI, found public sector workers, who account for more than one in five of the country’s workforce, take more sickies than the private sector.
On average, public sector workers took an average of 8.3 sick days last year, compared to 5.8 days in the private sector. A sick day includes genuine illness as well as ‘sickies’.
The CBI slammed the high level of sickness in the public sector at a time when Britain’s public finances are reaching breaking point.
It estimates that around £5.5billion could be saved by the 2015-16 tax year if public sector sickness levels dropped to those in the private sector.
The CBI’s report, which is published each year, found just a third of bosses believe that all sickness absence among their workers is ‘genuine.’
Around half said there is a ‘definite or possible’ link between sick days and the weekends, summer, Christmas and school holidays.
Overall, the cost of sick days last year was a record £16.8billion, equal to a direct cost of about £595 per worker.
Tags: absenteeism
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July 17th, 2010 at 6:07 amHow to outwit the skivers and sickies « FMWF says:
[...] Estimates for how much money and productivity are lost because of staff taking sickies vary – but what does not seem to vary is that the amount is huge – up to £100 billion a year. [...]