Mon, 10 Jan 2011
A new report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) shows that
the average number of sick days taken last year was 6.4 – the lowest ever
recorded.
A total of 180 million sick days were taken last year, bringing the average
for each person down from 6.7 days in 2008. The CBI said that there was a
small improvement in the number of sick days taken in the public sector,
although this was still significantly higher than the number taken by
people employed by the private sector.
Despite the improvement in sick day figures, the total taken still costs
businesses £16.8 billion a year. The CBI claims that around 15 per cent of
the sick days taken last year were not genuine – with ‘sickies’ accounting
for a huge 37 million sick days. It claims this costs industry £2.5 billion
a year.
The CBI’s director of employment policy, Kayja Hall, said, “The rate of
employee absence has come down, but it still costs the economy billions of
pounds a year. If absence levels across the board could be reduced by 10
per cent, the economy would see annual savings of just under
£1.7billion.”
Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the TUC, said that it was
important to consider the reasons that people take sick days, which include
workplace stress and a lack of confidence in their performance. Providing
training for employees and giving support to help people return to work
after prolonged sickness or stress can help to boost morale and reduce sick
leave.
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