Sickies on the rise, claims research

A survey by health benefits provider HSA and Employee Benefits magazine has revealed that staff taking sick leave as a paid entitlement, otherwise known as a ësickieí, could now be an endemic part of working life. The annual Healthcare Survey, which is published this month, has found that 20% of the 431 respondents claim that staff taking time off work in the form of sick leave, and viewing this as a company benefit, represents a cause of sickness absence in their organisation. This is up from 8% in 2005.

ìIt is worrying that so many days are lost to organisations when staff are not genuinely sick, especially when you consider that absence costs UK companies around 12bn a year ,î comments Suzanne Clarkson, head of corporate marketing at HSA. ìWith factors such as sickies, stress and work/life balance all appearing as key factors for sickness absence in our survey, it is clear that it is no longer just the physical health of employees that companies have to be considered, but also their psychological health, and all round employee wellbeing.î

Amanda Wilkinson, editor of Employee Benefits, says: ìPaid absence is increasingly being perceived as an entitlement by employees. It is now the fifth most important cause of sickness absence, with 20% of respondents declaring it an issue, compared to 10% in last yearís survey.î
The survey also found the following:

The worst sector for sickies was the retail/FMCG sector with 42% of respondents citing that ìsickiesî were a cause of absence at their organisation. This is followed by the service sector (excluding the public sector) with 26% and the transportation sector with 25%

Individuals are most likely to take a sickie if they work for a company with between 501 and 1,000 employees (28%), but least likely if they work for one with between 5,001 and 10,000 (14%)

The highest cause of sickness absence in the workplace was found to be minor ailments such as colds and flu, followed by stress

43% of respondents had an Employee Assistance Programme (a 24 hour confidential helpline to assist with work and home issues such as drugs, bereavement, harassment in the workplace) in place to support their staff