UK Workers no heat shirkers

Evidence following the recent heat wave suggests UK workers did not ìchuck a sickieî to enjoy the good weather. In fact workers made every effort to turn up for work despite the rising temperatures, says Alan Aldridge, founder and director of absence management experts FirstCare Health and Absence.

ìDuring the heat wave we saw absence rates across our clients actually running at 3.8% lower than average, with the number of calls we received from people calling to report in sick also dropping to 16% lower than average,î says Alan, ìit is wrong to portray the UK worker as a workshy shirker who drops his responsibilities at the first sign of the sun peering through the clouds.î

ìWe specifically saw a decrease in absence across all our emergency services clients, including the NHS, Fire Services and office based workers. We believe this is because emergency service workers understand the importance of their roles given the high temperatures and are prepared to ignore their own discomfort to ensure that they donít let the public down.î

ìAnother factor in the reduced level of absence during the mini heatwave could well be the fact that office based workers are generally more comfortable at work due to large open spaces and air conditioning ñ a reflection of employers understanding of climate change and the valuable benefit in making sure their employees are comfortable ñ during these temperatures it is just more comfortable to be at work than at home.î

ìThe one area where we did see a rise in absence during this period was amongst manual workers who called in with heat-related absences more than usual ñ our nurses were able to give these people advice on how to deal with sunstroke and other heat-related problems.

Given the forecast for another heat wave in August we would advise all organisations to take steps to ensure adequate provisions are made for employees, including water and sun protection for workers that are outside.î