Monday still most popular sick day

During 2019 some 8.6m people in the UK from a total workforce of 33m people stayed away from work because they found their jobs “too painful” for a number of reasons.

The first Monday in February has traditionally been the worst day for sick absence from work.

Research carried out by Insight, an IT Company, said they stayed away from work because going to work was “too painful” and that they felt overworked or that there were poor systems and processes which made it difficult to get work done and other reasons included conflicts with workmates and poor people management.

The survey however indicated that some 12m workers made their way to work even though they were genuinely sick.

The top ten days for absence from work during 2009 were all Mondays. September 16th 2019 was the worst day for work absence.

The top three reasons for absence provided by staff were as follows:

1. Stomach trouble (24%)
2. Cold, Cough and Flu (16%)
3. Headache (7%)

Many employees said that the reason they went to work even though they were sick was because they were not able to afford unpaid sick leave or they did not wish to use up a paid sick day. Some employees who attended work even though they were feeling sick said that they did not wish to have a problem with their employer or co-employees for being out of work.

The survey called for a change in work practices including more flexible working hours and the ability for staff to work remotely. However, a fifth of employees surveyed said that whilst they would be happy to work from home this facility was not available to them.

The leading personnel organisation in the UK, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found that the average employees number of sick days last year dropped to 5.9 which they say is the lowest since they started carrying out the survey 19 years ago.

If you require any further detail or advice, please contact John Reid in O’Rourke Reid
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This document is for information purposes only and does not purport to represent legal advice.  
© O’Rourke Reid 2020