Call for positive steps to tackle UK ‘sickies’

1:37pm Friday 5th September 2008

EMPLOYERS beware! Research reveals a staggering 80 per cent of the country’s workforce admit to pulling a “sickie” on a regular basis.

In fact, “sicknote Brits” are particularly prone to faking it, especially when they have not had a holiday or a day off for a long time or have not got a day off to look forward to.

A survey by fish4jobs.co.uk highlights the top five, often scandalous, reasons employees offer employers when validating our sickies: 1. “It’s my grandad, he was so old…” – unashamedly lying about a death in the family 2. “I’m seeing stars and stripes everywhere…” – claiming a hangover is a migraine 3. “It’s all the rage in Halkidiki at the moment…” – claiming to have caught a foreign disease while on holiday 4. “Life will never be the same without Buster the dog…” – pretending a beloved family pet has died 5. “The roof has just collapsed on me…” – producing spectacularly untrue DIY disaster stories.

Out of the survey respondents, more than a third (38 per cent) revealed they took a sickie to recover from a session down the pub the night before, one-in-five skip the working day to attend a job interview and 17 per cent ditch work for a doctor’s appointment.

What’s more, a cheeky one-in-five prefer to take an “unofficial” long weekend by tagging a sickie on to a bank holiday.

Joe Slavin, of fish4, said: “We all know Brits work the longest hours in Europe and it is clear from the survey workers are resorting to pulling a sickie for all sorts of reasons.

“Employers need to take serious note and look for ways of tackling the sicknote culture in the UK.

“Tactics such as allowing a ‘duvet day’, encouraging a job share scheme or installing more ‘working from home’ time are strategies employers could adopt in order to help provide employees with a valid reason to take a last minute day off which is strictly by the book.”

While sickies are currently ‘en vogue’ in Britain, many of us should beware as the survey reveals more than a third (38 per cent) have caught a colleague enjoying a day trip out when they should have been tucked up in bed with a tummy bug!