Sickies give employees more holidays

The Kronos ‘summer absenteeism’ survey found that approximately 25% of full-time, salaried employees admitted to calling in sick to enjoy a day off in the summer. Over 50% of respondents would take a day off spontaneously rather than planned, with Mondays and Fridays the most likely days to take off. The survey was conducted by Kronos to help understand the extent of unscheduled absence in the workplace over the summer months and to investigate how this figure might be reduced if employers offered more flexible working patterns. The majority of people who admitted to taking an unofficial sick day spent the day doing nothing more interesting than watching TV (62%). This was closely followed by staying in bed (57%) and heading for the shops (48%). Other responses included visiting relatives, going to the beach, catching up on household chores, and looking after sick children. It seems that many employees simply decide to take a sick day in order to have some time to themselves – with 62% of respondents claiming to take time off for a ‘mental health day’. Others award themselves a sick day when then have run out of annual leave (14%) and 29% claim that they have a heavy work load and spontaneously decide to take a sick day. The survey also suggests that unauthorised sickness absence has a negative impact on employees in the workplace, with 52% of respondents recognising that ‘sick’ colleagues impact productivity, leaving fewer people in the business to get the job done. Approximately 40% of employees highlighted that unauthorised sickness negatively impacts employee morale and 48% believe that it sets a precedent that encourages other employees to call in sick when they are not ill. A smaller number (22%) believed it increased office stress. Keith Statham, MD of Kronos Systems said: “The survey makes interesting reading. With 25% of office based employees happy to admit to throwing the occasional sick day, absence is not something that can be ignored by employers. Interestingly, the survey reveals that employees are not necessarily looking for more paid leave, but the flexibility to be more spontaneous in how they take time off, with flexible contracts that incorporate duvet days, summer Fridays, holiday-purchase schemes and unpaid leave appearing to be more of an incentive to keep employees from straying, than simply offering them extra leave entitlement. Flexible working contracts are become commonplace across industry, and with practical timekeeping solutions available to monitor and manage working hours, offering and managing flexible contracts is no longer an administrative headache.” He concludes: “A real time attendance monitoring system is a significant deterrent and alone can make a major impact on the problem, as well as other “lost time” in the workplace”.