One of the knock-on effects of the high unemployment we’re currently experiencing is that staff are taking less sickies in an attempt to convince their bosses they’re not work shy and don’t deserve to get the boot.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has reported that the average number of days off taken by workers was 7.4 days in 2008.
Interestingly, there’s quite a difference between the sickness rates of private and public sector workers. Workers in the private sector was 6.4 days in 2008, compared with 7.2 in 2007. Public sector workers were shown up by their private sector counterparts, taking 9.7 days off due to illness, just slightly down on the year before at 9.8 days.
It’s an interesting comparison, possibly suggesting that public sector workers feel more secure in their jobs, but are perhaps suffering from more stress, hence the higher amount of days off taken.
The overall cost of these sickies to the economy is a massive £17 billion.
It’s worth remembering that these figures are from last year, before the outbreak of swine flu – this could have big effect on the sickness rates this year and will of course could cost businesses and the economy countless billions, if all the predictions about the pandemic come true.
