Sick of Being Ill?

A recent survey by the Chartered Management Institute has discovered signs that Britain's workforce would rather be at work than ill at home. Evidence from 1,500 workers and managers showed that people had a strong commitment to their workplace even when unwell. However, while this attitude is highly laudable, it simply leads to the spreading of “bugs” and infections resulting in wider reduction in workforce health and lower productivity for businesses.

One reason for this deeply ingrained attitude to attendance at work may be the perception that employers do not always believe sickness claims to be genuine. The Institute’s survey found that around half of the employees interviewed felt that they would not be treated supportively if they called in sick.

When it comes to the effects of sickness on business performance, the Institute found that only one third of the workforce believe that they were working at full performance with many people suggesting that their lack of performance was due to ill-health. Other factors for poor performance included excessive working hours and stress.

In contrast, a survey in America by HR & Law consultancy firm CCH (part of Wolters Kluwer/Croners) has found that around two thirds of US workforces calling in sick unexpectedly do so because the people feel they are owed a day off from their employer or have personal commitments that they do not want to admit to. The survey showed that half of the unplanned absences from the workplace were due to sickness. The survey indicated that US workers are quite deliberate about unauthorised absences and employers reported regular patterns of absence including Mondays & Fridays, National holidays and hay fever seasons.

Today, employers address the issue of unplanned absence through work-life programmes such as tele-working, compressed working week, school functions leave, workforce flu-jabs, fit-for-work classes and gyms. Absence-control programmes can include yearly review, proof of illness, paid leave banks and no-fault programmes.

The US survey indicated that compressed working week and tele-working, rated as most effective by employers, were not considered by employees to be helpful. There is also evidence in the US survey that taking away the soft benefits of work-life programmes can have significant long-term negative impacts for employers.

If you would like to learn more about managing presenteeism and unplanned absences in the workplace, contact Mary Leishman by email at Mary.Leishman@4-consulting.com.

Mary is an Associate consultant at 4-consulting, click here to view her profile.