Sickest Week on Record
8th January 2008
Absence rates across the UK soared to record levels this week, with 12.5% of the UK working population absent from work. The unseasonably high levels can be attributed to the combination of an increase in coughs and colds, the effects of the Norovirus, the miserable weather and the slow start to the New Year after the long Christmas break.
"Over 3.6 million employees are currently on their sickbeds," comments Aaron Ross, Managing Director of FirstCare, the UK’s largest attendance management provider. "This is the worst period of sickness we have ever seen, and it comes at a very bad time for employers. Most organisations wound down during the unusually long holiday period – but now they are experiencing real trouble starting up again."
"On Monday alone, we received 29% more calls than usual, which equated to one in every 24 of the employees we cover calling to start an absence; this trend has continued through the week and shows no sign of letting up," he adds.
"Consumers will be noticing the effects of the high levels of absence in all of their usual activities. Hospital wards are closed, shops and restaurants are limiting their activities, deliveries and service are running late," Ross explains. "All of this will have a knock-on effect on those staff that are at work, as they will be put under more pressure to cover absent colleagues. The extra stress and strain will, in turn, make these employees more susceptible to falling ill themselves.
"This is the closest thing to a pandemic that employers will have seen for years. It should be a wake-up call for businesses that don’t have contingency plans for high sickness rates. With most experts predicting that it’s a case of when, not if, for bird flu, we are going to be seeing this pattern repeated in the future.
"Businesses must do all they can to ensure that their employees are as healthy as they can be and in particular, be very conscious of putting too much pressure on them," advises Ross. "While the most significant rise in absence is down to coughs, colds, flu like symptoms and gastrointestinal problems, we are noticing trends of increased absence due to stress, circumstantial reasons, and the need to care for a dependant."
"With Christmas credit card bills around the corner, and a cold winter approaching, we are likely to see high rates of sickness continue," he concludes.