What is employee absence costing businesses?

On National Sickie Day

clock • 3 min read

The first Monday of February, according to statistics, is the day when most ‘sickies’ are pulled.

According to recent research by Viking Office Supplies, more than half (56%) of workers in the past year have pulled a sickie, costing UK businesses £5.6bn, despite the Office of National Statistics seeing a decline in office sick days in the past few years. Other research by property agent Savoy Stewart found that the top five sectors with employees that are most likely to pull a sickie are retail; leisure, sport and tourism; recruitment and HR; marketing, advertising and PR and sales. It also found the top reasons for employees pulling a sickie to a poor mental health day, being hun...

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