New research published from YouGov research has revealed that 19% of the UK’s workforce have pulled a sickie in the last twelve months. That equates to over 6 million people who have bunked off work!
It’s hard to estimate the impact of sickies on the economy, but it would be in the billions.  Historically, the worst day in the calendar for calling in sick is the first Monday in February, as a combination of illness, general depression at being in the depths of winter and the aftermath of the first payday since before Christmas confine workers to their beds.  A recent analysis suggests that the cost in lost productivity of 375,000 sickies on February 2nd 2014 was £34 million.
According to the Office for National Statistics, men have lower rates than women (by 2013 figures, the average man loses 1.6% of his working hours to sickness, compared to 2.6% for women). Wales and the East Midlands had the highest rates of sick leave, with London and the South East both scoring below average.
Find out the cost of your absenteeism to your business with our unique Sickness Absence Calculator.