If you’re sat in the office pondering the abundance of empty desks, then this might just explain why things are a little quiet at work this morning: today, Monday 7th February 2011, is National Sickie Day…
Reading this from under your duvet, you cheeky little so-and-so? According to experts, the number of employees calling in ‘ill‘ (admit it, you actually just wanted to watch daytime TV all day) is expected to peak today, on what has been dubbed National Sickie Day.
Even though the January blues may have passed, the first Monday of February is thought to be the worst day for people pulling ‘sickies’, with up to 350,000 workers expected to phone in with their excuses and an obligatory fake cough or two.
But while some may be enjoying a lie-in and a bit of This Morning, experts are worried that the absence of so many employees could cost the industry over £30 million.
Plus, with over a quarter of staff opting to e-mail or text in to say they are ‘sick’ instead of picking up the phone, some are worried that it’s becoming even easier for fakers are forge illnesses to bosses who are too soft on their employees.
Peter Mooney, a spokesperson for Employment Law Advisory Services, who carried out the research said: "The traditional phone call was always a way for bosses to decipher whether staff members were bluffing or genuinely ill. So the system will be open to more abuse than ever. The cost to the economy could soar. That is the last thing we need as we are slowly crawling out of the deepest recession for generations."
‘Fess up, readers – have you pulled a sickie today? Do you think bosses are becoming ‘too soft’ on their staff? Tell us in the comments below, talk to us on Twitter or write on our Facebook wall!
Image: Lewis Whyld/PA Wire
