Number of sick days continues to fall in UK
The number of people phoning in sick for their work fell to a low of just 6.4 days per person last year which is the lowest figure since 1987. However, the 180 million sick days taken last year in the UK still equates to a financial cost to the economy of around £17 billion at a time when many businesses are struggling to survive. So why have the number of sick days fallen during the recession?
More and more people are now concerned about the short to medium-term outlook for their employment positions with many companies looking to reduce their workforce and retain cash. It is this fear of losing income which is seeing more and more people overcoming their illnesses and attempting to continue as normal. There's also been a major reduction in the number of "sickies" which is again a by product of the economic situation and the ever-growing threat to the employed in the UK.
Despite the fact that the UK economy has turned up there is a fear that unemployment will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. As a consequence, the pressure on the UK workforce is set to increase in the short to medium term with minimum pay rises and potentially longer working hours - many of which may be unpaid.
Share this..
Related stories
Can David Cameron protect the UK from the EU?
As David Cameron moves towards his first major EU summit on Thursday there are high hopes that he will be able to protect the UK from creeping control by the European Union. Over the last few weeks we have seen announcements and comments from the European Union indicating that, in effect, in the future the European Union would like to have first viewing of EU member budgets. This is only one area...
Read MoreLondon jobs market "strong", says Halifax
The London jobs market went from strength to strength in July, with an increase in the number of job placements and strong demand for staff, according to the latest London Labour Market Report from Halifax Financial Services. The report's unique employment barometer registered a level of 64 in July, up from 61.3 in June, which is the highest level since November 2000.These figures point to an upt...
Read MoreAusterity fears hit the UK manufacturing sector
The UK manufacturing sector has seen growth fall to a nine-month low in August with major concerns about the government's austerity measures coming to the fore. The UK government is literally cutting the public sector budget by billions upon billions of pounds and at the same time increasing taxes across the board. As a consequence, manufacturing in the UK is almost certain to slow down in the sho...
Read MoreGeorge Osborne denies pact with Bank of England
George Osborne, the Chancellor of Exchequer, has today rubbished claims that the UK government has made some form of informal pact with the Bank of England with regards to the level of UK base rates. This comes only 24 hours after Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, suggested that UK base rates could remain at 0.5% for some time to come. So is there some kind of informal agreement?...
Read MoreD2 Jeans announces move into administration
Today saw the first post-Christmas casualty in the UK retail sector when D2 Jeans, the company set up by Sir Tom Hunter, announced a collapse into administration. The company was acquired by a management team back in January 2008 although there have been concerns for some time about the company's rental arrangements which were considered to be relatively high and were causing financial difficultie...
Read More