Absenteeism rates in Britain have been on the decline. Results from a new study by researchers at Wolverhampton Business School have shown that the number of companies reporting high rates of sickness leave among staff in the UK dropping to half the rate of France and Germany.
Part of the reason why fewer Britons call in sick at work is lower sick pay and weaker employment protection for UK employees, the Guardian reported. By contrast, workers in mainland Europe enjoy better employment security which contributes to increased absenteeism rates, researchers claimed.
In 2009 less than 10% of British companies reported high rates of staff sick leave, compared with 17% back in 2004. In Germany, one in four businesses said their employees were often absent due to sickness, while in France the figure stood at 21%, down from 29% in 2004.
For their study, researchers at Wolverhampton Business School used data from the European Company Survey, which interviewed senior executives at 2,600 businesses in the three countries. Respondents were simply asked if their company had a high rate of staff sickness, without any further details provided, the Guardian explained.
Commenting on the findings, researcher Wen Wang said that absenteeism reportedly costs the British economy approximately £32 billion per year, with losses far higher in Germany and France.
Low staff sickness rates in the UK were partly driven by positive factors as well, researchers said. Greater stability of workload, profit-sharing among teams and a good atmosphere at the office all contributed to falling absenteeism rates.
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