Sickies 'soar' on first Monday in February

Posted by HR Zone in Managing people on Mon, 04/02/2008 - 12:04

Bosses are bracing themselves for skeleton staff today, Monday 4 February 2008, as national sick day begins.

HR Zone recently reported on a tip off that today would see absence rise. 'National Sickie Day' was established in 2006 after a survey of 4,000 workers found the first Monday in February was the worst day in the year for absenteeism.

Hundreds of thousands of workers are now expected to call in sick today. Experts say post-Christmas blues, poor weather and a long wait for the summer holiday season are all to blame for people taking today off work.

Surveys have suggested around 310,000 workers will take a 'sickie' today, at an estimated cost of £27million to British industry.

Peter Mooney, a spokesman for personnel software Employersafe, which monitors staff absenteeism, said: "It is a well-known fact in the business world that the first Monday of February is deemed the worst in terms of absenteeism.

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Editor's Welcome

 

Hello! And welcome back as we enter 2012, with a busy year ahead of us all. With talk of double-dip recessions, a possible partial or even full break-up of the Eurozone and unemployment rates set to hit nearly 9%, topics such as organisational streamlining, staff resilience and talent management are likely to be on many an HR professional's lips over the next 12 months.
 
But to lighten the gloom here in the UK, we also have the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and its attendant public holidays to look forward to at the start of June. Followed by two weeks of Olympic Games from 27 July to 12 August and the Paralympics from 29 August to 9 September, each generating their own excitement, but also issues to work through for hard-pressed HR departments trying to sort out the multifarious staffing issues in advance.
 
So with an interesting but challenging year to come, HRZone promises to be with you, supporting you all the way and providing our usual insightful blend of news, analysis, community blogs and expert comment to help you sort the wheat from the chaff. As ever, we love to hear from you too so feel free to either post your words of wisdom to our blog section yourself or, in the case of longer, more in-depth ‘expert voice’ articles, drop me a line with any ideas to cath.everett@siftmedia.co.uk.....
 
Cath Everett
HRZone Editor 
 
 
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