Who'll be throwing a sickie to watch Euro 2004? (From Warrington Guardian)

Who'll be throwing a sickie to watch Euro 2004?

WORKERS are throwing more 'sickies' to get days off work, a new survey has revealed.

And companies are concerned that the epidemic will increase during the forthcoming Euro 2004 football tournament.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) carried out the poll in 500 firms nationwide.

For the first time in five years, the number of sick days taken by British staff went up last year.

And employers suspect that around 15 per cent of days off were down to feigned illnesses.

Three in four companies suspect their employees of taking 'unwarranted' long weekends by calling in sick on Fridays or Mondays.

John Cridland, CBI deputy director general said: "Unwarranted long weekends and staff pulling sickies are taking their toll on the UK's ability to absorb the enormous cost of absence.

"With employees pulling sickies adding £1.75bn to last year's absence bill, companies will be concerned about staff awarding themselves days off during this summer's Euro 2004 football tournament."

The gap between public and private sector workers is large, with public sector staff taking an average of two sick days more than their private sector counterparts.

Alan Tranter, managing partner at the Warrington office of accountants Baker Tilly, feels that sickness absence can be linked to workplace atmosphere.

He said: "I would actually say the problem lies with the overall corporate ethos of a company, rather than what type of company it is.

"If you work in an environment where the sickness policy is regularly abused and managers either turn a blind eye or just don't seem to notice, you are far more likely to be tempted to take unnecessary days off sick yourself.

"Larger organisations must suffer more from this as employees often feel much less accountable if they're one of 5,000 as opposed to one of five employees."