National sickie day dawns: Employers brace for mass absences

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National sickie day is once again upon us
National sickie day is once again upon us

Today is the Mount Everest of skiving. If you can successfully pull off a day off today without prompting an arched eyebrow from your employer, then you are a better liar than I.

A shocking 69 percent of the country’s workers have claimed that they would be tempted to take Monday 2 February off, according to a survey by The Fine Bedding Company.

Last year an estimated 375,000 people called in sick on National Sickie Day, which business advisors ELAS calculated had cost British businesses as much as £34 million in lost productivity.

The reasons are, of course, many, but the weather, the interminable distance that summer seems away from your cold, winter nest, is one of the main reasons. As are coughs and sneezes.

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Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.

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