A survey conducted on behalf of the CBI and the insurer AXA determined that absence due to sickness was measured at 172 million sick days and cost the UK economy close to twenty billion pounds.
More than one in ten, twelve percent to be exact, of sick days are thought to be non genuine and employers believe that they are being used to extend the weekend of the employee.
In real terms this will mean that an employee can cost you as an employer, almost seven working days and over six hundred and sixty pounds.
Let us not forget that these facts figures just relate to the direct impact on you and your company but you also have to consider the indirect costs of these actions, it means you are having to waste time organising things such as overtime and agency staff plus the drop in customer satisfaction will also prove be a major factor.
The figures speak for themselves and should help you realise that not all employees share an allegiance to you or the company or their colleagues and are prepared to take extra time off for something as trivial as extending their weekend leisure time.
Something that you may not have considered as being relevant or related is that those who are genuinely sick are now going to feel that they are tarred with the same brush as those who are creating an air of suspicion and they will start to feel animosity towards other staff members and management.
If the actions of an employee are giving reason to doubt their motives and claims of illness, then you have to make sure that they are genuine.
Hiring a Private Investigator or a reputable company with previous experience in providing a service that deals specifically with employee related sickness claims is the best way to help determine the righteousness of any claim.
You need to be looking to a company that will use video, photographic and written reports to provide you with all the necessary information with which to confront your errant employee.
For further information about this article or if you have a general query then please contact us via the information contained on this page or visit our website.
Especially now, given the recession is still very much in effect, the need to hire a Private Investigator to improve your productivity and staff morale is essential and if in any doubt then the question you need to ask yourself as an employer is; given that the statistics show there has been a recent surge in fraudulent claims of illness, can we afford not to?