UK is the “sickie capital” of Europe
Top of the list. In October 2018 ADP released the findings of its People Unboxed study which surveyed 2,000 employees across France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and the UK. It found that in the other countries 21% of employees thought that it was OK to take a day off sick when they weren’t ill. In the UK the figure was 27%.
Bad news. This figure has led to us being dubbed the “sickie capital” of Europe. Many different reasons have been offered for the higher fraudulent sickness absence figure but the bottom line is that it doesn’t really matter what sits behind it. From your perspective fraudulent sickness absence is unacceptable.
Crackdown. To get this message across to your employees loud and clear: (1) have a robust return to work interview process which is applied to all staff without exception; and (2) challenge any behaviour that doesn’t seem right.
A deterrent. A return to work interview following every episode of sickness absence (even it’s half a day) should discourage fraudulent absence. This is because most employees won’t take the risk of being caught out. Invite an employee to a return to work interview using our letter (see The next step ).
Tip. If an employee reports something which sounds suspicious, e.g. the details of their illness are quite vague, don’t accuse them of lying. Instead, work through the questions in our return to work interview form one by one and ask them to provide detailed answers (see The next step ). If they can’t answer them to your satisfaction investigate the matter further.
For an invitation to attend return to work interview and a return to work interview form, visit http://tipsandadvice-personnel.co.uk/download (PS 20.20.01).
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