Firms 'turning blind eye to sickness'

Many finance companies are not putting in place procedures to cut down on staff sickness, it has been reported.

According to healthplan provider HSA, nearly 50 per cent of firms in the industry have not taken measures to put in place a strategy in order to reduce employee absence.

It added that this comes as close to half of all sector workers have more than five days off work sick each, with 61 per cent of companies failing to acknowledge them - and the cost of the missing days - on the books.

"Those companies that do not have a strategy in place to reduce sickness are missing a trick. Sickness absence costs businesses huge sums of money each year in the form of lost productivity," said Amanda Wilkinson, editor of employee benefits for HSA.

It may be that sporting events like the World Cup, as well as popular movie releases, caused many unnecessary sick days in 2006.

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