BUSINESS NEWS
Workers less likely to take Friday off
Posted Thu, 15 Dec 2005
Workers are less likely to take the day off work on a Friday in
December than on any day in the month, research released this week
has found.
The research by absenteeism management specialists AIC Insurance
found that December had the lowest absenteeism rate of all the
months of the year and Friday has the lowest rate of the working
week.
The study details these sick leave patterns in over 60 companies
and amongst 7000 employees during the course of one year. It found
that there were 6574 incidents of sick leave on a Friday, with
Tuesdays recording the most sick leave incidents at 8062.
AIC Insurance Chief Executive Johnny Johnson said with the
annual shutdowns looming in December there was often more focus on
achieving production volumes for the month.
There was therefore more focus on attendance and the absenteeism
rate was lower, he said.
"Employees know they will soon be on leave so even if they feel
tired or unwell, they come to work
to get the job done before the
holiday starts," Johnson said.
"The same psychology can be applied to Fridays. People go to
work even if they feel sick because Friday is normally a shorter
day and they know they have the weekend ahead to relax.
"It also harder to abuse the system on a Friday because most
companies insist on a doctor's note if you take sick leave ahead of
the weekend.
The report shows that the average absenteeism rate, which
measures the days an employee is absent divided by the number of
days they should be at work, fell from 2.5 percent to under one
percent in December.
Johnson said that because December was a short month, with many
companies shutting down, there were also fewer days available
within the month for employees to take sick leave.
Sapa
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