It
is the UK city famous for its notoriously wet weather, so it may come as no
surprise that staff in Manchester are the most likely to call in sick.
Mancunians
take an average of 11 days sick a year, compared to just seven in London and
eight in Birmingham and Belfast.
A
nationwide survey of more than 4,000 businesses show workers in Edinburgh and
Dublin are also more likely to miss work through illness, taking off an average of nine days a year.
Predictably,
the most popular days off are Mondays and Fridays and staff also go missing
more often on summer days or during significant TV events.
However,
managers are rarely fooled, with the majority only believing between 30 and 40
per cent of sick days are genuine.
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The
research, by law firm Peninsula, finds the most common short-term absence
reasons are food poisoning (24 per cent), back problems (23 per cent) and flu
(21 per cent).
Peter
Done, managing director of Peninsula, said companies must start to take
illnesses such as stress more seriously, as well as introduce more absence
management procedures such as back-to-work interviews.
