Flexible working came top of the list of the 5 things that would encourage Brits to take less time off work.
Brits pull more sickies than European counterparts
A survey of over 7,500 European workers conducted by Aon consulting has revealed that Britons are the worst culprits for faking sickness to get days off work. 21% of UK workers surveyed said that the last time they took a day off work as sick leave was a lie in comparison to the Danes of which only 4% took their last day sick for a fabricated illness.
Flexible Working is a real encouragement
29% of Brits surveyed said that the provision of flexible working would encourage them not to take so many sick days. With the added cost saving benefits that flexible working provides, it’s a wonder that more organisations are not providing it as standard. Many of the larger organisations in the UK already have good provision for flexible hours and flexible location for working but it’s the medium and smaller companies that seem to be stuck in the ‘presence = control’ rut.
Government warms to flexible working
Yet finally it seems that councils are beginning to think about flexible working. One lady I spoke with at a recent civil contingencies conference made reference to the fact that the majority of welsh local authority call centres will be looking to adopt a more flexible working approach which will reduce the number of expensive properties which need maintaining for office based staff.
So if all the evidence is leading organisations to the same conclusion – namely flexible working equals cost savings, are you taking advantage of it?
