Sickie calls spike after Cup
March 11, 2007 12:00am

BOSSES should be well prepared ahead of the Melbourne Cup this year because the day after the race is the most popular day of the year for workers to take a sickie.

Public holidays, mornings after major sporting events - such as the Cup and the Ashes - and extreme weather are the most popular times for people to treat themselves to a day off by feigning illness.

After last weekend's dramatic thunderstorms, there was a 30 per cent spike in people calling in sick on the Monday morning.

But the day after Melbourne Cup is regularly the most popular single day of the year for sickies, at 20 per cent higher than usual.

Paul Dundon, the managing director of Sydney-based absence management company Direct Health Solutions (DHS), said records showed that climatic events impacted on people's ability to get to work, while popular sporting events tended to affect their motivation.

"The day after Melbourne Cup is the highest single day for absenteeism ... (but) that's quite expected, really," he said.

"When monitoring workplace absenteeism levels it is apparent that they increase dramatically during key sporting events, school holidays and over Easter."

DHS is planning to issue employers with advice on how to spot when an employee is trying to "pull a sickie".

Tips include listening for background noise such as an airport or train public address system and children asking "Can we leave yet?"

Other popular sickie ploys include over-dramatising an illness, describing every possible symptom they can think of and trying to sound critically ill even if the condition wouldn't normally affect their voice.

Not knowing the name of their medication and rushing a call are other giveaways.

Despite this, Mr Dundon emphasised that most cases of employee absenteeism were genuine. Bosses have also been warned to expect a spike of about 25 per cent in the number of workers who will take sickies over the Easter holiday break.

And while it might be an unofficial tradition, the cost to employers is high: next month's spike in absenteeism is expected to cost about $81 million in direct salary costs. Parents of children on school holidays are expected to be among prime offenders - especially harassed mothers. Over Easter, there are expected to be 365,000 people off sick nationally at an average cost of $222 each a day.

In the past year, other peak times for sickness have been days following the January bushfires, which provoked a 25 per cent increase, school holidays at 24 per cent and the Monday after Australia Day at 17 per cent.

Mr Dundon said winter was inevitably the worst time for absenteeism, while summer had the lowest rate as more people took annual leave. Staff who call in sick from companies using DHS are connected to a panel of nurses who offer support and health advice.

"Often, some perfectly legitimate sick-leave symptoms may be overlooked by untrained managers," he said. "So the message is: beware ... not everyone is pulling a sickie. We have (even) called ambulances and had people needing immediate counselling after being threatened on the job."

News Limited

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Quote:Tips include listening for background noise such as an airport or train public address system and children asking "Can we leave yet?"

I love that bit.