04th July 2007 Rain Stops Play…But Not Work

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June 2007 was the wettest June on record, with the excessive rainfall dampening the UK workforce’s desire to ‘throw a sickie’ according to FirstCare, the UK’s leading attendance management specialist.

“We saw average absence levels for June 2007 of 0.7 days lost per employee, compared to 0.85 for the same period last year – a reduction in absence of 17% across our client base,” explains Aaron Ross, Managing Director of FirstCare.

“The private sector saw a notable decrease in absence levels of 10%, whereas the public sector saw 19% slashed from previous absence levels,” he continues. “This was a major boost to productivity, with every employee, on average, being at work for one hour more in June 2007, compared to June 2006. Putting this into perspective, a typical NHS hospital trust of 2,500 staff had the equivalent of an extra 66 staff during the month of June through sickness savings alone.

“Previous examples of extreme weather and one-off events have dramatic effects on productivity, with rises in absenteeism during the summer heatwave and the World Cup. The heavy snowfall at the beginning of the year was also responsible for increased absence rates of 7.5%, primarily due to transport related problems.”