Better employment protection and sick pay is one reason for increased rates within mainland Europe, Wolverhampton Business School says
The number of UK firms reporting high rates of staff sickness has fallen to less than half the rate in Germany and France in recent years, partly driven by the country's weaker employment protection and lower sick pay, researchers have claimed.
Fewer than one in 10 UK firms were affected by high levels of employee sickness in 2009, down from 17% in 2004, according to analysis of more than 2,600 companies in three countries by Dr Wen Wang and Professor Roger Seifert of the Wolverhampton Business School.
In contrast, a quarter of German firms surveyed said they had high staff sickness in 2009, while in France the percentage fell from 29% in 2004 to 21% in 2009.
The research was based on the European Company Survey, for which a senior manager at each company was asked if the firm had a high rate of staff sickness and the response was recorded as "yes" or "no", without giving any further detail.
Today, Dr Wang told a British Sociological Association conference in Warwick: "Workplace absence through sickness was reported to cost British business £32bn a year – our findings show that Germany and France suffer even bigger losses."
She added: "Strong employment protection and generous sick pay was empirically found to contribute to increased staff sickness in Germany and France. Employment protection is much higher and sick pay is more generous in Germany and France."
However, the researchers found that there were also positive drivers behind the UK's lower level of absenteeism.
They said more profit-sharing among staff, less variation in workload than in German and French firms and a good working atmosphere were also statistically linked to lower staff sickness in the UK in 2009.
"Our results also show that a friendly and supportive working environment can reduce sickness, regardless of nationality," Wang said.
Separate research by insurance firm Hiscox found that entreprenuers in Britain are working shorter hours than their counterparts in Europe and the US, and had the most elastic definition of when they were working.
While the average small business boss works 41.1 hours a week, the British work the shortest week at 37.6 hours – six hours less than their German counterparts.
Britons were most likely to include lunching, networking and attending to emails out of hours in their definition of what constituted work. Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.
The number of UK firms reporting high rates of staff sickness has fallen to less than half the rate in Germany and France in recent years, partly driven by the country's weaker employment protection and lower sick pay, researchers have claimed.
Fewer than one in 10 UK firms were affected by high levels of employee sickness in 2009, down from 17% in 2004, according to analysis of more than 2,600 companies in three countries by Dr Wen Wang and Professor Roger Seifert of the Wolverhampton Business School.
In contrast, a quarter of German firms surveyed said they had high staff sickness in 2009, while in France the percentage fell from 29% in 2004 to 21% in 2009.
The research was based on the European Company Survey, for which a senior manager at each company was asked if the firm had a high rate of staff sickness and the response was recorded as "yes" or "no", without giving any further detail.
Today, Dr Wang told a British Sociological Association conference in Warwick: "Workplace absence through sickness was reported to cost British business £32bn a year – our findings show that Germany and France suffer even bigger losses."
She added: "Strong employment protection and generous sick pay was empirically found to contribute to increased staff sickness in Germany and France. Employment protection is much higher and sick pay is more generous in Germany and France."
However, the researchers found that there were also positive drivers behind the UK's lower level of absenteeism.
They said more profit-sharing among staff, less variation in workload than in German and French firms and a good working atmosphere were also statistically linked to lower staff sickness in the UK in 2009.
"Our results also show that a friendly and supportive working environment can reduce sickness, regardless of nationality," Wang said.
Separate research by insurance firm Hiscox found that entreprenuers in Britain are working shorter hours than their counterparts in Europe and the US, and had the most elastic definition of when they were working.
While the average small business boss works 41.1 hours a week, the British work the shortest week at 37.6 hours – six hours less than their German counterparts.
Britons were most likely to include lunching, networking and attending to emails out of hours in their definition of what constituted work. Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.