A new study has revealed that men are four times more likely to be absent from work through sickness, with work-related stress driving some workers to ill health and alcoholism.
Research from health insurance provider Medicash found that 20 per cent of 3,000 male employees quizzed admitted to having taken at least two days off work within the last month due to worries over their job.
"Workplace stress can be damaging on any level, affecting both the employee and employer," said Medicash chief executive Sue Weir. "Bosses have a duty of care and responsibility to look after their workforce."
However, the survey also concluded that women are more susceptible to stress-related illnesses, with 69 per cent complaining of regular headaches and 57 per cent experiencing difficulty sleeping.
Earlier in the week, it was revealed that staff at Conwy council in north Wales took more than 12,000 sick days last year, costing the local authority in excess of £1 million.
Posted by Hayley Edwards
Hayley,
The only figure that you quote is that 20% of the 3000 men surveyed had taken at least two days off “last month” due to worries about their job, so where does the “four times more likely to be absent from work due to sickness” figure come from?
Is this survey seriously suggesting that for every four days sickness absence taken by a male employee a female employee will only take one or that the frequency of instances of sickness absence recorded for male employees is four times higher than that recorded for female employees?
Does anyone reading this have sickness absence rates in their organisation that supports the claim that men are four times more likely to be absent from work through sickness? This certainly isn’t the case where I work. We employ over 28000 staff and our records show that, on average, our female staff have a higher number of days off due to sickness than male employees and are more likely to exceed the full contractual sick pay entitlement than our male staff. A Civil Service survey of over half a million staff produced the same result, with female civil servants being more likely to be absent due to sickness than male civil servants.
This is an attention grabbing headline but if men are four times more likely to be absent from work due to sickness than women, every HR professional would have seen this in their sickness records and in the number of dismissals they make due to excessive sickness absence.
Perhaps Medicash could publish the data and either clarify the basis of this claim or qualify it. Perhaps the reference was limited to absence due to work related stress rather than all sickness absence?
I tend to agree with Alan – great headline, rubbish story. There is nothing in the narrative that justifies the ‘four times as likely’ and no clear indication of the implications (if men are more susceptible to sickness absence, employ more women?)
Furthermore, if 20% of male employees are taking ‘time off due to worries about their job’, does that really constitute sick leave? Stress-related illness is a diagnosable condition, and being ‘a bit worried’ is very different to the very real mental health issues associated with those unfortunate enough to suffer genuine stress-related illness. If I were to take time off due to being worried about my job, it would be to attend job interivews, not take sick leave…