"Crikey!
Where are my staff?"
How Britain took time off in 2017
·
Tuesday was the most popular day of the week to call
in sick
·
October was the
month with the highest sicknesses logged
·
Maxine and Alistair were the male and female names
least likely to take a sick day
·
December 2017 was the month for the most holiday
requests
·
25th of August was the most popular date to
book off
·
Edinburgh was the city with the highest staff lateness
·
Birmingham was the city with the lowest staff lateness
No matter what the size or nature of a business,
managing employee sick days, lateness and holiday leave is something all
employers have to tackle at some stage. With that in mind BrightHR, a people management
software company has published its holiday and absence trends for 2017 based on
customer data from their employee absence management system. The data makes for
interesting reading and reveals some fascinating trends into how the UK took
time off in 2017. The findings can help businesses get prepared for the year
ahead and avoid the dreaded question... where is everyone?
BrightHR Chief Technical Officer Alastair Brown comments
on the key findings:
“The data has given us some really interesting insights
into sick leave in the UK. One of the most surprising findings was that
Tuesday, not Monday was the most popular day to call in sick with Flu, food
poisoning and migraines being the most common reasons for an employee taking
sick leave on, what we now call, truancy Tuesday. Some of the stranger reasons
for not coming into work included getting a splinter and having to fill in as someone’s
birthing partner.”
“The month with the highest sicknesses logged was
October with the start of winter taking a toll on employees and flu viruses
starting to spread around workplaces and schools.”
"There is some good news for employers with staff
named Maxine and Alistair though, employees with these first names are the least
likely to take a sick day."
“In terms of holiday leave, December was the most popular month for employees to submit holiday requests. The reason for this was employees booked holiday for Christmas and New Year, used up any remaining leave and tried to secure leave for the school summer holidays in 2018 to ensure they got ahead of their colleagues.”
“The most popular date to book off in 2017 outside
Christmas was the 25th of August; this was due to employees wanting to extend
the last summer bank holiday.”
“We don’t always think of lateness as absence, however
it is. When managing staff absence it is important to keep records of employees
being late as frequent latenesses can add up and cost your business. Our data
shows that Edinburgh was the city with the most employee latenesses with the main
excuses being bad weather disrupting travel and general traffic chaos. Some
more far-fetched excuses included three employees blaming their lateness on a
possible alien attack. Not surprisingly the bus stop capital of Europe,
Birmingham was the city with the most punctual employees.”
“From our findings, we can see that good absence
management is imperative for a business as it can increase efficiency and
reduce the impact of day-to-day staff absences.”
“The right absence management system can be used as a tool
for a better connection between you and your employee. This will help create a
working environment where staff are highly motivated and where they’re also
able, to be honest about any time off that they might need. It will also save
you from a flood of paper holiday forms handed in at the start of December each
year, as staff start to plan their activities for the festive season and you will
no longer have to ask... where is everybody?”
Ends
About BrightHR:
https://www.brighthr.com/
Pioneering people management software company BrightHR
offers a single place to record, monitor and manage all of your people data -
from sickness and holidays to rotas and shifts. Plus a hub for employee records
and unlimited document storage, all stored safely in the cloud. BrightHR has
become a thought leader on brilliant workplace cultures. Our stance that the
removal of fun and play within 9 and 5 makes the working masses unhappy has
resonated with clients and beyond.
· The data was taken from BrightHR's database of 56,000 customers
·
For further clarification, please contact Jane Pearson
on 0161 827 8511 or Jane.Pearson@brighthr.com