Calling In Sick?

Lee McQueen, winner of this year's The Apprentice in the UK was due to start work for Surallun this week. However, he rang in sick on Monday. Having been on holiday in Spain with his girlfriend for the last couple of weeks it seems he picked up a 'flu like virus' and couldn't get himself into work.

Winning a show like The Apprentice, and picking up a £100,000 salary, at least a doubling of previous income, would seem like motivation to haul your holiday tanned body to the office even if you felt unwell on your first day. If you felt really unwell you might want to trot along to the doctors and pick up a diagnosis of what's really wrong rather than the vague 'flu-like symptoms' which I suspect everyone could claim at 6:30 on a rainy Monday morning after two weeks of sun, snacking, napping and drinking.

Absence is a growing problem in business, and a crushing one in the public sector. People do get ill, and coming into work when they're genuinely ill doesn't help anyone, but it seems some get ill more often than others, and some seem to get ill only either side of weekends and holidays. Adopting a consistent and fair policy towards absence is critical for your business success, as well as to maintaining your reputation as a considerate employer.

The main reason we find employers not dealing with persistent short term absence is that managers don't feel confident in addressing the problem with employees and dealing with difficult people. It's worth the effort to ensure all employees feel they can take time off work if they are genuinely unwell, but that 'swinging the lead' isn't tolerated by managers or colleagues.