Coughs and sneezes spread diseases
British firms could reduce employee sick time through more home
working this winter
As winter draws in, the amount of time and money lost to British
Business through employees taking sick days is set to get worse.
With the Confederation of British Industry estimating that overall
workplace absence cost the British economy the hefty sum of £13.4bn
last year, businesses are keen to find ways to cut this bill. One
way this can be done is through the use of homeworking, so that
employees who are too ill to travel but not necessarily too ill to
work, can stay on the job from the comfort of their own home.
According to a recent study* we commissioned, two in three UK
workers would be happy to work from home on days when they felt too
ill to travel into the office. Yet the willingness lessened with
age, with just 34% of 55 to 64 year olds prepared to work from home
when minor illness prevented office attendance, compared to 71% of
16 to 24 year-olds and 69 per cent of 35 to 44 year-olds. The poll
also found that 39% of employees said less commuting would make
them healthier as they’d be exposed to fewer germs in the office
and while in transit. Poor ventilation and lack of space in public
transport have often been blamed for employee illnesses.
"The onset of winter always increases the amount of colds and
other minor illnesses, but more flexible working practices can help
employer and employee," said Stephen Beynon, MD, ntl:Telewest
Business. "Of course no-one should work when they’re too ill to do
so, but it’s highly likely that the UK loses millions of pounds
every year through sick days taken when people are too ill to
travel, rather than necessarily too ill to work."
"Equally, sick workers soldiering on and coming into the office
can spread more germs, which can also take a toll on productivity.
Increasing the ability to work from home offers employers the
opportunity to reduce the productivity impact of sick days when
staff are not up to travelling," he said.
Our IP Multimedia solution has been specifically developed to
help employees benefit from the flexibility of being able to work
from home and other locations via secure internet connections. It
puts them in far greater control of their time, improving their
work-life balance and productivity. Incoming phone calls can be
automatically routed to the same phone number, irrespective of
where the user is actually working. By taking their laptop and soft
phone with them, they can receive and make calls wherever they can
connect to the Internet. IP Multimedia can also enable users to
video conference with staff in the office, ensuring that they can
easily stay in touch from wherever they happen to be.
* GFK NOP questioned 1,000 representative people aged 16+
nationwide on behalf of ntl:Telewest Business.
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