19th December 2007
When employees were asked why they had taken spurious sick leave over the last year, the hangover came out as the top reason, with an average of 19 per cent (just under a fifth) of the UK workforce admitting they had taken time off for one. This is according to the Sickness Absence Survey 2007, by leading disability insurer Unum.
Interestingly, a much lower proportion of older respondents had taken sick leave due to overindulgence; with only six per cent of 55-64 year olds admitting that this was a reason for sickness absence over the past year. This contrasts significantly with younger employees in the 16-24 year old age group, where over a third (36 per cent) admitted to taking off time due to alcohol-related sickness.
People living in Scotland are most likely to take sick days off for hangovers, with 23 per cent of Scottish employees (almost a quarter) admitting they had done this in the last year. By contrast, workers in the Midlands and the South East are the least likely to take time off due to intemperance, with only 17 per cent of employees in these regions admitting that they had done so.
Family/ relationship disputes came out as the second most highly quoted reason for taking unsanctioned time off work, with 15 per cent of UK workers stating this was the case. This was closely followed with employees taking time off to spend time with their partners (14 per cent). However, perhaps surprisingly only five per cent of employees admitted to taking time off to watch a sporting event or to enjoy the weather.
Professor Michael O’Donnell, Chief Medical Officer at Unum, commented:
These figures reinforce well-documented and worrying trends that people’s drinking habits are impacting on the workplace. And from a medical point of view this is particularly worrying, given that in 2005/06, there were 187,640 NHS hospital admissions among adults aged 16 and over with diagnosis specifically related to alcohol; this has more than doubled from 89,280 in 1995/96.
It is vital that employees recognise that hangovers, and any resulting time off work, not only have serious consequences for their health and their families but can also seriously affect their careers. With the festive season upon us, it is important that employers and employees work together to ensure that drinking habits do not get out of control.
ENDS