Are we a ''Sick Britain'' or an ''Inflexible Britain''?

Workplace absence rates are reportedly at their highest level since 1996, with British workers taking an average of 9 days off sick each year.

GoJobsite.co.uk, has discovered that taking a ''sickie'' might not be as rife as we might imagine and that more and more of us might be willing to forego salary for a career that gives us that extra level of flexibility.

During May 2003, GoJobsite gathered survey responses from over 900 jobhunters to gauge their levels of dissatisfaction with inflexibility in the workforce and whether they actually took their paid sickness absence.

Surprisingly an overwhelming 91% of respondents claimed to not use up their paid sickness absence, with 56% of respondents claiming that their would definitely be willing to take a cut in salary from their employers to ensure more flexible working hours and therefore more personal time. GoJobsite HR manager, Jackie Jones said: The figures that have been publicised recently do tend to take into account some of the longer-term absentees, for example those related to stress and mental health problems.

Overall I believe that although paid sickness absence has not been totally exploited the survey reflects that the increase in sickness levels corresponds with the decrease in staff satisfaction levels, with greater workloads and longer working hours causing the biggest problems. The easiest way for people to exercise dissatisfaction is to be absent from the workplace.

It is widely believed that many managers believe that the introduction of flexible working to allow workers time off for dealing with personal issues, rather than calling in sick, would dramatically reduce sickness absence rates.