Companies hire private detectives to catch lying employees

Companies are turning to private detective agencies to help them uncover false absenteeism claims.

According to statistics from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), faking sickness to stay home from work is costing the UK economy £17million every year. Expert Investigations, a private detective agency based in Coventry, have seen a rise in the amount of businesses coming to them asking for assistance.

The sudden spike in companies hiring the services of detectives follows the epidemic of employees “pulling a sickie” when they should be at the office. A survey of 1,000 British employees undertaken by Timeware suggests that almost 60% of those surveyed had pulled a ‘sickie’ in the last three years. What’s more, according to the latest Labour Force Survey statistics (2014), more than 131 million days are still being lost to sickness absence every year in Britain.

David Kearns, Managing Director at Expert Investigations, spoke to Executive Grapevine and explained what HR can do to stop this spate of false absenteeism. He said: “HR must be positive in its disposal of false absenteeism. Conduct investigations, including surveillance to prove the case and dismiss where appropriate.