Should businesses prepare for high-levels of absenteeism?

Employee sickness rates in Britain have fallen to a quarter of those in Germany.

A survey of 1,500 German companies found that over a quarter reported high levels of absenteeism compared to a poll on the same number of UK companies, who reported seven per cent.

Author of the report, Dr Wen Wang of Wolverhampton Business School, said: "Employees in the UK may have been more cautious about being absent from work as unemployment grew to 8.5% in 2012, the highest level since 1997," BT News reports.

He also said that German companies have a higher proportion of workers on flexible contracts than the UK.