Do your staff understand sick pay?

Workers don’t know they could face a significant salary shortfall if they are unwell and are unable to work, according to research from Direct Line Life Insurance.

Staff believe on average they would receive their full pay for three and a half months if they were to become ill.

However, the reality is very different, as 43% of firms reduce an employee’s wages to statutory sick pay after just two weeks of an employee being unable to work through illness.

One in six firms (16%) immediately switch to paying statutory sick pay once an employee has been off work for four days. Furthermore, almost a third (30%) of HR professionals said the qualifying period for their company sick pay schemes is between 1 and 2 years.