Ellipse survey finds 22 percent of UK SME employees take a sick day to look after their ill child. Over a third (35 percent) of staff admitted to taking sick days when they shouldn't; 32 percent of SME employers admit their company doesn’t have a good enough process for recording absence.

A survey of 500 UK SME employees conducted by digital group risk insurer Ellipse, found that 22 per cent have had to take a day off to look after their sick child, even when they are well themselves. It comes as the top reason for UK employees calling in sick with a further 6 per cent admitting to taking a day off to care for an elderly relative.John Ritchie, CEO of Ellipse, said: “In a separate Ellipse survey of 250 SME managers, 32 per cent of employers admitted they don’t have a good enough process for recording absence.

These decision makers may be missing recurring absence patterns which would make it difficult for them to be aware of the reasons their employees are taking sick days.” With 24 per cent of employees believing that their employer doesn’t know about every sick day they’d taken, this suggests that employers are likely to be missing absence traits.Ritchie added: “The survey results show that lack of childcare is a common reason for employee absence. Recording absence in an online management system would allow employers to recognise absence patterns early on and discover the causes behind them.

Employers could then provide support such as help with childcare or more flexible working hours to suit someone caring for an elderly relative. In turn, this would reduce future absence.” Amongst the less honest sick day excuses, the survey also found: 1 in 5 employees have taken a sick day after a night out; 13 per cent pretended to be sick the day before to make their absence more believable; 12 percent took a day sick to attend a job interview elsewhere; six percent called in sick due to lack of childcare.