According to a review carried out on behalf of the CBI and the insurer AXA, the UK economy lost almost twenty billion pounds and 172 million working days due to employee sickness absence.

Statistics show that the majority of full time employees sick days are on a Friday, reinforcing employers beliefs that these days are being used to extend the weekend of their staff.

What this means to you as an employer is that per employee you are losing well over six hundred pounds and close on seven working days.

Let us not forget that these facts figures just relate to the direct impact on you and your company but you also have to consider the indirect costs of these actions, it means you are having to waste time organising things such as overtime and agency staff plus the drop in customer satisfaction will also prove be a major factor.

These are the sobering statistics that directly affect you as a company and highlights that the point that some employees have no company loyalty and do not give a second thought to taking an unauthorised day off work through feigned illness.

One other factor that must be borne in mind and its impact not overlooked is that this ultimately creates an atmosphere of suspicion amongst staff and management and eventually affects those who are legitimately ill by casting doubt on their legitimate motives.

Should you start to suspect that one of employees is not genuine in their claims of suffering from an ailment that is preventing them from attending their place of employment then you have to remove all doubt.

One of the easiest and most cost effective methods of removing any and all doubts is to hire a company that offers an Employee Sickness Investigation service.

A quality company will supply you with detailed time lined written reports coupled with high quality video and photographic evidence, allowing for absolute certainty of an employee's status.