Down and out? Too depressed to work?

Nurses are being hired by businesses to check whether or not employees who ring in sick are faking it.

When the employee rings in ill, they will now have to explain their symptoms to a nurse rather than their boss.

The number of bogus sick claims should then fall because employees forced to speak to a professional nurse might think twice before making the call.

Active Health Partners, the firm offering this service, said it was not about catching workers out.

Managing director Alan Aldridge said: "The nurses based on their clinical judgement arrange follow up calls with the individual to check on progress, and check their symptoms are getting better.

"If they are not, then they will give further medical advice. In actual fact it is a positive thing for the employee."

BBC NewsOnline readers told us how last night's defeat has been affecting them at work and what they thought of people taking sickies. This debate has now closed.

I'm at work and feeling great. After the defeat I just wanted to go home, pull the covers over my head and sleep. More than can be said for me after the previous games when I went clubbing until 4am in celebration and was a zombie the next day.
Martin, England

My company offers all of its staff one duvet day a year - a day to take off whenever they like (work commitments allowing) possibly at short notice when they just want to stay home, feel rough or the sun is out and they want to spend time having fun. They also get a day off every year for their birthday - to be taken the next day if they have a big night to celebrate. It works wonders!
Caroline Bell, London

My company wants to replace me with a robot that never gets ill.
John, Herts, UK

With the state of the NHS I could think of a better use for these nurses.
AY, London

Straight home after the match and the earliest I've been to bed in ages.
Mark, London, England

My company employs a doctor to review cases were employees are very sick. Our human resources department refer staff but they do have the right to refuse. The doctor will chat to the employee and ascertain if there is any treatment that can be offered by either the company or possibly refer the employee for further medical tests/investigations. They now have nursing in place too, to check cases at an earlier stage. I have had a bad "legitimate" sickness record so for me this system has been extremely useful. But for people who take "sickies" when not necessary, it will catch them out - not for the person who takes maybe one "sickie" per year but the people who take one once a month.
Julie, Cardiff, Wales

I haven't taken a sickie but I wish I had. Last night's game required many beers to steady the nerves and as a result I am feeling rather numb and very tired. I am writing computer programs that don't appear to be working. I wonder why?
Phil, Edinburgh

Talk has been going on about additional public holidays, and what and when. It is the Bi-centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005 - and that would be a good starting point. It is a long haul between August Bank Holiday and Christmas, 21st October would be a good halfway break. It would also be revenge for the French beating us in Euro 2004
David Heath, Reading, England

With so many people breaking their contracts of employment by taking false sick days, is it any wonder so many jobs are moving to developing countries?
John Tomlinson, Essex

I'm waiting for a sensible company to make sure that sick people actually don't come into work to spread their germs about. How long do you think I'll be waiting?
D, Stoke on Trent

Thursday, 24.06.04: England loses at football, the nation mourns, fans and players are devastated. Iraq sees over 100 people dead, many more injured, and the killing continues. Now tell me the true meaning of devastation?
Morag, Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway

I often wonder if "sickies" are really costing the industry as much as it thinks. I took two days off last year that I really should not have done, but mostly I am honest.
Anonymous

This is quite a trivial thing to do. Have a school nurse? We're over worked in this country and don't have enough public holidays, unlike the rest of Europe.
Tim, Brighton

I was a qualified nurse for six years and nurses are the worst offenders for taking sickies whenever they feel like it (me included).
James, Brighton

Being thoroughly sick of all the football, England's inevitable loss has made me feel a lot better. No more 24/7 football - thank goodness. How would the sporty minority like it if there was nothing but "Star Trek" on every TV channel and radio station constantly for weeks? Nobody in my office did more than discuss the England matches. Nobody would take time off for something so trivial. We all have more respect for our jobs and company.
Anthony Hunt, Maidstone, Kent, England

Regardless of what employers might think you have the legal right to certify yourself sick for seven days before having to see a doctor. This "policy" is a blatant invasion of privacy.
Stephen, Basingstoke, UK

Thank you BBC for destroying all the hard work we occupational health nurses have put in trying to get rid of the image that we are employed to bash staff with high sickness rates. Our role is to give a professional opinion and fit the job to the person, and the person to the job. We aim at healthy staff who are therefore more productive and happier. A win-win selection. We need support in this not publicity from someone who knows nothing about us.
Paula Bratton Young, Buckingham

My last sick day was eight years ago, but then my employer looks after its staff and does all it can to keep them happy. I doubt that having to talk to a nurse would make any difference to a person where their employer is making them miserable.
Andrew, Herts, UK

I wonder how many of the companies who get so uptight about their staff taking occasional "sickies" still, on balance, benefit quite nicely from the large amount of regular unpaid overtime they expect from the same workers.
Chris, Oxford

How has last night's defeat affected my work? As well as can be expected for an Englishman living in Scotland and surrounded by an office full of Scots.
Lol, Tayside, Scotland

I don't think it is going to be too difficult to overcome the system. It hardly takes a genius to describe symptoms. A quick search of the Internet for various illnesses should keep most nurses busy while you're enjoying the sun.
Machaud, London

Working in a hospital, there is already an occupational health department available for staff to visit if feeling unwell or after returning from time off sick. This is a great system, which avoids the (understandable) look of horror on patients when admin staff "queue jump" in A&E. Unfortunately, it does not deter staff who are determined to take the day off, ill or not. Some of the reasons for not coming into work have been incredible. But people who don't want to work will always find a way of wrangling a day off. To most of them, the pay is an added bonus, it was the time they wanted.
Christine Coke, UK

Surely, all you have to do is remember symptoms from a previous illness in order to sound convincing? I also predict a rise in sales of medical encyclopaedias.
Anonymous, Manchester

I contract so if I'm off sick I don't get paid. When I was an employee I probably did 70 hours unpaid overtime for every sickie I took. I think the business got the best deal.
Ems, London

Being self-employed reduces the number of sickies I could take. The prospect of no sick pay (or any pay) certainly focuses the mind. But at least I didn't have to sit and listen to non-stop football talk, which is a blessing for me, anyway.
Judy, Basingstoke, UK

It may be a legal right to certify yourself sick for seven days but I don't remember that including the right to lie to your employer. The company is introducing the measure to discourage employees from taking false sickies. I'm not sure the law gives you the right to certify yourself sick so you can sit in the back yard soaking up the sun.
Phil, Nottingham, UK

Employers need to balance out the amount of time people take off sick and the extra time they get out of people when they work late.
Richard, Surrey

I really wanted to phone in a sickie today, as I have a really bad hangover after celebrating Portugal's win last night, but I work with a few English guys and I really wanted to be there to support them.
Stephen, Glasgow, Scotland

Surely one of the benefits of "saying yes" to the European Constitution will, inevitably, not only lead to tax and legal harmonisation between EU member states, but will mean the UK will need to increase the number of bank holidays (currently just 8) to fully align others - the EU average is 11.35, with Cyprus enjoying 16 and Slovakia a whopping 18 days off a year.
S Hawkins, Aberdeen

As far as our workplace is concerned, there is no active way of spotting people who take a "sickie". But we do have an occupational health nurse in the building whom you must report to if you are taking more than three periods of sickness in three months.
Maya McKee, Southampton, UK

Well said, Chris. I worked for a company who regularly expected me to work through all statutory breaks and lunches, stay over finishing time at no notice whenever it suited them...for whom I did two hours unpaid work each day by coming in early regularly....and who then hauled me in for a "chat" about my "tardiness" when I was ten minutes late one morning. As ever, hypocritical employers are the problem, not staff. Not to mention successive governments who have ensured that UK workers have been regularly denied the same holiday entitlement as their European counterparts.
Stacy, Scotland

At my previous employer staff were given an extra day annual holiday if they'd had no days off sick in the previous year. However taking two sickies a year always seemed preferable to the one day you could be rewarded with. I'm all for the suggestion of being given your birthday off though - makes getting older slightly less painful.
HS

This is a sticky issue I think. Up until four years ago I had only had one absence that I could honestly say I was too ill to get to work. A badly sprained ankle and I really couldn't walk. Four years ago I was literally bed ridden for a month. So does that mean all of the other days I've taken sick are a sham? I don't feel they were. I was ill. Not total debilitating desperately ill, but I was ill. I could have soldiered on but I really don't think any employer has the right to demand that. On the other hand I have known plenty of people brag about taking days off sick when they just didn't want to come to work. What I can't quite determine is where the line between feeling under the weather and feeling lazy is.
Clive, Birmingham UK

If you work for a company that goes to those lengths to keep tabs on you, surely being caught out and fired isn't such a bad thing after all?? Life's too short to be dealing with such people. Take the day off, get fired, and be thankful
Richard, Brighton

If the person is determined to be "off sick" even if you drag him or her to work, they still sit around and do nothing - apart from chatting about footie and complaining about the disallowed goal and the referee, what is the point of having them in. If they stay at home, at least the people who choose to come to work can get on with their work rather than listening to excuses/complaints.
Taner, Herts

People throw sickies becuse they don't have enough holiday. If more companies worked flexible Hours employees could "Budget" their time.
Fraser James, Whitstable Kent