Is 'presenteeism' the reason sick days have dropped at the Council?

The average number of sick days taken by Rochdale Council employees in the financial year 2011/12 was 8.55, down from 9.21 days the previous year.

An authoritative report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development says a culture of ‘presenteeism’ is sweeping Britain as workers decide to come into the office, rather than stay home in bed.

Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, said there is a direct link between sickness leave and the recession. "A fall in sickness absence runs in parallel to rising economic uncertainty and rising unemployment. If there are going to be redundancies, workers worry that sickness absence will be one of the criteria they will be judged on," he said.

Professor Cary Cooper, an expert in organisational psychology from the Lancaster University Management School, said: "People are so frightened that they are turning up to work when they are unwell.

"At this time of such high job insecurity, would you want to be ill and off work? No."

The 8.55 Rochdale Council figure is, however, more than the national average for public sector employees of 7.9 days and significantly more than the average of 5.8 days sick taken by private sector workers.