To: lettersed
Subject: Lies, damn lies and absenteeism

In most weeks Monday and Friday are adjacent to the weekend, which
is two out of five working days, or 40%. In weeks with a long weekend
two out of four days are adjacent to the weekend. Every year we
have Good Friday, Easter Monday, May, June and August Bank Holidays
providing long weekends. When we account for these we are at about
41% of working days adjacent to the weekend, and we still have to
factor in other holidays that are not always on a Monday or Friday.

The Small Firms Association report on Absenteeism says:

	.... Some 40% of short-term absence occurs around the
	weekend, which raises red flags for many employers as to
	whether there are genuine reasons or not ...

The SFA is not the only group to make such statements - IBEC
made a similar gaffe October 2004. I guess we really do need
more numerate people in business.

	David.