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Just in time for Work Wise Week, a new survey from Avaya (News - Alert), indicates that absence could be costing the average SMB in Britain up to £25K ($US 23.4K) per annum. According to the survey results, a fifth of UK businesses with 20-80 employees estimate they lose this amount through employee absenteeism.

According to the survey, the majority of the estimated expenses due to unscheduled absences of employees could cost almost twice what their American counterparts cited in a similar Avaya survey last month.  

"Unplanned absences cost businesses a lot of money, but they need some education on just how much,” said Nick Roullier, country manager, Avaya, UK. 

 “Small business owners who deploy flexible communications systems that allow workers to get the work done from any location are far less likely to feel the financial impact because their workers have access to the systems and services they need, whether they work from home or the office.” No surprises there. 

Enabling flexibility where employees work would have other benefits, according to the survey: 55 percent said that their employees were negatively affected by daily work travel and stressful commutes. More than 60 percent said bad weather shut down their business on at least one day over the past three years (and 10 percent said it shut them down for somewhere between six and 20 days)

I live in the Netherlands and my commute is from the bottom of the house to the top, but having spent a few days in London recently I can testify to the fact that people are packed into the Underground trains like sardines in a tin. If people were sheep it would be illegal.