Rising levels of workplace stress has caused a massive hike in the number of days lost to employee sickness. That's according to the Health and Safety Commission (HSC).
The government department's latest study found that 33 million work-days were lost over 2002 - almost double the 18 million days lost the previous year.
Blaming the 'stress culture' at work in UK firms, the HSC said employees were increasingly taking time off because managers are showing a reluctance to help 'sufferers'. The average time taken off to recover from work-related illness has risen to 23 days a year per person.
However the HSC did not find any evidence to prove the workplace had become more stressful.
Sandra Caldwell, director of the Health and Safety directorate said: "We are not 100% sure whether this is an actual increase in stress, or whether there are technical issues such as over-reporting."
Despite the unions blaming employers for rising stress levels, the HSC found work-related absence to be highest in the public sector.
The CBI's director of business environment, Michael Roberts said: "There seems a lot that the public sector can learn from the private sector about how to manage this."
