Sick casuals threaten productivity 10:29am 12.05.08

Casualisation of the workforce will lead to lower productivity, according to research by the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia.

Centre director, Professor Barbara Pocock, says casuals tend to go to work when sick because they don’t have paid sick leave, putting other staff at risk. She says involuntary and insecure casuals are less willing to take a break or call in sick for fear they will not be called in again.
 
“Most co-workers would prefer they didn't come to work sick and most casuals don't want to. I think there is an unmeasured cost to workplace productivity and probably the health system,” she says. “It's definitely is a cost we are paying."