Unjustified absenteeism

One of the most underestimated forms of internal fraud is unauthorised (fraudulent) sick leave. Absenteeism due to illness costs Dutch businesses a great deal of money; according to MKB Servicedesk, the cost of a sick member of staff is between € 230 and € 400 per day. During a survey, 29% of the employers questioned had to deal with long-term sick leave within their organisation.

Long-term sickness, that is 4 weeks or more. Twenty working days. Twenty working days at € 230. So that is € 4,600. Evaporated. Gone. At the expense of profits. What if the 'sick' employee works somewhere else in the meantime? Or 'just' goes on holiday? Or simply turns out to be able to do the things that were mentioned at the time of reporting sick? Perhaps that is something to be investigated! Because apart from the financial damage, the stomach ache you suffer as an entrepreneur and the grumbling within the organisation is at least as annoying!

There are plenty of examples of cases in which a staff member thought he could flout the rules on sick leave. We all know the stories of the construction worker who was 'just' working on the scaffolding during sick leave, but the dental assistant who claimed not to be able to do anything, was over-tired and had to sleep all day turned out to be able to take part in daily life during observations. The most striking thing was that she went on holiday to Ibiza with a group of friends. The photos and video footage taken during an observation at Schiphol were the last straw: the employment contract with the lady in question was terminated after her return home.