'Sick' posties bribed with cars

Post office chiefs plan to give away new cars as a bribe to stop staff taking sick leave.

Also on offer to encourage staff to turn up for duty are free weekend breaks and holiday vouchers.

The Royal Mail admitted today that 10,000 of its staff are on " sickies" in some form every day.

The shortage means that letters are failing to be delivered on time. The Confederation of British Industry said today that according to employers they have asked, up to 15 per cent of all absences from work were down to false sickness claims - and the cost nationally last year was £1.75billion.

A CBI spokesman said: "More firms are looking for ideas to tackle this problem. We have consistently found that there is more unauthorised absence in the public sector than in the private sector."

The deputy secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Dave Ward, dismissed the scheme as a gimmick and said it would not solve the morale problems within the industry.

He said: "Royal Mail needs to admit it has serious problems that need to be solved. Gimmicks won't offer a solution to low morale and stress levels resulting from the physical demands of the job and regimented management styles."

He said that the Royal Mail should work with staff to see how job satisfaction can be improved.

Such is the problem with staff reporting sick that all three categories of mail - first class, second class and special delivery - are each falling short of targets. The situation is unlikely to have improved when the first quarter results of the current year are published within the next two weeks.

Now Royal Mail chiefs have decided to offer 34 Ford Focus cars - each worth £12,000 - in a special draw open only to those employees who have not taken any sick leave for six months.

Staff with good attendance records will have their names entered automatically. There are also 68 runner-up prizes of £2,000 worth of holiday vouchers.

Royal Mail says the incentives are being offered because sick absence levels are "holding back" efforts to push up the quality of service. So many staff are reporting sick that "whole areas in Royal Mail Letters are effectively shut for business".

Tony McCarthy, group people and organisational development director, said: "There's a huge among of work being done to improve our performance. But it's being hampered because we still have too many people off sick at anyone time." A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "This is the carrot approach rather than the stick."