Fancy winning a new car, a free weekend break or some holiday vouchers? These are some of the inducements on offer to staff working for the Royal Mail who do not take any sick leave for six months.
Absenteeism is so bad at the Royal Mail that workers who do not take a single day off sick between now and January 31 2005 will be automatically entered into a prize draw to win one of 34 Ford Focus cars or holiday vouchers worth Ł2,000.
The Royal Mail admits that 6.5 per cent of its total workforce of 170,000 are absent at any one time – that's some 10,000 people – while average sickness absence is 12 days per worker per year, compared with the national average of seven days.
No wonder our mail delivery is so unreliable . . .