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Workers must call bosses on sick leave: UK adviser

By Sohail Khan 23 September 2026, 11:20 pm

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Business News›News›International›Global Trends›After Germany sick leave policy row, UK adviser says ‘you can’t just text, send WhatsApp or email’ boss when sick; wants…

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After Germany sick leave policy row, UK adviser says ‘you can’t just text, send WhatsApp or email’ boss when sick; wants…
Synopsis

After Germany sick leave policy row, UK adviser Sir Charlie Mayfield has called for enhanced communication between workers and management during sick leave. He wants employees to choose phone calls over written messages, arguing that such dialogue is essential in tackling rising sick leave costs and preventing employee disengagement in the UK.

UK adviser wants workers to call bosses when sick, not text or WhatsApp<br> — Sir Charlie Mayfield, the former John Lewis chairman, said workers should call their boss when they are sick and cannot work (Pixabay)

Months after Germany announced plans to tighten its sick leave rules, Sir Charlie Mayfield, a senior government advisor in the UK, has said people off sick from work should keep in phone contact with their boss. He recently shared that he wants to “change the norms” when it comes to taking off sick from work. Sir Charlie, who is leading the Keep Britain Working taskforce, in an interview to Times suggested that employees should be forced to call their managers if they are requesting sick leave. He warned that managers felt unable to talk to staff on sick leave for fear of formal complaints and employment tribunals.

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Sir Charlie Mayfield, the former John Lewis chairman, said workers should call their boss when they are sick and cannot work. He said employees should not simply send a quick text or WhatsApp message before going back to bed or taking the day off. He added that it’s “very important” to establish an active dialogue between the employer and employee. “So you can’t just text, send a WhatsApp, or send an email,” said Mayfield. “You’ve actually got to ring somebody up.”

The remarks of Sir Charlie came as the UK’s welfare bill continues to see a surge. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects the UK’s welfare bill will total £333bn this year. By the end of the decade, the annual cost will have climbed to £407bn, reports The Telegraph.

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Britain doing poor job on handling "sickness"

"I'm not worried about a day here and a day there. It is more about longer term issues," Sir Charlie told the BBC's Today Programme. But he said Britain was doing a "poor job" of handling sickness in the workplace, leading to more people becoming disengaged and dropping out altogether.

"I have met so many people who have said to me, 'You know, I was signed off sick and I was off sick for a month, two months, three months, and I had almost no contact with my employer'," Sir Charlie said. His latest report has pointed out how health-linked economic in activity has made Britain pay a huge cost. Such activities costed Britain around £210bn a year in benefit payments and lost output. Around 300,000 people leave work every year with a health condition, much of which is preventable, the report said.

What is the solution?

His solution is to encourage more open conversations between employers and employees about illness. This includes both physical and mental health problems. He believes workers and employers should work together on plans to return to work, which could include mental health support or moving to a different role. “It gives you the opportunity to have a conversation,” said Mayfield. “To say, I’m really sorry to hear that. How long is this going to be for? Is there something we can do about it?”

He also stated that managers must “change the norm” so that sick days are squelched, so that it’s “almost never the case that you should be allowed to be off sick without being in contact with your employer.”

Frequent sick days aren’t a workplace issue issue just across the pond. A study conducted by Jama Network published in 2025 found that U.S. workers have called in sick more often since before the COVID-19 pandemic, with health-related work absences skyrocketing to a whopping 1.29 million sick days per month.

Germany's proposal to change sick leave policy

Earlier this year, the German government proposed overhaul of sick leave regulations. If approved, employees would no longer be able to take short-term sick leave without providing medical documentation when requested by their employer. The reforms would also limit the practice of obtaining a week-long sick note through a phone consultation without physically visiting a doctor.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had repeatedly complained that the rate of sick leave is too high in Germany and harming the country's productivity. “From the very beginning, we set an agenda with a single goal in mind: We want to get Germany back on track. It is now clear that this is possible,” the conservative chancellor said. “We can no longer accept the extraordinarily high levels of sick leave in our companies,” Merz told reporters.

“We are abolishing sick leave by phone and introducing the requirement to submit a medical certificate from the very first day of illness,” he added. “We know this is a tough decision, but we can no longer afford this competitive disadvantage caused by prolonged absences from work.” Merz has said the changes are needed to kickstart Germany’s economy, which has been struggling since the COVID pandemic and dealt blows by the war in Ukraine and Iran.

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