|
By Steve Brearton
Illustration: Seth
Playing hooky
Canadian workers don’t stay home only when they aren’t feeling well. From sporting events to
protests, employee absenteeism is about more than doctors’ notes.
3 Days a Toronto construction firm owner says he lost to employee absenteeism when
workers stayed away to watch the FIFA World Cup this summer. The Centre for Economics and Business Research
in London, England, puts the tab for lost productivity related to the championships at US$4.8 billion
globally.
1,000 Estimated number of Ottawa workers who skipped work to avoid
antiglobalization demonstrators converging on the capital for anti-G8 protests in June 2002. Protestors
gathered in Ottawa even though the G8 meetings were in Kananaskis, Alta.
83,000 Canadian workers above the weekly average who stayed home at least part of
the week following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, according to Statistics Canada.
1 in 3 Toronto public school teachers who reportedly didn’t show up for work during
a 1996 protest day by the public sector. With public transit shuttered, many other workers didn’t make it to
work.
180 Workers at a Toronto medical health company who travelled to Montreal with the
permission of their employer to rally for a united Canada in 1995. Polls suggesting a very close vote on
Quebec separation led the federal government and businesses to encourage employees to go to Quebec for the
Crusade for Canada.
 15
Estimated number in millions of Canadians who put everything aside to watch the final game of
the 1972 Summit hockey series against the Soviet Union. Three out of four citizens skipped school or work to
see Paul Henderson help the Canadians win the series in the dying seconds of game eight.
|
