BEC剑桥英语高级真题3 Test 4- Part 4-Sic

Small firms are counting the cost of sickness among employees. Research estimates that illness cost small businesses in Britain a month and a half in lost productivity last year. A recent survey of more than 1000 small and medium enterprises revealed that last year the average small business lost around 42 days through staff phoning in sick, and that this had a serious impact on 27 per cent of smaller companies.

小公司正在计算员工因生病而付出的代价。去年研究估计一年中英国小公司因为员工生病而损失了一个半月的生产力。一个近期的超过1000个中小公司的研究显示去年小公司因为员工电话请病假损失了大约42天，其中27%的更小的公司因此受到了严重的影响。

Just over one in ten employees took time off for seven days in a row. Of these, 9.5 per cent were ill for a week on more than one occasion. In Britain, employees can take sick leave for up to a week before they have to produce a medical certificate. Owner-managers were far less likely to be off sick than their staff: 3.3 days on average, compared with the 10 days taken by employees.

十分之一的员工连续七天请假。其中，9.5%的人不止一次患病一周。在英国，员工可以请病假一周，然后再出具医疗证明。企业主的管理者请假的可能比员工低：平均每年3.3天，而员工10天。

The head of research team said, "The most common cause of absence was minor illness, such as colds or flu, but back strain, fractures and the like accounted for very nearly as much. Of greater concern is that more that 40 per cent of employers felt that their employees sickness may not have been genuine."

研究团队的负责人说：" 最可能缺勤的原因是轻微的疾病，如感冒或流感，但背部拉伤，骨折等也占了绝大部分。"更令人担忧的是，超过40%的雇主感到，他们员工可能不是真的生病了。”

Employers can do more to protect themselves by drawing up adequate terms of employment that outline the company's sick pay policies. Enhanced sick pay is then at the employer's discretion.

雇主能通过指定适当的雇佣条款，概述公司的病假政策从而更好的保护自己。升级版的病假工资完全由雇主自行决定。