EMPLOYERS in Worcester are being warned they may face the rising cost of workplace absenteeism in the new year, as more staff admit "pulling sickies" for job interviews.

Last year, workplace absence cost the UK £12.2bn in total, with the cost of "sickies" put at £1.7bn.

Research by training and development group Changing Perspective shows that one in four people admit to calling in sick as an excuse to go to an interview for a bigger and better job. With people in Worcester having an average of 7.5 sick days per year, the new year is traditionally a time to move on. According to Changing Perspective's re-search, more than a third of Worcester workers (36 per cent) look at re-evaluating their career prospects over the Christmas break, while 54 per cent state that their main goal for 2006 is to gain new skills.

Fiona Silberbach, Changing Perspective managing director, said: "There are a number of reasons why people take time off work.

"They may be bored with carrying out repetitive jobs without much reward, or they could be fed up with their employer for not providing them with the opportunity to progress, so they want to do other things. All of these can cause people to look for a new job and the new year normally exacerbates these feelings as we are looking for new beginnings and challenges.

"Providing quality training can be one way to combat absenteeism. A third of Worcester workers said they wouldn't feel the need to change jobs if they had access to innovative and relevant training schemes at work.

"At Changing Perspective, we are aiming to combat the growing trend of non-genuine sickies, by helping employers give staff they skills they want and need in the workplace."

Research by Changing Pers-pective also confirmed that the rising levels of absenteeism are an ongoing problem, with more than half of Worcester employers (51 per cent) saying it is a major issue for them. Nearly 87 per cent of employers said that they wanted to cut absenteeism.

to reduce the issue of office absenteeism.

Ms Silberbach said: "Changing Perspective prides itself on an innovative and alternative approach to learning, which is based around how different people learn most effectively. We are completely committed to helping organisations change what they do at work to achieve a positive business result."