Fake sickies targeted by software 

Employers are turning to voice recognition software to crack down on unnecessary sick leave.

Britain's Daily Mail reports that some companies are using a new generation of voice analysis systems to detect whether someone is lying when they call in sick.

It said that a trial in north-west London, saved the borough of Harrow approximately STG420,000 ($NZ1.1 million) in false benefit claims.

One of the systems currently being used is called Voice Risk Analysis, developed by a software company Digilog.

Software listens to the caller's voice to detect changes that suggest they are under pressure or lying, and alerts the person taking the call.

It is estimated that nearly one in eight sick days are not genuine, costing the UK economy STG13 billion a year.

According to an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey in 2003, the rate of absenteeism among workers in Australia, shows a marked difference between the public and private sector.

During a two-week period, 9.5% of public sector workers were off sick or injured from work, compared with 6.1% of private sector workers.

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