UK businesses are increasing their use of IT outsourcing in order to bring down their operating costs during the economic downturn, a new report has shown.

According to a report by the National Outsourcing Association, UK businesses spent 12 per cent more on IT outsourcing and six per cent more on business process outsourcing in 2008 than they did in 2007.

Commenting on the report, the NOA chairman said: “Outsourcing has traditionally been seen as a cost saving mechanism for business, so in times of economic turbulence it is not surprising that the industry is continuing to grow."

You can find out more about the cost-saving benefits of outsourcinghere .

With absenteeism costing the UK economy £13.2 billion a year, (2008 CBI/AXA Absence Survey), it isn’t surprising that identifying and deterring staff who take too many ‘sickies’ is a priority for most organisations. But with so much attention placed on staff whose absences damage productivity and morale, is there a danger that employees with exemplary attendance records will go unnoticed or be unappreciated?

One of the great advantages of implementing an absence management system like LeaveMaster in your organisation is that it allows you to recognise and reward employees who never take ‘sickies’ and have faultless attendance records, as well as identify those who have been taking too many sick days.

You can find out more about LeaveMaster here.

According to research conducted by the Hackett Group , large companies are accelerating their use of offshore outsourcing , with as many as a quarter of IT jobs at Global 1000 firms moving offshore by 2010.

These large firms, who all have revenues of at least $5 billion, will save an estimated $30m each by increasing their use of offshore outsourcing in 2010.

But smaller and medium sized businesses can enjoy the bottom-line benefits of outsourcing too, by partnering with a company that offers a highly-competitive pricing structure and understands the critical importance of cost-saving in the current economic climate.

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In its quarterly Inflation Report , the Bank of England has warned that the UK economy still has some way to go before it recovers from the effects of the financial crisis, with any recovery in 2010 likely to be "fragile". The report also warns that as activity in the UK economy continues to fall, it will become more difficult for firms to maintain employment.

As budgets continue to be cut during the economic downturn and with the pace of recovery likely to be slow and protracted, outsourcing could become an increasingly attractive employment option for many companies.

Outsourcing allows you to substantially lower your overheads by bringing in specialist staff to work on specific projects, or elements of projects, only as and when you need their expertise.

You can find out more about the benefits of outsourcing here

According to a report in The London Paper, thousands of healthy workers are faking swine flu in order to enjoy extra time off work and extend their summer holidays.

Frustrated bosses have bombarded an employment law firm with calls, claiming that staff with no obvious swine flu symptoms are taking "sickies" with the fakers causing more disruption to workplaces than the actual virus.

As previously discussed, the simple act of improving absence monitoring in your organisation can be enough to stop staff from calling in sick when they are not really ill. So if you're looking to tackle absenteeism, your first step should be to implement an accurate system for recording and monitoring employee leave and absence