YOGA MOVE TO CUT DOWN SICK DAYS

IT is meant to bring good health and mental balance.

Now a council is hoping yoga will also help solve the worst staff absenteeism in Scottish local government.

West Dunbartonshire Council saw its 6,239 workers take an average of nearly three weeks off sick each last year.

And in just three months, from April to July this year, the council has lost 13,365 days to sickness, costing taxpayers £1.35million.

Now, in a bizarre bid to turn the numbers around, officials have suggested staff could do ‘desk yoga’ to break the ‘desk all day culture’.

Under the plans, workers would be given digital prompts as they logged on to their computers in the morning and would then get messages on their computers asking them to perform yoga poses at their desks during breaks. The council, based in Dumbarton, is still working on the scheme and has no further information on exactly how it would operate but poses that could be struck include ‘chair twist’, ‘desk shoulder opener’ and ‘forward fold’.

Last year, Audit Scotland revealed West Dunbartonshire staff (excluding teachers) took on average 1 . 6 days off – nearly three weeks – compared to the Scottish local authority average of 10.8 days.

The council is aiming to reduce the number of sick days to an average of seven days per employee by 2017. A council spokesman said: ‘The council is committed to the health and well-being of its staff and is keen to encourage employees, particularly desk-based workers, to exercise regularly.’