this is worklife from bbc news, with ben bland and karin giannone. pulling a "sickie". more than half of young british workers say they would fake illness to avoid going to work. is it a sign of bigger problems with today's workplace? live from london, that's our top story on thursday 21 november. absenteeism in the office, a bbc survey has found that uk workers would fake a sick day if they needed a day off. but is work culture part of the problem? and, car clash!

gm sues fiat chrysler for racketeering, accusing its rival of bribing unions. fiat calls the lawsuit "astonishing." plus, serving this up, the zero waste menu, how trainee chefs in paris are being taught how to prepare eco—responsible meals. and we'll be getting the inside track on mental health. one in four of us will suffer from stress, depression and anxiety at some point in our lives and we'll be talking to the founder of a therapy app that aims to improve workplace well—being. today we want to know, what do you think about people faking a sickie if they needed to take a day off at short notice. is it everjustified? have you been caught out? tell us what you think — just use the hashtag bbcworklife. hello and welcome to worklife. a disturbing number of tweets asking already if i have ever pulled a sick

day... you will have to stay tuned to find out! macro a warm welcome to our new business show. now, would you fake being ill to avoid going to work? over half of young adults here in britain would, according to a survey of moral attitudes by the bbc. many also feel under pressure from a "long hours" culture to be at work longer than they need to be. the bbc found 40% of people would take a sick day off when they weren't ill because they needed a break. among 16— to 34“ year—olds that rises to over half, 51%. but almost a third of workers said they would come in early or stay late just because their colleagues were doing so. britain works the longest hours in the eu, according to research by trade unions earlier this year. an average of 42 hours a week is three more than most countries in europe, from ireland to italy to belgium. but the uk lags behind most of them when it comes to productivity. ireland, norway and luxembourg topped a recent league table compiled by the oecd group of advanced economies.

dr linda yueh, economist and author of the great economists, is with us now. why doesn't work the longest hours in europe translate into the highest productivity, what is going wrong? that is one of the big questions, it raises the issue about absenteeism, which is mentioned, but also present ears, if you turn up to work, because you had a hint —— if you turn up to work because others do, it does not translate into productivity. —— presenteeism. it is about what they produce rather than their presence, that could alleviate pressures that you begin to see, more acute to mental well—being, older workers, contrasting in the survey, they may not feel the need that they have to give an excuse if

they need a day off, if they work shorter hours. does the uk have a ticket a problem with presenteeism? quite a few people, especially the older age bracket, feel they need to be there. what we have seen is, present ears and results in about 30 days of lost working days a year, in terms of product —— productivity. —— presenteeism. absenteeism is half of that, what the contrast with other countries is that the countries that you mention, luxembourg, for instance, and ireland, they work, generally speaking, a few hours, less than 40 hours per week, some of them, france, 35, but they have higher productivity, probably means they have less presenteeism and less absenteeism. quality not quantity.

distinction to be made between people taking a last minute day off because they want to go to a theme park, because they want to go shopping, and when they take it off because they feel under such pressure, employers are starting to recognise, you need to give people the option to take a day off if they feel like they are buckling. absolutely, and that is worth stressing, this has to do with, are you looking at a more balanced approach to work life. for instance, one of the ways you can have shorter hours and higher productivity, and some firms are experimenting, is to do four days a week, you can have a day, if you need to have either mental health assistance or other things you need to do. firms have tried it, they do not always find that it works, but what tends to work to give employees the freedom to choose, in other words, they can choose the hours in which they put in. a lot of people in this environment tend to work around the clock. that really probably does not help mental well— being, to

clock. that really probably does not help mental well—being, to be always oi'i. help mental well—being, to be always on. so, we will see what the results of the experiment are, but certainly, the push in the workplace to raise productivity actually probably means experimenting with fewer hours. maybe not quite a four day week yet, but as i said, results suggest if employees have more control, that tends to help them with output and probably with well— being ultimately. with output and probably with well-being ultimately. very interesting, thank you very much. we appreciate your time. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. apple and intel have filed an antitrust lawsuit against fortress investment — a firm owned by japan's softbank. the two tech giants says that fortress stockpiled patents to hold up technology companies with lawsuits demanding as much as $5.1 billion from apple. the suit follows an earlier case filed by intel against fortress in october. google says it will stop allowing

highly—targeted political advertising based on data such as people's political persuasion. it will limit targeting to age, gender and general location. social media platforms are under increasing pressure over their handling of political advertising ahead of the uk general election on december 12th and the us presidential poll in 2020. hundreds of women left in debilitating pain by faulty vaginal mesh devices have won a landmark case against drug company johnson &johnson. a court in australia found that us firm's subsidiary ethicon had sold the devices without warning women about the "gravity of the risks". ethicon says it is reviewing the court decision and will consider its options for appeal. more than 1,350 women joined the class—action lawsuit. shares in hong kong have fallen sharply leading the rest of asia lower after the us congress passed bills supporting the city's rights. christine hah is in singapore.

what is it about these bills that have been passed that has caused the negative sentiment. two builds on the way to president trump for him to sign, orto the way to president trump for him to sign, or to veto, and one has been passed by the us senate, that isa human been passed by the us senate, that is a human rights and democracy act, that one requires the us state department to certify once a year that hong kong remains independent and from mainland china to maintain special trading standard with the us. -- special trading standard with the us. —— two bills. it has that right now, but after the act, if it passes, they will have to review it every year, if they lose the status, all the tariffs and entity less rounds against china will apply to hong kong as well, that would be a big hit to its status as a trading hub. the bill also provides for sanctions against officials for human rights violations, the second bill passed by the house is more immediate, banning the sales of things like tear gas, stun guns, rubber bullets, pepper spray.

beijing is not happy about this and will have to see how it impacts the ongoing situation. they want the trade deal to be signed between the two countries. rank you very much. —— thank you very much. we heard about the impact of that tension between the us and china on markets — here are the numbers. the export reliant nikkei in tokyo feeling the effect of investor nervousness. and the hang seng also sharply lower with all the unrest in hong kong and the 5—day standoff between police and protestors in the polytechnic university. and that is reflected in europe. now to the us, where general motors has launched a legal onslaught against rival car giant fiat chrysler. samira hussain has more from new york. general notice is that fiat chrysler spent millions of dollars bribing members of the auto unions during contract negotiations between the

years 2011 and 2015, gm asserts that the union made concessions to fiat chrysler that were not afforded to gm, things like allowing fiat chrysler to hire more temporary workers at entry—level wages than gm was workers at entry—level wages than gm wa s a llowe d workers at entry—level wages than gm was allowed to. the claims being made in the lawsuit are tied to an ongoing federal corruption investigation, that has led to 13 criminal charges and 11 guilty pleas, among former fiat chrysler executives and even new leaders. fiat chrysler has responded by saying it is astonished by the lawsuit, and it believes this is just a way for gm to hamper ongoing contract negotiations between fiat and the union, and to also disrupt the proposed merger between it and french car— maker peugeot. the proposed merger between it and french car—maker peugeot. gm says that it french car—maker peugeot. gm says thatitis french car—maker peugeot. gm says that it is seeking substantial damages but did not specify the amount. time now for our daily look

at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. joining me is professor birgitte andersen, chief executive and co—creator, big innovation centre. tell us, we are looking at memory chips in china, huge increase in output. amazing story about china, memories chips, they expect to be self—sufficient in producing semi—this is interesting because china have kind of historically been very good on mobile communications, against all these new technologies, but not applications but not strong oi'i but not applications but not strong on things like really deep science, chips and pharmaceuticals. these areas they have imported, they have had lots of imports from south korea, from japan, united states, but now, actually, they are controlling 5% of the global market. they are almost self—sufficient.

that is really important to china getting a foothold in being self—sufficient in all these areas, not depending on imports. yes, they are the areas they are leading in, holding back this kind of unlimited growth has been inside these new kind of e—commerce, electronic, these devices, but now, they want to ta ke these devices, but now, they want to take them on, of course, they will become much more powerful, and need to watch the pace, and the debate comes to what extent will the considerations in all this, so this is like a huge thing. anybody who has been to china, and has gone to see these places, i have been to several big cities, all these areas, where the conductor chips are done, they will see this is a completely new world, like walking into the

future. these chips are used in so many things from tablets to smartwatches to smartphones to pcs, used in so many different electronic components, you talk about the future, there is a piece in the ft, which has also caught our attention, the pitfalls of predicting future technologies. yes, exactly, the other story i found interesting, this is about blade runner, we all know the film, it has been out again, it was so clearly in 1982 they predicted 2019, and... that is what they were envisioning. yes, the story here is how people in tokyo, they see all these neon lights, and if you have ever been there, when it is raining, it is really like an asian version of los angeles, in

blade runner. and the reason it has come up again isjust because we are fiow come up again isjust because we are now in november, and it is the months in which blade runner should be happening. what is interesting is, this is the future, when we think back there, what did they get right and what did they get wrong, etc? actually, they might not have been as fast as we thought but what they could not do, they could not predict digitalisation. extreme world of information can communication technology. that has become much more clear. —— extreme world of information and communication technology. they overestimated biotech revolution, with aland human robot revolution, only harrison ford could tell the difference in the film between a

robot and a human. let's leave it to harrison ford, really good to talk to you, thank you very much. still to you, thank you very much. still to come: we will be getting the inside track on mental health at work. one in four of us will suffer from stress, depression and anxiety at some point in our lives, we will be talking to the founder of a therapy app that aims to improve workplace well—being. you're with worklife from bbc news. the owner of hotel chain premier inn is to get rid of all single use plastic from its hotels and restaurants by 2025. whitbread is going to remove consumer—facing products as well behind—the—scenes plastic and points out premier inn has never used miniature plastic toileteries. how much of a difference could this make?

rosana ellis is sustainability expert at premier inn. tell us what this means in practice? we are excited to announce the target today to eliminate some of these plastics by 2025, what that will mean for us is a bit of a forensic look across the business, looking at the supply chain, and making some real changes there. and, imean, you making some real changes there. and, i mean, you have said with premier inn, it does not use the kind of single use plastics for toiletries, how much of a difference does that make? has any measure been done? that is the obvious place in hotels, that a lot of single use plastic adds up. if you think about the scale of the business, thinking about the consumer facing plastic items, last year we got rid of 10 million plastic straws, and that is four tonnes that we have eliminated, and we are starting to look now behind—the—scenes, plastic, things

like 30,000 team members, quarter of a million items of uniform that we get delivered to the organisation every year, at the moment, each of thoseis every year, at the moment, each of those is wrapped in plastic, that is something we are looking to eliminate. we are starting a trial ina few eliminate. we are starting a trial in a few weeks to get rid of the chefs whites plastic wrapping, that is to tonnes of single use plastic we will be able to get rid of. i'm wondering what the reaction so far has been from customers? we are excited to announce it today, we are looking forward to hearing what they think and feel about it, we have done insight and research into this, we know that they really do care about these issues. we are delighted to respond to that. thank you very much indeed. plenty of stories on the business live web page, including this one right now. british airways saying sorry for disruption, after a number of flights affected by a technical issue, as they describe it, they have rebooked customers onto alternative flights and offered hotel accommodation where those

people have not been able to continue journeys, they advise people to check the website for the latest. you're watching worklife. a reminder of our top story: a bbc survey has found that more than half of young british workers say that they would fake illness to avoid going to work. now let's turn to a subject that's harder to talk about than it ought to be, mental health. around one in four of us will suffer from issues surrounding our mental wellbeing at some point in our lives. and in the uk, mental health — which includes stress, depression and anxiety — is thought to be responsible for 91 million lost working days each year. it also costs employers up to around $40 billion annually. that's why tackling the disorder at work is now a priority for many businesses. spill was founded in the uk just

a year ago, and it offeres a message—based therapy app to help improve workplace well—being. with me now is calvin benton, co—founder of spill. tell us about what you do. it is a therapy app, it all started, my mum isa therapy app, it all started, my mum is a therapist, my dad is a clinical psychologist, quite a lot of therapy in the family, and as i grew up, i had a friend, she tried to reach out for talking therapy through the nhs, she was turned down because she was not seen as severe she was turned down because she was not seen as severe enough. knowing the power of therapy and how amazing it can be, and i recommended that you go to speak to a therapist. seeing that she was turned away, i thought, this is mad, we need to have a way for people to access the power of therapy and be able to benefit from it even if you are not diagnosed with a mental health

illness. you find it helps regardless. tell us how it works, it is by text message, not in person, tell us, is this still is effective? good question, so, it works through text message but is not like whatsapp, it is not a real—time message, you receive two messages every week from your therapist, fairly long messages, i like to call them letters, actually, 400 words, maybe they will be questions, a little bit more about what you are talking about, advice and guidance, over time you build a relationship with your therapist, and you get better emotional intelligence and resilience. as you talk, we are seeing it scroll through. part of the benefit of therapy is that it gets people away from the environment where they may be feel pressure, a safe space where they feel they can talk openly. is there something to be said for actually taking the time out away from their

busy daily live to see a therapist, face—to—face? busy daily live to see a therapist, face-to-face? yes, absolutely, we never try to position ourselves as a competitor or take people away from going face—to—face therapy, i go to face—to—face therapy personally and i absolutely love it. there is that accessibility angle and a statistic, 67% of people actually prefer communicating over text message. it makes it a lot more accessible, and much more barrier free for people to access. how many people do you think you have who would not want to go face—to—face, and would use this as a preference? 8796 of users have never accessed any kind of mental health support before. these are people that would potentially use therapy, and would go to that rather than face—to—face. therapy, and would go to that rather than face-to-face. it should be easierfor people to than face-to-face. it should be easier for people to talk about mental health issues and be more open, the reality, there is still a reluctance. i wonder whether there isa

reluctance. i wonder whether there is a feeling among some people, a fear, if it is written down, if it is in fear, if it is written down, if it isina fear, if it is written down, if it is in a text message, how safe is that data, is there any chance, if it is done through an employer, that the employer will get to see that? we make sure that we have contracts with all employers, that we will never assure information about who is using the service on an individual level or what they are saying, and feed that back to the employer. it is definitely a concern but we are trying our best. thank you very much forjoining us. nice to see you. in a moment we will go through some of your responses to the twitter question about pulling a sick day at work. but 1st: food waste is a big problem in the catering industry. well, ferrandi — a well known culinary school in paris — is teaching students how to cook what it's calling a zero waste menu. let's take a look.

do you know what, i try to do ego cooking, but i should probably first start with just... cooking, but i should probably first start with just. .. cooking, cooking, but i should probably first start withjust... cooking, you know? —— eco—cooking. at the top of the show, we asked you about sickies. let's take a look at how some viewers have responded:

lots of people who are self—employed or freelance are saying, they cannot do it, they simply cannot do it because they directly lose money. the 40% he was referring to was the 40% of people who said they would pull a sickie even if they were not ill, if they just wanted the pull a sickie even if they were not ill, if theyjust wanted the day off work. a whole survey about morals and ethics, and stealing at work came up, one of the things that drives people mad, people stealing from the fridge! it has been known... it is an issue at this workplace... you know who you are. that's it from worklife today. there will be more business news throughout the day on the bbc live webpage and on world business report. we'll see you again tomorrow.

have a great day, see you again. good morning, weather will turn more complicated for the end of the week, we have some rain in the forecast, at the moment, still quite a lot of uncertainties in the position of higher rainfall through the weekend, one thing that is more certain, it will turn much milder. for today, band of cloud here, out towards the west, outbreaks of rain, further east, some clear spells, particularly across east anglia into northern parts of england, cloud will tend to fill in as the morning goes on, some bright skies developing across cumbria, into scotland, north—east of northern ireland, further south and west, cloud and rain, in south—west wales, south—western parts of england, temperatures here are ten or 11

celsius, elsewhere, seven or 8 degrees, quite a brisk south—easterly wind. through tonight, this band of rain will move north, turning quite showery as it pushes into northern areas of england, some clear spells, temperatures staying above freezing, one or two spots above scotland getting close to freezing into friday morning. during friday, first band of rain moving north, bit of rain at times in northern england, few showers here, some brighter weather, but further rain spreads into south—west england, central southern areas and eventually into wales by the end of the day. temperatures will be getting up higher, eight to 10 celsius across southern parts, eight or 9 degrees in the north. into the weekend, complications, we have this area of low pressure moving north, so, the timing and the position of these weather fronts is still open to some uncertainty, but we think we will see rain moving north, across england and wales, into northern

ireland, perhaps not reaching the far north of scotland. by the end of the day, brighter weather across southern parts during saturday, for all of us, temperatures coming up a touch, for many, in double figures. into sunday, the first area of low pressure will weaken, and it will merge in with this area of low pressure, bringing further weather fronts in across south—western areas with stronger wind. again, timing is a little uncertain, as to how quickly this rain moves in across south—western areas, spreading its way across england and wales. many northern and eastern areas may well stay dry for most of the day on sunday. maximum temperatures, eight to 12 celsius.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me annita mcveigh. the headlines: lawyers representing the victims of the sex offender jeffrey epstein say prince andrew should put himself forward to be interviewed by us authorities. he should volunteer to cooperate with law enforcement without any condition and without any more delay. labour will launch their election manifesto this morning — promising the biggest council house building programme in decades. our plan is to build 100,000 council houses by year five every year making sure we have the housing stock we need to the people and families who are struggling at the moment. the number of people being sectioned by police in england and wales is up by a fifth.