International services company Serco is taking steps to reduce the annual £25m cost of sickness absence to its business. The organisation, which employs 30,000 staff in the UK, is going through a tender process for a new occupational health provider. Anne Woolcott, head of employment policy, said: "For the first quarter of this year, people on average have had four days sick." She added that the company wanted to take a more proactive approach and centralise absence reporting.