Correo premia a quienes van a trabajar

Britain's Royal Mail service says a plan to cut the number of sick days taken by its staff has been a great success. Workers are rewarded with prizes, including new cars, for turning up at work reliably.

This report from Steve Jackson:

In some countries, taking lots of days off work sick would get you fired and the idea of offering prizes for good attendance would be little more than a joke. But absenteeism has become a big problem in Britain, where the employment laws offer protection to sick workers, but don't enable employers to distinguish between the genuinely ill and those who are pretending.

Last year, British businesses lost more than twenty-two billion dollars because of workers taking days off sick. When the Royal Mail announced a scheme to enter reliable workers into a prize draw, it was greeted with some scepticism. But one year on, the company has proclaimed it a success. Thirty-seven Royal Mail workers have won a car for good attendance and thousands of others have been given vouchers allowing them to take cheap holidays.

Nota: Royal Mail es el nombre oficial del servicio postal británico.

get you fired
resultaría en que lo despidan a uno

absenteeism
ausentismo

to distinguish between
distinguir entre

a scheme
un plan

a prize draw
un sorteo de premios. (Originalmente se ponían los nombres en un sombrero y se sacaba -was drawn out- el nombre del ganador).

greeted with some scepticism
fue recibido con escepticismo

one year on
un año después

proclaimed it a success
lo declaró un éxito

vouchers
vales o cupones