Absenteeism in
the Workplace
It was widely reported in the media that only 17% of the police officers in Rome reported
for duty on New Year’s Eve, with the other 83% phoning in sick. This left a marginal
and skeleton staff to patrol the city’s streets where 600,000 gathered to see in the
New Year. The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, posted a Tweet saying, “I read that
83% of police in Rome did not work because of sickness. That’s why in 2015 we will
change the civil service rules.”
A report published in January 2015 by the
consultants, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, suggests
that absenteeism costs the UK economy in the
region of £31 billion, with the cost of sickness
alone equating to £29billion. In other words, sick
days account for over 90% of the total bill for
absence. On average, a worker in the UK takes
9.1 days off sick, compared to 4.9 in the USA,
7.4 in Europe, 7.7 in Russia and 2.2 in Australia.
Sector of the Economy
Number of days lost
through absence
Technology
Other Finance
Chemicals
Pharmaceuticals
Utilities
Banking
Insurance
Services
Communications and
manufacturing
Engineering and
Manufacturing
Retail and Leisure
Public Sector
3.4
6.1
6.3
6.9
6.9
7.4
7.4
8.1
8.3
8.7
9.0
11.1
The report also suggests a large discrepancy
between levels of absence across different
sectors of the economy, with there being three
times as much absence within the public sector
compared to in the technology sector of the
economy.
The latest figures from the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) are from February 2014. They
report that 131 million days were lost due to
sickness absences in the UK in 2013, a figure
which is markedly down from the high of 1778
million in 1993.
From the chart (below), it is clear that the most
common reasons for sickness related absence
are coughs and colds. These generally lead to
short-term illness, perhaps 1 or 2 days and the
employee self-certificates and does not see their
GP. Illnesses such as back and neck problems,
stress and anxiety are less common but lead to
longer-term absences from work.
ONS data shows that on average 960,000 took
sick leave of more than one month during the
period 2010 to the end of 2013. It has been
estimated that employers face sickness benefit
payments of approximately £10 billion and
employees forego earning in the region of £4
billion per year, simply from being sick and
absent from work.
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Absenteeism in
the Workplace
continued
Firms are bound by strict employment legislation
in terms of helping an employee who has been
absent from work in the process of them returning
to their job. If the employee has been on long
term sickness, their GP will need to sign them
back into work, formally stating that they are fit
enough to work. The employer needs to complete
a return to work interview, perhaps establishing
a phased return for the employee.
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Finally, it is not just the police officers in Rome
that might throw a “sickie”. A recent report by
PWC has estimated that 1 in 3 workers in the
UK have admitted to taking a “sickie” or faking
an illness to remain at home. The most common
reasons for this are attending an interview for
another job (26%), being bored with their current
job (26%) and coping with a hangover from the
night before (32%).
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