The average civil service employee took over eleven days sick leave in 2007, resulting in the loss of almost 5 per cent of the total available working time, a report published today by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) has revealed.
The report, based on a survey in 2007, found 59 per cent of all civil service staff availed of sick leave that year at an estimated cost of €64 million. However, the C&AG John Buckley pointed to a recent UK study which suggested the real cost, when knock-on effects are taken into account, could be twice as much.
Nearly one in ten of all days lost were uncertified by a doctor or unauthorised
The report said there was a considerable variation in sick days taken when the pattern of absence by grade, age, gender and work sharing arrangements was analysed.
For example, the average number of days that each employee was out sick ranged from almost five and a half days in the Department of the Taoiseach to nearly 16 days in the Property Registration Authority
Only 42 per cent of staff took sick leave at the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism compared to 76.5 per cent in the State Laboratory.
The report also found female staff accounted for 68 per cent of total days lost with the average woman taking six days more sick leave annually than her male colleague – 14 days compared to eight.
The report stressed legitimate sickness leave is a normal part of employment but insisted civil servant managers need to intervene where it is “excessive and unwarranted”.
The number of days lost in the Irish civil service is comparable to other countries, the report concluded.