IN A WORKFORCE of some 2.1 million people, each worker is absent on sick leave for an average of eight days each year, according to a recent analysis by the Small Firms Association (SFA). This rate of absenteeism may seem high but it reflects a huge improvement in recent decades. In 1975, each worker averaged 13 days of sick leave. Indeed, the work attendance record here is better now than that of most EU countries.
However, the SFA examination highlighted some notable differences between regions and sectors and between companies of different size. It found that those employed in small companies are far less likely to miss work through illness - the annual average is six days sick leave - than their counterparts in large businesses where the average is 10 days. Cork and the south-east recorded the highest rate of absenteeism and Dublin and the north-west the lowest.
Absenteeism, which is defined as days lost purely through illness, carries a heavy financial cost for the employer and the exchequer. It undermines competitiveness and increases the burden on fellow employees. The SFA estimates that for small businesses the annual cost is €793 million. But when the private and public sector are combined, the annual cost rises to over €2 billion.
Not surprisingly the highest rate of absenteeism - averaging 14 days - occurs in contact, or call, centres where the work involved can be pressurised and repetitive and job satisfaction is often limited. This leaves employees prone to illness. For employers, as the SFA points out, the best way of reducing the problem is by adopting a definite policy response via management training, by promoting employee health and welfare to minimise illness and by tackling the problems associated with workplace stress.
The success of the private sector in lowering absenteeism remains in sharp contrast to some parts of the public sector, most notably the prison service. The high rate of absence by prison officers has been a huge issue for a long time and the Department of Justice has struggled to tackle some clear abuses of the sick-leave scheme by prison officers. More recently, the average number of sick-leave days taken by prison officers has been cut to 21 days from 26, largely thanks to a new system of guaranteed overtime. Nevertheless, the rate of sick leave is almost three times the national average and is higher than the corresponding average in Northern Ireland or British prisons. Clearly, this is an area in which more needs to be done.