Latest Sickness and Absenteeism Research (July 2005)

CIPD 5th Annual Employee Absence Survey

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) fifth annual Employee Absence survey of 1,038 organisations highlights the growing divide between public vs. private sector performance. Average absence levels records show absence rates of:

10.3 days per employee per year in the public sector
6.8 days per employee per year in the private sector

Highest absence rates are in the:

Health sector (11.6 days per employee per year)
Food, drink and tobacco and care services sector (11.2 days)
Local government (10.9 days).

Nine in ten organisations report that absence is a ‘significant’ or ‘very significant’ cost to the business. Half of public sector organisations cite stress as a leading cause of long-term absence for non-manual workers and 40% report that stress levels have increased during the past year.

Causes cited for this include:

Staff working in difficult public facing roles (e.g. police, healthcare, teaching, and social services)
Workplace change (public sector now target driven and performance managed)
Musculoskeletal injury including back pain continue to be a major concern
Musculoskeletal injuries have overtaken back pain as the number one cause of long-term absence among manual workers during the last 12 months. Stress has also jumped up one place and is now the third-ranked cause of long-term absence for manual employees.
Stress and back pain are the top two causes of long-term absence among non-manual employees.
For manual workers, the biggest causes of short-term absence in rank order are: back pain; musculoskeletal injuries; stress; and recurring medical conditions.
For non-manual employees, stress, recurring medical conditions and back pain are the top reasons for short-term absence.

Some good news is that overall absence levels have fallen from:

9.1 days per employee a year (4% of working time) – 2004 to
8.4 days per employee a year (3.7% of working time) - 2005

and a slower rise in the costs associated with sickness:

The cost of absence has increased to £601 per employee per year from £588 for the previous 12 months.
The cost of absence is highest in the public sector at £645 per employee each year, rising to £1060 within the health sector.