Sickness continues to hit public sector employers harder than private services sector

The gap between the number of sick days taken in the private services sector and the public sector has reached its widest in four years. Average absence levels in the public sector stand at 10.3 days per employee per year compared to 6.8 days in private services sector, according to the most in-depth annual survey into employee absence from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Stress is one of the leading and growing causes of absence in the public sector with around a half of public sector organisations citing stress as a leading cause of long-term absence for non-manual workers. Meanwhile, more than four in ten public sector organisations say that their stress levels have increased during the past year. Absence levels are highest in local government and the health sector.

Ben Willmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser, believes there are a number of reasons behind high levels of employee absence in the public sector:

ìThere are a high proportion of particularly challenging public facing roles in the public sector such as police, healthcare, teaching, and social services which contribute to higher than average levels of absence.

ìResearch shows that change is one of the biggest causes of stress and there has been a tremendous amount of change in the public sector with employees working within increasingly target-driven and performance managed environments. Employers must consult with staff before making changes and involve them as much as possible in order to help gain their trust and commitment.î

Overall absence levels have fallen to 8.4 days per employee a year (3.7% of working time) down from 9.1 days for the previous 12 months (4% of working time). This is the lowest level of absence recorded by the CIPD since it began surveying absence levels in 2000. The average level of sickness absence in the manufacturing and production sector stands at 8.4 days per employee per year (3.7% of working time) down from 9.2 days for the previous 12 months (4% of working time).

The survey finds annual sickness absence costs have increased by 2.2% but the increase is lower than the previous 12 months when absence costs increased by 3.7% year-on-year. The cost of absence is highest in the public sector at 645 per employee each year, rising to 1060 within the health sector.

The survey of more than 1,000 organisations also finds differences in how the public sector manages absence compared to the private services sector and manufacturing and production sectors. Public sector organisations are least likely out of all the sectors to use disciplinary procedures to manage unacceptable levels of absence, and are also least likely to restrict sick pay. Public sector employers provide occupational sick pay for the longest out of all the main sectors and are least likely to believe that absence is not genuine.

Only a quarter (28%) of public sector organisations take into account attendance records as part of performance measures for individualsí appraisals compared to almost half (48%) of private sector service organisations. However 40% of respondents believe that including employeesí attendance records among performance measures for individualsí appraisals has a positive effect on reducing absence levels, with just 12% saying this has no effect.

Ben Willmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser, says, ìOrganisational culture is also likely to be part of the reason why the public sector suffers higher levels of sickness absence. It also needs to be recognised that there are some uniquely challenging job roles in the public sector that are likely to have higher than average absence levels mean no matter how well the issue is managed. However this research does suggest that public sector organisations could become slightly more prescriptive in how they manage some aspects of absence.

ìThe survey suggests that there is room for improvement across all sectors in terms of reducing absence, despite the fact absence levels have fallen slightly across all sectors compared to last yearís survey. The private services sector, non-profit and manufacturing and production sectors particularly can put more work into developing their flexible working policies to support staff and help them balance their work and home lives.î

Other key findings include:
The highest absence levels are found in the health sector (11.6 days per employee per year), food, drink and tobacco and care services sector (11.2 days), and local government (10.9 days).

The cost of absence has increased to 601 per employee per year from 588 for the previous 12 months. The increase of 2.2% is less than for the previous year when absence costs increased by 3.7% year-on-year.

Musculo-skeletal injuries are the main cause of long-term absence among manual workers, followed closely by back pain, stress and acute mental conditions.

Return to work interviews are seen as the most effective way of managing short-term absence, followed by disciplinary procedures for unacceptable absence and providing sickness absence information to line managers.
The most effective intervention for managing long-term absence is occupational health involvement.

North West workers top the regional absence league with an average of 10 days per year, which compares with a London average of 6.8 days per year and 4.6 per employee in Northern Ireland.

Wales and Northern Ireland have experienced the highest reduction in sickness absence since last yearís survey. Walesí sickness absence has reduced from 10.7 days per year to 8.7 days and Northern Ireland 7.7 days to 4.6 days per employee.

The lowest absence levels are found in IT services (5 days per year), legal and property services (5.2), telecommunications and professional services (5.5 days) and financial services (5.7).

Flexible working is used as a tool for managing absence by 60% of public sector organisations but this figure drops significantly when looking at the other sectors who are more likely to report time off for family/home responsibilities.

Only 18% use attendance bonuses or incentives to help manage short-term absence and this drops to only 12% of organisations when managing long-term absence.