April 26, 2002—While UK workplace absence has fallen to its lowest level for 14 years, the annual cost to employers has risen by more than 1bnthe highest for five years.
According to the survey by the CBI and PPP healthcare, the number of working days lost between 2000 and 2001 fell by 16 million, which is equivalent to 7.1 days per employee or 3.1% of total working time.
However, the average cost of absence to UK business rose from 10.7bn in 2000 to 11.8bn in 2001. Susan Anderson, CBI director of Human Resources Policy, said: “Concerns about job security and better absence management led to a fall in days lost but firms say costs increased. There are greater competitive pressures and, with less slack in their operations, providing cover is likely to mean extra spending on overtime or temps.
The survey, in which 746 organizations took part, showed that in the public sector an average 10.1 days were lost, compared with 6.7 in the private sector. The public sector employs 27% of the workforce but accounts for 32% of the total cost.
Organizations employing less than 50 lost an average of 4.5 days per employee, while firms employing over 5,000 lost 9.6 days. There was no correlation between a certain region and absence though.
Dudley Lusted, PPP healthcare’s director of Corporate Healthcare Development, commented: ” With sickness absence costs on the rise organizations—especially larger ones with a predominance of manual employees—still have plenty to gain from improving absence management.
—Jessica Jarlvi
Reprinted with permission; copyright 2002 i-FM
