So the Royal Mail has turned itself around. Four years ago, almost 12,000 of its employees were absent at any one time. Since 2004, the group has reduced its absence rates from 7% to 4%, saving it an estimated £227m.
The government now wants the worst offending sectors for absenteeism to replicate the Royal Mail's absence management model, believing that the UK economy could save £1.45bn a year through reduced salary and temporary worker costs, and increased productivity.
But does one model fit all organisations? Would what worked for the Royal Mail really reap the same rewards in the NHS or central government?
Possibly not. For one, the Royal Mail spent £46m on health and wellbeing activities to improve attendance and in the past it has offered employees the chance to enter a draw to win a car or holiday vouchers if their attendance record was 100%.
Not all organisations have access to such a budget or the willingness from their top ranks to invest such a sum in proactively looking after staff.
It's also a question of creating the right culture. However much your organisation spends, unless line managers take charge of managing absence and create an environment where staff want to come to work - as the Royal Mail has also clearly achieved - then absence will continue to be an issue.
I'm with Ben Willmott at the CIPD on this one: "As long as incentives for absence are part of a whole package... they can create a buzz around the importance of managing absenteeism," he said recently.
After all, if the only reason your staff are coming in is on the offchance they might win a car, you need to take a serious look at your work culture.
