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AbsenceLatest NewsHR practicePay & benefitsWellbeing

Sickness absence down slightly in 2007

by Nic Paton 13 Jun 2008
by Nic Paton 13 Jun 2008

Slightly fewer days were lost to absence last year, with UK employees taking an average of 6.7 days off each – 172 million compared with the seven days reported in 2006, the CBI/AXA survey said.


The survey, At Work and Working Well?, concluded there was a nine-day difference between the best and worst performing organisations, and that if the worst could be pulled up to the levels of the best, it could save the economy £5.9bn a year.


The direct cost of workplace absence was more than £13bn, rising when indirect costs were included to £20bn, it calculated.


The billions ploughed into the NHS by the government since 1997 appear to have had little effect on workplace health. Just 8% of employers said improvements in the NHS had contributed most to declining rates of absence.


By comparison, 85% thought closer monitoring of absence was the key and 83% cited improved attendance management policies.


More than three-quarters of the employers polled now operated rehabilitation policies, a threefold increase since 2001, with OH, counselling and flexible working the most common services.


While just 5% of absence was long-term, it accounted for 40% of time lost, the survey said.


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Two-thirds of the employers polled believed some absence represented unauthorised extensions of weekends or holidays, and employers felt about 12% of absence was not genuine.


But CBI director of HR policy Susan Anderson also stressed that, while absence needed to be tackled, the underlying issue was often poor management. “There is a strong correlation between a happy organisation and a healthy organisation in absence rates,” she said.

Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consultant editor at Personnel Today. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for Personnel Today and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

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