Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

HR practiceSickness absence

Why is public sector sickness absence worse than the private sector?

by Ross Bentley 29 Nov 2005
by Ross Bentley 29 Nov 2005

Official government data, published last week, showed that staff sickness in the civil service cost the taxpayer £400m in 2004 with an average of 9.1 working days lost per member of staff, compared with 10 in 2003.


Across Whitehall, the Cabinet Office was the best-performing department with just 3.6 working days lost while Revenue & Customs had the worst record for staff sickness absence, with 12 days lost.


“There are still pockets in the civil service where absence levels are too high,” said Ben Willmott, employee relations adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), who says public sector absence levels compare unfavourably with the private sector, calculated to stand at 6.7 days lost, according to the CIPD.


At the Health and Safety Executive, Mark Dempsey has been studying the issue for more than a year.


He is secretary to a ministerial taskforce into health, safety and productivity headed by Lord Hunt at the Department for Work and Pensions, and involving representatives from a wide range of public sector organisations including the Treasury and the NHS.


The taskforce has identified some key areas where absenteeism in the public sector can be tackled.


Dempsey believes to effectively confront the problem of absenteeism, it is vital there is commitment from top-level managers. Unless this is achieved, nothing serious can ever be done about absenteeism levels that may, in part, be the result of an entrenched workplace culture.


Instilling good management practice throughout government departments is also vital in reducing absence levels. A good manager, said Dempsey, will create an atmosphere where staff are less likely to want to stay away.


“They should motivate staff, make them feel valued, support people when they are off and be able to approach difficult conversations in the right way,” he said.


There is also a need, according to Dempsey, for government departments to have better systems in place to collect and measure absence data, so that patterns of behaviour and problems with both individuals and managers can be identified as early as possible.


This point is picked up by Sarah Brown, a senior associate at Mercer HR Consulting’s health and benefits unit, who says studies of long-term absence situations show staff start to lose engagement with organisations after having been off work for three weeks.


This means organisations must intervene as early as possible to offer support and advice to absent staff, she said. These interventions are especially important when employees are absent because of musculoskeletal disorders and stress, complaints that tend to reoccur, said Brown.


She advises in these cases that staff are put in contact with occupational health functions at an early stage.


“By acting early, long-term absenteeism can be lessened, as can the expense and emotional impact related to the problem,” she said.


In this instance, public sector organisations can learn from the private sector, said Willmott, who cites the Royal Mail as an example.


The organisation’s well-publicised success in cutting absence levels was attributed to a number of initiatives including reducing the time before absent staff were referred to occupational health from three weeks to two while stress and muscular injuries are now referred on day one.

Avatar
Ross Bentley

previous post
Directors group slams plans to abolish OFR rules
next post
Companies feel weight of pensions responsibility

You may also like

Employment law changes for 2022 and beyond: update...

1 Jul 2022

Four-day week: what are the legal considerations for...

28 Jun 2022

More health professionals to be able to certify...

10 Jun 2022

Wizz Air boss angers pilots with comments on...

10 Jun 2022

Sickness absence rate in 2021 was highest in...

8 Jun 2022

NHS trust discriminated against nurse with migraines

7 Jun 2022

Right-to-work: first digital identity check providers revealed

6 Jun 2022

Bank holidays: six things employers need to know

5 Jun 2022

Does a four day week work? Charlotte Lockhart...

1 Jun 2022

Top 10 HR questions May 2022: Bank holidays

1 Jun 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+