ISME: Absenteeism costing businesses €540m a year

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association has claimed that absenteeism is costing small businesses €540m every year.

The association said one of its surveys found that workers in the small business sector were taking an average of six sick days every year.

The association also said that companies believed 75% of the reasons given for the absences were false.

ISME said failure to introduce measures to tackle absenteeism would erode competitiveness in the small business sector and undermine companies’ ability to flourish.