Sick days costing firms over €500,000 a year

Sick days are costing Irish companies more than half a million euro a year, it emerged today.

Yet almost 65% of the state’s top employers do not add up the financial cost of absences.

A new survey has found that minor illnesses are recorded as the cause of the bulk of lost days at 33.2%, with home responsibilities and back pain each accounting for 10%.

Stress, accidents at work, problems with management, and alcohol resulted in less than 9% of all days off between them.

In total 72 companies, representing more than 100,000 Irish employees, were questioned for the survey, carried out by Mercer HR Consulting. It included the manufacturing, ICT, pharmaceutical and financial services sectors.

It revealed:

* 26% of respondents estimate the cost of absence to be in excess of €500,000 per annum

* 65% of organisations do not calculate the cost of absence to their business

* 90% of companies surveyed revealed that recording of absence was the number one tool in combating absence levels

* 20% of organisations reported absence levels of over 6% per annum

* 45% of managers with responsibility for managing absence receive no training in the area

* 41% of managers with responsibility in the area have no formal targets

“Reporting and measurement of absence plays a very effective role in reducing absence levels, however many companies take a casual and sporadic approach to absence management and fail to actively manage a major cost driver,” said Kevin Kinsella, of Mercer HR Consulting.

“The introduction of a range of simple measures such as; absence reporting, early interventions on health issues, the provision of health insurance and the provision of support and training for line managers, can however, dramatically reduce absenteeism levels.”

He added while senior managers are aware absence management is an issue for their business, very few companies are taking an appropriate, strategic approach to reducing absenteeism in their businesses.