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Absence from work cost the UK economy £13.2 billion last year as the average employee took almost seven (6.7) days off sick.

The latest CBI / AXA Absence Survey showed that average absence levels across the public sector stood at nine days, which is 55 per cent higher than the 5.8 day average of the private sector.

The private sector improved its absence levels over 2007, while the public sector stood still. The report claims that £1.4bn of taxpayers' money could be saved if public sector organisations matched the private sector average.

Fake sickness used to extend holidays

The survey also revealed that of the 172 million days lost to absence in 2007, more than one in ten (12 per cent) are thought to be non-genuine.

These 21 million "sickies" cost the economy £1.6bn and two-thirds (65 per cent) of employers think that some staff are using them to extend weekends.

Sixty per cent said that fake sickness was used to extend holiday, and a third of employers (34 per cent) suspect that sickies are used for special events like birthdays and major football games.

Long-term absence (20 days or more) also continued to be a serious concern for firms.

Although only 5 per cent of absence spells became long-term, they accounted for a massive 40 per cent of all time lost, costing £5.3bn.

Long-term absence accounted for half (50 per cent) of all time lost in the public sector, but under a third (31 per cent) in the private sector.

Long-term absence

Susan Anderson, CBI director of HR policy, said that everyone agreed that sick people need time off work, but warned that employers faced two serious and expensive challenges - dealing with bogus sick days, and helping those with long-term illness return to work when they are fit to do so.

She explained that people who awarded themselves sickies to enjoy the recent sunny weather or to extend a weekend away were acting unfairly, leaving their colleagues to pick up their work, and costing taxpayers and employers over a billion pounds a year.

"Those with long-term illnesses need time to recover - nobody expects anyone to be at the office checking their emails the day after a heart bypass. But in many cases, like those involving stress or back pain, firms that keep in touch with employees and offer flexible working have been successful at reducing long-term absence levels,” Anderson added.

She called for a fresh, proactive approach to managing long-term absence that could help stem the flow onto incapacity benefit - which currently costs £12.5bn a year for 2.5m people - and help employers to retain skilled employees, many of whom will find that work can improve their health and outlook.

Carrot and stick policies

"We really have to question if there is a medical explanation for the higher levels of long-term absence in the public sector. Low morale, poor management and a culture of absence are at least partly to blame," Anderson said.

Absence levels varied greatly across organisations, and there were 9.3 days of difference between the best and worst performers.

The survey showed that, while a certain level of absence is both acceptable and inevitable, absence can be managed and reduced through a mixture of 'carrot and stick' policies, like offering medical insurance, health support or flexible working, whilst also having formal absence management processes, such as not paying sick pay for the first three days of absence.

In 2007 the average direct cost of absence was £517 per employee - or 3.1 per cent of payroll - which includes lost production and the expense of covering absence with temporary staff or overtime.

The CBI also estimates that indirect costs, such as lower customer satisfaction, add another £263 per employee per year. When these indirect costs are added to the direct cost, the UK lost £19.9bn to absence in 2007.

Higher absence and unions

The absence gap between manual and non-manual workers continued to narrow, with averages of 7.6 days and 6.1 days respectively.

Sectors with the highest rates included the public sector (9 days) and utilities (7.6 days), while IT, professional services, and hotels, restaurants and tourism recorded the lowest with 4.5, 4.2, and 4 days respectively.

In the public sector, the highest absence rates were found in health/social care services (12.6 days) and police and probation services (9.9 days), while education saw lower overall levels (7.5 days).

Some suggest that higher public sector absence can be explained by organisation size or the prevalence of manual staff, but figures in the CBI / AXA survey show this is untrue.

There were individual examples of superb performance across different types of public sector organisations, which suggests that the right policies can make a difference.

Organisations that recognised trade unions saw three days more absence than in non-unionised workplaces - 8.1 days against 5.1 days.

This correlation between higher absence and unions is found regardless of organisational size, or whether employees were engaged in manual labour.

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