A survey by IBEC, the business and employers organisation, has shown that absence in Irish workplaces is estimated to cost businesses about €1.5 billion a year. According to the report, 14 million workdays are lost every year in total, or approximately 7.8 days per person employed.
The study of 557 organisations is contained in IBEC’s new ‘Guide to Managing Absence’. It reveals that the average absence rate in Irish firms is 3.4 per cent. However, almost a third of companies have a rate of 4 per cent or more. Non-attendance due to illness is more prevalent in manufacturing than in the services sector. Moreover, absence rates are highest in large enterprises with rates of 4.6
per cent for those employing more than 250 employees, 5.7 per cent for those with 50 -249 employees and 2.4 per cent for companies with less than 50 staff.
The main cause of short-term absence cited for both males and females is minor illness. However, almost a quarter of the organisations surveyed stated that many male absences were not due to genuine ill health. Some 12 per cent of companies cited alcohol and alcohol-related illness as being a cause of short-term absence for males, while the figure is 4 per cent for females. The study also found that some 40 percent of short-term absence occurs around the weekend.
Commenting on the IBEC study, director Brian Geoghegan said: ‘Absence is a serious social and economic issue. Besides its obvious impact on particular workplaces, absence affects the wider economy through loss of potential output and the increased spend on social security. Whilst not all absence can be eliminated, there is significant room for improvement where absence rates are
high, or even at average levels’.
IBEC defines absences as ‘unscheduled disruption of the work process due to days lost as a result of sickness or any other cause not excused through statutory entitlements or company approval’.
www.ibec.ie
13/12/04
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