Nearly one in five (17%) small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) suffered significant disruption from staff illness and absence in the past year, according to findings from Metlife.
The average cost to businesses of this lack of employee presence amounted to 13% of payroll, the research found.
The survey of companies employing up to 250 staff showed that, on average, of firms which suffered serious illness issues, 22% witnessed staff absences through sickness.
Yet despite the potential impact of sickness absence on SMEs, just a third (32%) said they were able to estimate the cost of absence to their business. Around half admitted they could not, while 18% did not know how much absence was costing them.
