Absence management

More companies are reporting an increase in long-term absence, with two fifths seeing a rise, and a fifth seeing a fall, the largest increase in five years, a report has found.

Among British small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) 23% do not have an absence management system in place, research from Jelf Employee Benefits has found.

The average level of employee absence has fallen by a day to 6.6 days per employee in the last year, nearly a third report that rates have been affected by caring responsibilities, research has found.

Employees with high levels of stress have almost double the amount of absenteeism and more than twice the amount of Presenteeism, with 53% blaming stress levels on inadequate staffing.

Unison has criticised the government's "obsession with absence rates" after national statistics were published showing the number of absences per year had dropped by 40% since 1993.

The average number of days lost to sickness absence has fallen by almost 40% since 1993, dropping from an average of 7.2 days per worker to 4.4 days in 2013.

Replacing staff with above average salaries in some sectors can cost as much as £30,000 per employee, according to a new study.

Tighter sanctions should be considered for employers who do not cooperate with the government's Health and Work Service, despite plans for it to remain voluntary, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says.

UK employers suffer almost one million long-term sickness absences each year, according to official government statistics released today.

Employees off work due to temporary workplace disability could be reduced by one million across the EU through early intervention techniques, according to a Work Foundation report.