 | | Karla Thorpe
Director
Compensation and Industrial Relations Research |
Are you too sick to work or sick of working? If so, you’re not alone. The absenteeism rate – that is, the average number of days that employees don’t show up for work – is at the highest level it’s been in the 20 years that the Conference Board has been tracking this measure. Admittedly, the annual number of days lost per worker has only increased by about a day per employee over the last year (from 5.7 days per worker in 2008 to 6.6 days per worker in 2009), but there is still cause for concern.
Absenteeism is high in Canada by international standards. As a point of comparison, data released by Mercer found that the average absenteeism rate in the U.S. is 5.3 days per worker. Survey data in the U.K. showed that the largest proportion of organizations reported less than 5 days absence per worker each year. There are a multitude of factors that are leading to the rising level of absenteeism including our graying population, the ever-increasing proportion of women in the workforce who are managing multiple home and work responsibilities, rising levels of work-related stress, and the increasingly generous leave packages employers are offering as they compete for top talent and try to meet the diverse needs of a broad base of employees.
The implications of absenteeism for Canadian organizations are significant—in terms of both lost wages and productivity. On average, absenteeism costs organizations 2.6 per cent of payroll, which economists estimate translates into $7.4 billion in lost wages to the Canadian economy overall.
Through sound absence management programs, employers have a tremendous opportunity to substantially reduce costs. But the reality is that Canadian organizations are currently ill-prepared to manage this increasing absenteeism among employees. They don’t have a good handle on how many employees are away and more importantly why employees are away from work.
Sound absence management isn’t about making employees punch a clock or account for every hour of every day. It isn’t about making sure employees come to work when they are sick. In fact, the end goal is not to reduce absenteeism to zero. The ultimate goal is to reduce preventable absences. Illnesses that could be prevented through things like better workplace hygiene or not having infectious employees come to work and pass along their germs to others. There are a many other preventable absences that employers can focus on as well, such as reducing injuries on duty and assisting employees with mental health issues.
Encouraging organizations to manage absenteeism doesn’t mean that employers need to crack down on employees. Rather, employers can work to improve their workplaces and strive to have a healthier and more productive workforce.