In the UK, employees are now taking fewer sick days off work than at any
time since records began, new figures from the Office for National Statistics
(ONS) have revealed.
However, while absenteeism rates appear to be falling, experts have warned
that this could be creating another workforce management problem for employers - a rise in presenteeism – where staff
come in to work even when they in ill health, which can ultimately affect their
own and their organisation's performance.
In Australia, the latest estimates put the price of absenteeism at $6bn
annually, while the cost of presenteeism could be as high as $34bn, according
to a new report by Medibank.
"Sickness absence is in the spotlight because it is something
management can measure, putting individual managers under pressure to reduce
the level of absenteeism among staff - but it leads to increased presenteeism,
especially during a recession," Ksenia Zheltoukhova, a spokesperson for
the Work Foundation, told the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
“Employers have the ability to reduce presenteeism rates, thereby improving
productivity and, in the long-term, generate a positive impact on their
business bottom line,” Dr Matthew Cullen from Medibank Health Solutions said.
As such, to minimise negative effects to businesses, employers should take steps to make staff feel comfortable about taking time off when
they are ill as part of their absence management strategies.
Medibank advise that investments
need to be made in the health of staff, so that employers can reduce
presenteeism rates, productivity and, in the long term, generate an overall
positive impact on business.
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