Days and working time “lost”

The organisations listed above have published recent reports suggesting an average of “days lost per worker” ranging from 4.4 days per year to 8.7. They show the proportion of total working time lost ranging from 2.0% to 4.06%. These are average or mid-point (median) figures and there is considerable variation by job, gender, age or other factors.

For example, the CIPD Absence management 2014 report put the average number of days lost per employee per year at 6.6 and average working time lost per year at 2.9%. However, it also notes that there is considerable variation across organisations, with some reporting extremely high levels of absence. The report is based on replies from 518 organisations across the UK covering 1.4 million employees, but the absence statistics are based on 342 responses: “Extreme” cases have been left out (“trimmed”) to avoid skewing the results.

The EEF Sickness absence survey 2015, put average absence levels at 5.1 sickness absence days per employee per year or 2.2% of working time, based on responses from 345 manufacturing companies — 82% of these were small to medium employers with up to 250 employees.

The Local government workforce survey 2012-13, published by the Local Government Association (LGA), and based on responses from around 100-150 authorities, put average absence at 8.7 days lost per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee and 3.7% of days lost due to sickness overall.

www.cipd.co.uk/research/absence-management-survey.aspx

www.employeebenefits.co.uk/Journals/2015/06/18/EEF-Jelf-Sickness-Absence-Survey-2015-415003.pdf

www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/11627/Workforce+Survey+2012-13+report+FINAL.pdf