Public and private sectors — how real are the differences?

The CBI 2013 Absence and workplace health survey argued that there were more substantial savings to be made — more than £1.2 billion a year — if managers in the public sector could bring absence levels there into line with the private sector. Differences in overall absence rates fuel claims like that, or are used to justify hostile comments, like sick leave is “treated as a holiday entitlement” in the public sector.

The CIPD contrasts a figure of 7.9 days in the public sector with 5.5 days in the private sector. ONS shows something similar but says the gap has narrowed over past 20 years, and that the public sector is not uniform. For 2013, 3.4% of hours were lost in hospital authorities or NHS Trusts, 3.0% in central government, 2.7% in local government and 1.8% in the private sector.

But ONS also flags up a range of factors that might have a bearing on public-private differences:

• there are differences in the types of jobs between the two sectors and some jobs have a higher likelihood of sickness than others;

• individuals within the private sector are also more likely to not be paid for a spell of sickness than individuals within the public sector;

• on average, women have more sickness absence than men and the public sector employs a higher proportion of female workers; and

• the analysis only counts someone as sick if they work fewer hours than contracted for. It would exclude someone who is sick and makes up for the lost hours at a later point in the week. Individuals in smaller workforces may be under more pressure to make up any lost hours and these workforces are more prominent in the private sector.

Neither has the public sector been immune to the decline in absence rates. From over nine days per person in the civil service before the 2008-09 recession it fell steadily to 7.4 days at the end of 2013. NHS statistics also show a steady fall from 4.40% in 2009-10 to 4.06% in 2013-14.

Absence rates vary for a number of reasons (see below) which need to be taken into account. For example, the CIPD acknowledges that the public and non-profit sectors are more likely to take a proactive approach to managing absence, using a range of methods to promote good health and attendance.

Private sector employers, by contrast, are more likely to offer private health/medical insurance and alternative health plans and they are also more likely to restrict sick pay — in effect penalising workers for being off sick.

www.cbi.org.uk/media/2150120/cbi-pfizer_absence___workplace_health_2013.pdf

www.wellworkingmatters.co.uk/images/cipd-absence-management-report-2014.pdf