Absence from work in the UK has remained flat since 2010, despite various efforts to reduce the levels of sickness absence over the past few years, according to new figures released by XpertHR.
The study found that the average rate of absence in the UK was 2.8% of working time in 2011, or a median of 2.5%, largely unchanged from the rate in the previous annual study. However, over recent years the general trend has been moving in the direction of decreasing absence levels, down from the average 3.2% of working time registered in 2007.
Apart from looking into time spent off work, the research also estimated the cost of sickness absence. Last year the median was £535 per worker, or £618 on average.
Generally, rates of sickness absence remain higher in the public sector than in the private, but the gap between the two has started to shrink a bit, the research shows. In the previous study the median time spent off work due to sickness in the private sector was 2.4%, compared to 3.5% in the public sector, a gap of 1.1 percentage points. The latest figures show a gap of 0.8 percentage points, as the rates stand at 2.3% and 3.1%, respectively.
Large organisations are more affected by sickness absence, the study suggests. Companies employing more than 1,000 staff see absence rates of 3.1% of working time per employee but the figures fall to 2.6% for businesses with a headcount of 250 to 999 and 2.1% for companies employing up to 249 people.
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