Time off at a 15-year low but CBI sees rise in staff 'throwing sickies'

Absenteeism has fallen to a 15-year low but employers fear that the improving figures mask a big increase in the number of workers "pulling sickies".

The CBI's annual absence survey shows that firms paid £11.6bn to cover salaries of absent employees last year when the number of working days lost fell 6 per cent to 166 million. But the employers' organisation said that as much as 15 per cent of absenteeism might not be genuine, costing business £1.75bn last year alone.

"Though employers believe most absence is caused by genuine minor sickness, there are serious concerns about the number of staff throwing sickies," the CBI's deputy director general John Cridland said. "There are too many people who will happily spend the day off work at the expense of their employer and their hard working colleagues."

The £11.6bn cost of absenteeism last year compares with a figure of £11.8bn in 2001 and works out an average of £476 per employee. In terms of time lost, last year's 166 million days of absenteeism works out at 6.8 days per employee or 2.9 per cent of total working time – the lowest recorded figure since the survey began in 1987.

Someone is more likely to be absent if they are a manual employee and work in the public sector, in manufacturing, or for a larger company, or live in Yorkshire or the West Midlands. A worker is least likely to be absent if they are engaged in non-manual work in a small, private sector service company in Greater London.

Mr Cridland said that the reason the cost of absence had remained high last year despite the falling level of absence was because of rising labour costs.