Large workplaces struggle with sickies

Date
    November 29, 2012


Parts of the federal bureaucracy are struggling to rein in the number of sickies staff take.    

Three of the worst offenders - the Tax Office, the Health Department and the Veterans' Affairs Department - have consistently topped the public service's absence rates over the past five years.

 

The median unscheduled leave rate for Australian Public Service agencies in 2011-12 was 11.1 days, the same as the previous year but up from 9.4 days in 2006-07.
Factbox Feeling Crook

Unscheduled leave includes sick, carer's and compensation leave, as well as unauthorised absences.


This year's State of the Service Report noted that, in general, staff in smaller agencies took fewer days off, while those in larger workplaces took more.

The report also found a link between the number of days an employee was absent due to sickness and how engaged they were with their job and their colleagues, though ''this relationship was only minor''.

Among large workplaces (those with 1000 or more staff), those with the highest median unscheduled leave rate were the Tax Office (15.5 days), Health and Agriculture (15.2 each), Veterans' Affairs (15) and Human Services (14.9).

The agencies whose workers took the least days off were Foreign Affairs (8.3), the Bureau of Meteorology (8.6), AusAID (9), Environment (9.3) and the Treasury (9.7).

The Public Service Commission says attending work when genuinely ill raises health and safety concerns for the sick employee and others.    

''On the other hand, high rates of absence are costly and impact on individuals, business units and the organisation as a whole,'' it says.

''Excessive absences often coincide with poor performance, high turnover rates and low organisational commitment.''

The State of the Service Report says government agencies tried many strategies to reduce unscheduled leave, including pay incentives and coaching for managers. However, it said methods that worked ''well in one workplace may not work as effectively elsewhere''.

The Veterans' Affairs Department, which has had a particularly high absence rate over the past five years, used its latest wage agreement to cap the number of sick days staff can take without evidence, such as a medical certificate.

comments so far

        The APS is full of no idea, bullyboy managers. As soon as they address that then the sick leave will drop.      

    Commenter
        Bean
    Location
        Beanville
    Date and time
        November 30, 2012, 7:15AM

        Spot on Bean. Most management are useless, bullying twits. I've seen much the same in the private world too though. Banks are the worst. Larger = more management = more stress and also less productivity.            

    Commenter
        Andy
    Location
        Melb
    Date and time
        November 30, 2012,


        Statistics. How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. First, the headline is misleading. A 'sickie' is a fake 'sick' day. These stats appear to be primarily about sick leave taken legally, under enterprise agreement leave entitlements.
        Second, it is difficult to get in to a doctor (and expensive) in Canberra, every time you have a disgusting cold, but no one wants you in with one. Only a handful of public servants are SES with buckets of money.
        Third, I would like to know if the increasing median age of staff has been factored into these stats (obviously, older persons might have more ailments, but seem to work like trojans on their return).
        Fourth, it is obvious that staff are more able to actually stay at home when sick , as they should, if they work in a larger agency. More like Buckleys in a smaller one. It would be disingenuous to draw the conclusion that smaller agency stats are what should be aimed for. It would also be disingenuous to compare these stats with private sector organisations who have crap leave entitlements.
        Finally, perhaps people are needing more 'mental health days' because they no longer get flex and their Department totally screws them over in relation to Time Off In Lieu (I am looking at you Attorney-General's Department)?    

    Commenter
        Mardi
    Location
        Canberra
    Date and time
        November 30, 2012, 7:42AM


        I'd write something but I'm sick. Joke Joyce. I am a recently retired teacher and sick leave has become a problem. The job demands now for teachers are extreme and I agree that work place bullying is a major problem. So much power has now been placed in the hands of principals that some have begun to think they can get away with anything. I worked in a school where four teachers received workers compensation pay outs because of bullying. Did anything happen to her? Of course not. In spite of the fact that her bullying of staff cost the Department thousands of dollars she wasn't held accountable. Principals appear to be a protected species. I had two years unused sick leave when I retired which I got nothing for. Taking sick leave is a coping mechanism for many. The problem in teaching is that there is a huge shortage of relief teachers and classes often have to be split. Teachers working conditions and job security have changed dramatically for the worse over the last few years. Things will be worse still next year as all principals have autonomy. Recently we were losing fifty percent of teachers within their first five years due to stress etc. those who think teachers have a cushy job and have three months holiday a year are clueless. Teachers get four weeks annual leave, the rest of the school holidays are often used for professional development which is compulsory in the ACT and planning.    

    Commenter
        Pericles Olthwaite
    Location
        Canberra
    Date and time
        November 30, 2012, 8:22AM




 


Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/large-workplaces-struggle-with-sickies-20121129-2ah2r.html#ixzz2DezQaPWT

Public servants taking bludge days, not really news now is it?

BigOl64 wrote on Nov 30^th, 2012 at 10:46am:



Just that that is where they do the numbers, If private ids so much better then why do they have no idea about the numbers on that side of the fence?

With spending the last 18 years on the private side of the fence I would think the numbers are substantially worse in the private sector, a lot not even counted.

People lucky to turn up 2 days a week, people having 3 months or more off per year, people ficticiously working from home.

There is a manager on my current floor who regularly tuns up around 11 am but will be long gone by 3pm.

I know that when I was in the public sector none of that would have been put up with at all.

Every day was accounted for and when the days ran out so did the pay and serious questions started to be asked.