Sickies on rise in public service as crackdown ordered

    STEFANIE BALOGH
    The Australian
    December 30, 2013


FEDERAL public-service chiefs have been warned to crack down on excessive sick leave as the Abbott government puts them on notice over rising levels of absenteeism.      

The rate of unscheduled time off in the public service, which includes sick, carer's and compensation leave, grew by half a day last financial year compared with the previous 12 months.

Staff at the mammoth Human Services Department took an average of 16 unscheduled days off for the year, while ComSuper workers had an average of 13 sick days.

Senator Eric Abetz, the Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, said "taxpayers are entitled to expect that their money is spent efficiently and effectively, with minimum waste on excessive sick leave".

"Managing unscheduled absence is a critical issue for the Australian Public Service and is being addressed at the highest levels of the service," Senator Abetz told The Australian. "Where agencies or departments have problems in this regard, agency heads should be taking steps to reduce sick rates."

But unions have warned that the Abbott government's election policy to further squeeze numbers in the public service could result in increased sick days.         

Earlier this month, the Australian Public Service Commission updated its online advice for "promoting an attendance culture", saying "over the past five years, there has been an increase in the median rate of sick leave and total unscheduled absence rates in the APS".

It said that unscheduled leave - such as taking a "sickie" -- had historically been the most prone to abuse.

The State of the Service Report revealed there had been an increase in absentee rates of 0.5 days for unscheduled leave last financial year compared with 2011-12, bringing the average to 11.6 days per employee across the 167,000-strong workforce.

Sick leave rates also increased, from 8.5 days to 8.6 days last financial year.

Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood does not believe there is a culture of sickies.

"We've seen a 1.1 per cent increase in public-service sick and carer's leave in 2012-13 - considering the reduced staff and increased workload, that is a modest increase," Ms Flood said.

The highest average number of sick days were at ComSuper, with 13 days; Human Services, at 11.8 days; and the Australian Research Council, 11.6 days.

The figures for unscheduled absence - which combines all personal leave including sick, carer's, bereavement, compassionate compensation and unauthorised leave - show the Australian Commission for

Law Enforcement and Integrity with 19.9 average days per employee, 18.9 days for those at Safe Work Australia, 15.3 days for Australian Taxation Office staff and 16 days on average for employees at the Human Services department.

"It's no surprise that the Department of Human Services has the highest sick leave considering they've cut 1550 jobs while staff are taking an extra one million calls a year. You do the maths," Ms Flood said.      

"If you look at where there are high rates of leave, staff with tough jobs, dealing with Centrelink clients or working in call centres have higher rates of leave because of the pressures of that sort of work."      

The Queensland Auditor-General Andrew Greaves last year found the annual direct cost of unplanned absence in the Queensland Public Service was $509 million in 2010-11, "with estimates of indirect costs, such as lost productivity, running at up to three times direct costs, unplanned absence could be costing closer to $2 billion annually".

In Victoria, a recent report on the management of unplanned leave in emergency services said "Victoria's State Services Authority estimates that in 2011-12 the direct cost of sick and carers leave was $605.9m across the Victorian public sector".

The Abbott government went to the election with a policy to reduce the public service headcount by 12,000 over two years through natural attrition.

Asked if the uncertainty over the federal public-service cuts was weighing on workers, Ms Flood said "we do have concerns that with staff cuts and increasing workloads you may see increased rates of illness".

"If the government really wants to address this issue, it's going to have to tell people you will wait a lot longer at Centrelink and Medicare.      

"We don't have enough staff to do the work ... it's going to have to be honest that we are doing less inspections at airports and ports in border protection because we have less staff."

The biggest increases in unscheduled leave were at the Australian Skills Quality Authority, with a jump of six days.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency had an increase of 5.7 days, and Safe Work Australia's leave was up 4.8 days.

In all, 58 agencies reported an increased in unscheduled absences in 2012-13 but 38 agencies achieved a reduction, including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, down by 4.5 days; the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, down by 3.2 days; and the Fair Work Commission, which had a reduction of 3.1 days.

But unions have warned that the Abbott government's election policy to further squeeze numbers in the public service could result in increased sick days.      

Has Frances seen this? 

Peter Freedman wrote on Dec 30^th, 2013 at 8:03pm:



Introduce stress leave and more people get sick ... simple really 

ian wrote on Dec 30^th, 2013 at 8:47pm:




Obviously not in the public service then.

I just had 15 days off - that brings my average with this employer to two days per year.

Innocent bystander wrote on Dec 30^th, 2013 at 9:22pm:


Shoulder re build - I was meant to have 6 weeks off but talked the Dr into 3 weeks.

Innocent bystander wrote on Dec 30^th, 2013 at 9:32pm:


I handed in over a year and a half of sick leave on full pay when I left the PS with an average sick leave about the same or a bit less than now.