IRISH EMPLOYERS are losing more than €830 million a year as more than one in five workers admits taking sick leave for “personal reasons”, according to a new Europe-wide survey.
The Aon Consulting survey says more than 20 million hours of work time are lost each year due to time falsely claimed as sick leave “and the associated costs are probably conservative figures, considering the number of people who don’t admit faking sickness”, according to Aon’s Gary Fearon.
The results were found as a part of the European Employee Benefits Benchmark, a survey that included more than 7,500 workers from across 10 of the leading economies in Europe. More than 500 Irish employees were surveyed.
The French are the most likely to take a “sickie” with just 34 per cent saying a genuine physical or mental illness was the reason for their absence. The Spanish are close behind at 37 per cent.
The Irish had 51 per cent of those surveyed claiming their absence was legitimate, fractionally behind the British at 52 per cent.
Other causes of “sick leave” were the need to take care of a family member or conflicts and stress in the workplace.
The workers least likely to take unofficial time off were the Danes, with 78 per cent saying they were actually ill on those days they did not attend work. The Germans (76 per cent) and the Swiss (73 per cent) were the next most honest employees.
Across Europe, just 28 per cent of workers claim to have taken no sick leave in the past year. The most common period of absence, including legitimate sick leave, is between two and three days a year (30 per cent), followed by 16 per cent of people who take a week off.
Across Europe, the survey suggests that rogue sick leave could potentially be costing employers as much as € 40 billion per annum.
The study says the factors most likely to persuade workers to take less unauthorised time off include the benefit of “social days” allowable for non-medical personal reasons and the provision of flexible working.
