29th March 2010 The new TUC report reveals anything but the ‘truth about sickness absence’

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The TUC report published today is anything but the ‘Truth About Sickness Absence’(LINK: http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-17767-f0.cfm).The small sample of online questionnaires (2,003 of which 42% were students, retired or unemployed) cannot possibly dispute the database of 115,000employees FirstCare covers across the UK.

The truth is that public sector workers have significantly higher sickness levels than similar employees in the private sector. Last year (2009) 9.4 days were lost per employee in the public sector; 21% higher than the 7.7 days in the private sector.

Aaron Ross, CEO of FirstCare says, “There is no suggestion that public sector employees are a ‘bunch of skivers’ but we cannot ignore the high rates of absenteeism.

“The TUC report does nothing to champion the plight of public sector workers; it is undeniable that public sector employees have higher absence rates than those in the private sector.

“Instead of trying to mask this, the TUC should be highlighting the need of large public sector organisations to understand sickness absence. There is always a cause of absence and only when you understand this can you hope to reduce absenteeism.

“Public sector employees need to be given assistance to improve their health from the moment they begin their absence, and in many cases even before, and managers need to be given the tools and support to manage absence more effectively. But it is possible. FirstCare have helped public sector organisations reduce absence by anything between 10% and 40% in first year and these absence rates are proven to be sustainable.”