SNP urged to get a grip on absenteeism amongst workers

A Parliamentary question lodged by Mary Scanlon has revealed that absenteeism across some Scottish public sector organisations is remarkably high with an average of nine working days lost per full-time employee over one year.

Disclosure Scotland lost a staggering 17.8 days on average in one year, as opposed to an average of 6.4 days annually in the private sector. The Scottish Government previously abandoned a HEAT target to reduce NHS sickness absence rates to 4% by March 2009 after they were unable to achieve it.

Mary Scanlon has now written to John Swinney, calling on the Scottish Government to investigate why the absenteeism rates in these public bodies is so high.

Mary Scanlon MSP said:

"These figures show a worryingly high level of days lost in our public sector organisations. For an organisation such as Disclosure Scotland to have lost 17.8 days on top of very generous statutory holidays is unacceptable, especially when absenteeism is three times higher than the private sector.

"The figures for these organisations vary hugely from 4.5 days lost to 17.8 days and it is important that we understand why there is such a discrepancy. That is why I am calling on the Scottish Government to investigate and analyse these figures to understand the high absenteeism rates.

"It is vital that we also understand how the absenteeism rate is affecting the work carried out by the organisation. Figures have shown that a reduction of just one day in the days lost across the public sector could save up to £69million and during these tough economic times it is more important than ever that we cut costs.

"It may be the case that there is a greater role for occupational health to ensure that employees are not being unduly pressured or stressed at work. For the sake of not only employees, but for our economy, we need to ensure that we get to the bottom of these statistics."

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