Health organisations see rise in sick bill

Sick employees are costing health organisations a growing amount of money, according to a new online calculator.

New figures from the www.costofabsence.com website said an average health organisation with 100 workers lost £82,300 on sickness absence in 2007 which worked out at £832 per employee per year.

This compares with the £77,800 figure for 2006. There was also an increase in the number of days lost through absence in healthcare. This rose from 10.4 days per employee in 2006 to 12.6 days this year.

The website is run by BUPA UK Health Insurance and uses data from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Of the 23 industries surveyed, healthcare had the worst record for absences. Communications lost just 3.7 days per employee a year while IT services lost 5.5 days per employee.

The cost of absences per employee in healthcare was also the third highest. Only the paper and printing industry and construction had higher costs of £1250 and £1036 per employee respectively.

At the other end of the scale, the cost to agriculture was just £235 per employee a year.

Ann Greenwood, director of business markets for BUPA UK Health Insurance, said: “Businesses need to understand the impact that sickness absence can have on them, in terms of their performance, productivity and efficiency, as well as the effect it will have on their employees.

“The figures are likely to be a shock to many companies.”

She said that organisations should offer employees health assessments so potential health problems to be identified earlier and treated sooner.