A third of employers do not record the impact of sickness absence, according to research by industry body Group Risk Development (Grid).
Its research found that of the 69% of respondents that do record the impact of sickness absence, the most popular method was calculating the cost of sick pay, for example statutory sick pay and salary costs (49%).
Following this, respondents favoured calculating the cost of lost time (48%), lost productivity (47%) and indirect costs such as colleagues covering work, learning time and management time (46%). A third (36%) measure direct costs such as for temporary employees and agency fees.
The proportion of respondents recording the impact of absence has increased from 59% in 2023 and 63% in 2022.
In addition, 82% of respondents record sickness absence, a small increase from 80% in 2023, but not as high as 85% in 2022.
The research also found that respondents have found it more difficult to record sickness absence since hybrid workplace has become more commonplace: nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents said working from home can mask sickness absence.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for Grid, said: “Hybrid working has certainly had an impact on employers’ ability to record sickness absence and its impact: the marginal improvements in 2024’s data shows that it looks like employers are making a conscious effort to get better at collecting this data. However, nearly a fifth are still not keeping tabs on the number of days their employees have off work, and nearly 30% of employers are not tracking the impact of sick days; both a prerequisite for managing absence and running an efficient business.
“There is a great deal of value in absence data for those employers which harness it effectively. That means collecting and analysing the raw numbers to identify the staff who are off work now, in order to be proactive in preventing future absence, as well as understanding the impact of that absence. Forewarned is forearmed when it comes to reducing absence.”
