Absenteeism rate stabilises after five-year increase
Published: 9 July 2007
Each year, the research departments of Securex [1] and SD Worx [2], two government-approved human resource (HR) service providers for employers (sociaal secretariaat van werkgevers/secrétariat social d’employeurs), publish data on sickness-related absenteeism in Belgium.[1] http://www.securex.eu/be/portal/target.jsp?language=EN[2] http://www.sd.be/site/website/be/en/5000A
For the first time in five years, sickness-related absenteeism has not increased in Belgium. According to reports from the human resource service providers Securex and SD Worx, the degree of sickness-related absenteeism has remained steady. However, this general trend hides large differences depending on key employee characteristics. Both studies consider that the costs of this absenteeism are still too high for employers.
Each year, the research departments of Securex and SD Worx, two government-approved human resource (HR) service providers for employers (sociaal secretariaat van werkgevers/secrétariat social d’employeurs), publish data on sickness-related absenteeism in Belgium.
Methodology
The figures are based on the employee data that the two organisations administer for companies. The Securex report 2006 (in Dutch, 1.7Mb PDF) contains data from 24,659 employers and 242,467 employees in the private sector, while the SD Worx 2006 study (in Dutch) reports figures from 461,246 employees belonging to 13,984 private sector companies, including not-for-profit organisations. Both samples are considered as representative of the Belgian economy, excluding the public sector.
Although both studies contain a range of figures, the main results are based on the calculation of absenteeism percentages, that is, the total days of absenteeism multiplied by 100 and divided by the total annual working days. The denominator is the sum of all the days that an employee works in a year plus holidays. Incomplete working days are counted as a whole working day; this means that the work days of people working part time are also calculated as full working days. The total days of absenteeism are all the non-working days related to sickness or caused by a work-related accident. Maternity leave is not included in the figures.
Main results
Although differences exist between the data, both studies show that the sickness absenteeism rate has remained almost static for the first time in five years.
Figure 1: Rate of sickness absenteeism, Belgium, 2002–2006 (% of working days)
Note: Annual percentage of working days lost due to sick leave; the percentages do not include absence related to accidents at work.
Source: Securex and SD Worx
This trend is visible in the overall figures, but more strongly in relation to short-term absenteeism of less than a month. The degree of short-term absenteeism is a more important figure for employers because, according to sick benefit regulations, they have to pay more of the sick leave benefit in the first month of a worker’s absence.
Figure 2: Rate of short-term sickness absenteeism, Belgium, 2002–2006 (%)
Notes: Annual percentage of working days lost due to sick leave; the percentages do not include absence related to accidents at work. The data refer to short-term absenteeism with a duration of less than a month.
Source: Securex and SD Worx
A large difference exists between the Securex and SD Worx data on the proportion of people who have not taken sick leave throughout the entire year. According to the Securex data, 55% of the workers did not report sick in 2006 whereas, in the SD Worx sample, this figure stands at 43%.
Key differences
Besides regional variations, the Securex report shows the following significant differences according to key characteristics.
Women have a higher rate of sickness leave, at 1.15 times the average compared with 0.89 for men, but men have a higher work-related accident rate, with 2.7 times more absence caused by a work-related accident.
Young workers aged less than 30 years have a higher frequency of absenteeism, at 1.2 times the average. The leave duration of older workers aged over 55 years is significantly longer, at 48.2 days compared with the general average of 12.4 days.
Large differences exist between the absenteeism rate of blue-collar and white-collar workers, and between low-wage and high-wage earners: manual and low-wage workers have higher rates of absence than white-collar and high-wage workers. The average sick leave duration of a blue-collar worker is twice as high as that of a white-collar worker.
The degree of absenteeism is higher in large companies than in small companies.
These differences according to sex, age, occupational level and company size are also confirmed in the SD Worx data.
Commentary
Although the rate of sickness-related absenteeism has now stabilised, it is still considered to be both high and costly. Securex estimates the total costs to be €8.2 billion for employers. As a consequence, the two studies recommend that employers should address the issue of absenteeism with new organisational and HR measures. Both organisations offer consultancy services to companies in this regard.
Guy Van Gyes, Higher Institute for Labour Studies (HIVA), Catholic University of Leuven
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2007), Absenteeism rate stabilises after five-year increase, article.
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