According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the annual cost of sickness absence has climbed to almost £29 billion for UK organisations, according to new figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

British workers take more than four times as many sick days off work than some of their global counterparts, the analysis by the professionals' services firm showed.  At an average of 9.1 days per year, UK workers reported double the amount of sickness absence as US staff (4.9 days) and quadruple that of workers in the Asia Pacific region (2.2 days).  The average for Western Europe was 7.3 days.


PwC's research showed that in UK companies, illness and its associated costs accounted for around 90% (£28.8 billion) of the total absence bill (£31.1 billion).  Other unexpected absences such as compassionate leave and industrial action made up the remainder.  These figures compared to a sickness absence cost of £27.8 billion in 2011, out of an overall absenteeism bill of £32.1 billion.


While UK employees were taking fewer unscheduled absence days overall than two years ago (9.8 days in 2013, compared to 10.1 days in 2011), the number of these days that were due to illness rose over the same period (9.1 days in 2013, up from 8.7 days in 2011).


The survey of 2,500 firms also revealed that technology companies had the lowest level of sickness out of any sector, at 3.4 days.  This was three times lower than public sector workers (11.1 days).  Retail and leisure, and engineering and manufacturing workers were not far behind, taking an average of 9 days and 8.7 days respectively.


"Absence is still a significant drain on British businesses," explained Jon Andrews, HR consulting lead at PwC. "At a time when companies are striving for growth it is vital they address this cost by looking for ways to improve employees' health, morale and motivation.  Allowing greater workplace flexibility could go a long way to helping break the sickness cycle."


"Forward-looking companies will invest in health and well-being services to tack the issue before absence starts to hit their bottom lines," he continued. "This is particularly relevant for start-ups and SMEs, where the cost of absence can be crippling."
Meanwhile, separate absence figures released by the Confederation of British Industry claimed that one in eight sick days were "non-genuine", and a fifth of UK employers believed that staff "took sickies as an occasional perk".