Benefits October 23, 2000

Unscheduled Absences Cost $610/Employee Annually

October 23, 2000 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Unscheduled employee absenteeism cost employers $610/employee last year, up slightly from $602 a year ago, despite a drop in the average rate of absenteeism to 2.1%.
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The CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey found that on average:

  • 41% of employees take zero to two paid unscheduled absences a year
  • 43% use three to eight days
  • 13% take nine or more days

The list of reasons for unscheduled absences includes:

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  • 40% – personal illness
  • 21% – family issues
  • 20% – personal needs
  • 14% – employees’ entitlement mentality
  • 5%  – stress.

On average, companies spend 1.3% of their payroll for unscheduled absences each year, while 2.6% is set aside to pay for absenteeism.

Over half (51%) of employers allow employees to carryover unused sick days from one year to another.  Seventeen percent will allow employees to donate unused earned days to a leave bank for a co-worker’s catastrophic illness.

Overall, the survey found that employees are granted 8.8 sick days per year, and, on average, used 4.7 days. 

Just 19% believe that absentee rates will improve over the next two years.

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