Stress is big reason for Shropshire Council absences
Thursday 4th August 2011, 12:05AM BST.
Stress-related problems again featured prominently in reasons for sickness absence at Shropshire Council, latest figures show.
A report to an authority watchdog on staff sickness and absenteeism said stress, along with musculoskeletal and respiratory system problems, accounted for more than half of sickness absence in 2010/11.
It shows sickness absence at Shropshire Council fell slightly, from an average of 8.82 days in 2009/10 to 8.41 days in 2010/11. Musculoskeletal is a term used to describe strains, sprains and overuse problems affecting the body’s muscles, joints and nerves.
The report says: “Long term and short term sickness remains evenly split, as it has done for a number of years.
“The concentration of effort and resource remains on addressing long term sick cases, as this provides the greatest potential for reducing the overall figures. The three top reasons for sickness absence remain musculooskeletal, respiratory system and stress, with the proportion of absence attributable to these reasons remaining static.
“These three reasons account for over half of total sickness absence. Overall there was a decrease in time lost across all three categories of sick absence.”
The report says that in terms of comparison with other local authorities there is no longer any reliable data which can be used for benchmarking purposes.
Workers in the public sector took an average of 9.6 days off sick a year, three more than employees in private firms, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
The cost of public sector absence was almost £900 per worker every year, £300 more than the average across the workplace, the study of employers found.
More than one in three firms said stress-related absence had increased in last year.
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