Sickness leaves started to rise again (+ 11%) in the local authorities in 2014. The agents were most often absent for “Ordinary Illness”.
Since January 1, 2014, the sick leave day for public officials has been abolished. Consequently, any sick leave having started after this date remains subject to the remuneration of the 1st day of leave. An “inflationary” policy will say some on readinga study (1) led by the Sofaxis broker published this Friday. It shows that the absenteeism rate in local authorities is increasing and amounted to an average of 8.7% in 2014.
Illness, the first factor in absenteeism
Generally speaking, illness is the most common cause of quitting. It concerns the greatest number of agents. Ordinary illness, the maximum duration of which is one year, represents the main factor of absence for health reasons and accounts for 48% of the absenteeism rate overall.
In 2014, the frequency of stops reached 65 stops for 100 agents. Ordinary illness is the main contributor and represents 83% of all absences, i.e. 54 stops per 100 agents, against 48 in 2013.
After declining in 2012 and 2013, the frequency of outages increased significantly, by more than 11% in 2014.
As a result, out of the 42% of staff absent at least once in 2014, 31% of them were because of ordinary illness (6% for work-related accidents, 3% for long-term illness and 2% in maternity ). A figure increasing by more than 4%.
The duration of sick leave increases with age
Main cause of absence, sick leave is not the one that lasts the longest. In fact, the average length of absence is 37 days, all types of leave combined. The ordinary illness represents only 22 days on average (23 in 2014), against 222 days for the most serious type of illness, that is to say the long illness for which the maximum duration of treatment is three years. .
In more detail, the authors of the study note that age has an important influence on the duration of absences. Thus, the more the agents advance in age, the more the duration of the stops tends to lengthen. Finally, if absences for ordinary illness are shorter, “they pose a risk for the community faced with frequent short breaks which are by nature unpredictable and repetitive”, explains Sofaxis.
The significant impact of absences on the budget
In fact, the average cost of absences per employee employee stood at 1,921 euros in 2014, all types of stoppage combined. Ordinary illness represents 45% of this average cost (or 873 euros), followed by long illness (28%, or 533 euros).
The average cost of an ordinary sick leave is 21,428 euros based on an average salary and can reach 137,517 euros for long-term leave. And on this subject, it is the assumption of responsibility for medical expenses which entails a direct budgetary impact on the community, but also indirect costs (replacement, reassignment, work overload, stress…).
“Economic studies on the subject emphasize that the latter represent a financial commitment several times greater than that of direct costs,” even underline the authors of the study.
Finally, the overall financial impact of absences varies according to the workforce employed by the communities. The amount can vary from 380,000 euros for a municipality of 220 agents to more than 6 million euros for a region of 3,500 agents.
(1) The population concerned by the study includes a sample of 376,815 agents affiliated to the CNRACL, spread over 18,291 insured communities, for all types of sick leave (ordinary illness, maternity, long-term illness / long-term illness, accident of job). The field of study is made up of all the work stoppages declared between 2007 and 2014.
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