Photographs: Reuters
Organisations the world over shoulder an enormous cost as a result of employee absenteeism and absence continues to be a key concern for all industry sectors across the globe.
The direct cost of absence is often recorded and reported in annual surveys but the indirect cost, such as paying overtime and calling in temporary staff are rarely reported, yet can exceed the direct costs by as much as 200 per cent.
Let's take a look at some countries where workers fake most sick leaves, according to Kronos Global Absence Survey Report.
...
Indians among workers who fake most sick leaves
Photographs: Aly Song/Reuters
China
Percentage of workers who admit calling in sick: 71 per cent
Global rank in workers faking sickness: 1
Most managers are unaware of what absence is costing their own organisations in lost revenue and reduced profitability.
...
Indians among workers who fake most sick leaves
Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters
India
Percentage of workers who admit calling in sick: 62 per cent
Global rank in workers faking sickness: 2
Worse still, senior managers often do not even have visibility to absence trends and absence levels in their organisation making it difficult to address the underlying cause.
...
Indians among workers who fake most sick leaves
Photographs: Mark Baker/Reuters
Australia
Percentage of workers who admit calling in sick: 58 per cent
Global rank in workers faking sickness: 3
Employee absence comes as result of many things - such as illness, holidays, sick leave abuse, maternity, paternity and parental leave, and stress. And that doesn't include consistent lateness and/or leaving early.
...
Indians among workers who fake most sick leaves
Photographs: Charles Platiau/Reuters
The United States
Percentage of workers who admit calling in sick: 52 per cent
Global rank in workers faking sickness: 4
The hard fact is that when you factor in all the reasons for absence, not just sickness absence, absenteeism can consume as much as 15 per cent of an organisation's payroll.
...
Indians among workers who fake most sick leaves
Photographs: Andy Clark/Reuters
Canada
Percentage of workers who admit calling in sick: 52 per cent
Global rank in workers faking sickness: 5
That figure reflects only the direct costs of paying absent workers, such as salary continuation and benefits payout.
...
Indians among workers who fake most sick leaves
Photographs: Paul Hackett/Reuters
The United Kingdom
Percentage of workers who admit calling in sick: 43 per cent
Global rank in workers faking sickness: 6
The indirect costs of absenteeism - which include replacement costs such as temporary staff or overtime and lost service or production time - can double or even triple that amount.
...
Indians among workers who fake most sick leaves
Photographs: Edgard Garrido/Reuters
Mexico
Percentage of workers who admit calling in sick: 38 per cent
Global rank in workers faking sickness: 7
A survey by human resource consulting firm Mercer indicates that the total costs of all major absence categories, including direct and indirect costs, average 35 per cent of base payroll.
...
Indians among workers who fake most sick leaves
Photographs: Charles Platiau/Reuters
France
Percentage of workers who admit calling in sick: 16 per cent
Global rank in workers faking sickness: 8
The amount of paid leave entitlement could have a direct bearing on the results. Of all the countries polled, France has the most generous annual leave entitlement at 25 days and also the smallest number of employees calling in sick when they are not.
article