This is according to a report released by software company CAM Solutions on Monday.
The statistics for the report were generated from information on the sick certificates of more than 180,000 employees in 60 local businesses, over a period of one year.
“The absenteeism rate of employees in the mining industry is 3.1 percent, in the medical industry it is 2.8 percent and local government employees have an absenteeism rate of 2.7 percent,” CEO Johnny Johnson said.
In the financial services sector, the absenteeism rate was 1.7 percent, “one of the lowest in the report.”
The absenteeism rate was calculated by dividing the number of days employees were absent by the number of days they should have been at work.
Johnson said absenteeism in the mining industry was most likely high due to the severe conditions in mines, as well as strict health and safety regulations which applied to mining employees.
“Miners have to take sick leave if they are too sick to work underground, as conditions below ground can be gruelling.”
Sectors such as financial services usually had lower levels of absenteeism because they employed more skilled workers, who in turn earned more than their blue collar counterparts.
“The usual trend is the lower the salary, the higher the absenteeism rate,” Johnson said.
Over the limit
Sick absenteeism should be about 1.5 percent – which meant that for every 250 working days per year, the average employee should take 3.75 days off sick.
“Most South African companies have an overall absenteeism rate of between 2.0 percent and 6.0 percent — way over the acceptable limit.”
Gillian Lumb, a director in the Employment Law Practice Area at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr business law firm, said that better management of absenteeism by South African employers was critical.
“Employers need to use the provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which allow for unpaid sick leave if employees are absent on more than two occasions in an eight-week period (or for more than two consecutive days) and if they fail to produce a medical certificate.”
She said the employer should also interrogate the medical certificates received from employees and if necessary take disciplinary action where medical certificates were fraudulent.
According to Lumb, a lesser used provision of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act was section 22(6) which enabled an employer to agree with an employee to reduce the pay which the employee received for sick leave by up to 25 percent.
“In other words the employee is paid 75 percent for sick leave, if the sick leave entitlement is extended accordingly.
“If an employer makes use of this provision, this can encourage employees not to take as much sick leave as they will not be paid in full for the sick days taken.”
Lumb said every employer should put in place clear, written procedures relating to absenteeism.
“For example, an employer could require employees to call in by a set time prior to their absence, contact a named person and inform the person of their absence from work, the reason for the absence and the likely duration of the absence.
“Disciplinary action should be taken against employees who fail to comply with these provisions,” Lumb said.
There were also those employers who offered attendance bonuses to incentivise employees to attend work and in this way reduce absenteeism.
Around 43.5 percent of employees never take sick leave, according to the report.
“This percentage could easily be increased if the right systems are put in place,” Lumb said.
