Bosses cough up $2b for sick staff

Sick workers are costing employers more than $2 billion a year, according to a study by health insurer Southern Cross.

But the study shows that the biggest cost associated with workers taking sick leave is not the time off work, but the lost productivity of staff who turn up while sick.

Southern Cross chief executive Peter Tynan said the research offered an insight into the true cost of illness to employers.

The average time off work from illness was 4.2 days a year, while the average number of days on which staff were at work and too sick to be productive was 11.1 days.

"If you assume an unwell employee is half as productive as they normally would be, the cost to employers for a staff member on the average wage is around $900," Mr Tynan said.

That compared with an annual sick days cost of about $700 per employee.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly said employees should be discouraged from turning up for work while they were sick, because they were less productive and could infect others.

"It is a much better idea from a good business practice perspective to get them to go home and come back once they are well."

But many people wanted to work despite being sick, Mr O'Reilly said.

"So it is often quite a difficult management challenge."

The $2 billion cost to the economy was small compared with the national wage bill, but was big enough to require action.

However, for most businesses staff illness was an invisible cost compared with the expense of offering preventive health benefits, such as flu vaccinations or health insurance.

- © Fairfax NZ News