Romania is the country with the highest percentage of companies (40 percent) reporting a rise in applications for sick days last year, according to a report by Health&Benefit, prepared by the Mercer human resource advisory company.
Employers in Poland (33%) and France (31%) also reported an increase in medical absenteeism.
Employees in Bulgaria, Portugal and Norway took the sick leave last year, while those in the United Kingdom and Turkey had the least medical leave.
Some 60 percent of companies participating in the study confirmed that their staff was off an average five or less days a year, 15 percent reported an average 10 or more sick days a year, which is a 3 percent rise compared to 2006.
According to the Mercer report for 2008, which involved over 800 companies in 24 countries, only 42 percent of companies reported they could identify the reason for their employees’ absence, 33 percent indicated they had data on costs relating to employee absenteeism.
Over 70 percent of total work time is lost due to short, frequent absences (less than 8 days), while 27 percent due to long-term absenteeism.
