The rate of sick leave among employees in the public service has fallen below 4% for the first time.
New figures published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform show the rate has dropped from 4.3% to 3.9% since the introduction of the Public Service Sick Leave Scheme in 2013.
The latest statistics, covering 2015, also indicate the number of days lost to sick leave per Full-Time Equivalent (the hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis) has fallen by one day to 8.5 days.
Meanwhile, the cost of sick leave across the public service stands at €317.9m – a fall of €104.4m since 2013.
The figures relate to over 250,000 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) across the public service and include the civil service and the education, health, justice, local government, and defence sectors.
Despite the falling numbers, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe “the rates of sick leave in areas of the public service remain high and need to be reduced further.
“To achieve this, management in each of the sectors must focus on the proactive management of absenteeism, and policies designed to assist employers in managing cases of prolonged or frequent absence proactively will be required.
The department added that a target for the rate of sick leave will be set with each of the sectors and this will be monitored on an annual basis.
