Council tops table over staff sick days

The local authority had the highest absenteeism rate of the 26 councils in Northern Ireland with 15.94 days lost per employee in 2011-2012.

Indicating the figures were ‘disappointing’, Town Clerk Sheila McClelland said: “We have been working hard to reduce the levels of absenteeism amongst our staff and we have not been running away from the issues raised by the Auditor in this report, but council does not want unacceptably high level of absences from a small number of staff to mask the fact that the majority of our employees either turn in a full attendance record or have very little absence from work.

“More recently, over a third of our staff had a full attendance record and a quarter had what we would regard as a relatively low sickness record of five days or less spread right across the year. It would be remiss of us if we failed to recognise or to applaud those positive statistics.

“We have been actively working with our occupational health provider in addition to fulfilling our legal obligations as an employer, to ensure that we try to take a sympathetic and caring approach to staff who suffer ill health, but that has to be balanced with the need to deliver – and to be seen to deliver – value for money to our rate-payers.

“In common with every employer, Council has to be mindful of the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act and it takes its responsibilities seriously in this regard. It relies heavily on the advice of specialist occupational health advisors and endeavours, where possible, to make reasonable adjustments to help staff return to work. In addition the Council’s management team and unions are working together to drive down the number of days lost as a result of sick absence and to bring about a sustained improvement in our absenteeism figures.”

Ms McClelland continued: “It will readily be seen that Carrickfergus Council has not been dragging its heels on the issue of staff sickness records. Not only have we been working to address and improve the situation ourselves, we have also been seeking and taking independent advice. Within the council we have sought to establish a new culture and all our staff are now well aware that, while we will seek to support colleagues who are ill, we will not tolerate any deliberate abuse of the system.

“We believe that we are on the road to tackling the issue but we are far from complacent. Due to the introduction of a revised Sick Absence Policy, we are now seeing significant reductions in sick levels across the organisation compared to previous years and in the past three months, absenteeism levels have significantly reduced compared with the same period in the previous year. We may be disappointed at the findings of the Local Government Audit report but we are resolved to consider carefully its recommendations and welcome those elements which represent learning opportunities. We will continue to review and improve absence policy and procedures, working closely with staff and unions and occupational advisors.”