I think the most important question here is how in the name God a figure of 60million was reached??? If 3,000 workers were out sick for 6 weeks and let’s say for argument they earn a figure of 1,000 per week. That’s 3,000 x 6 x 1,000 = 18m. Even if you double any of my figures its 36m. Love to see their calculation!

The figures don’t compare as in 90% of cases in the private sector we don’t get sick pay. Working for over 15 companies and we never got sick pay.
Pull the plug on sick days and them figures will soon change.

Comparing with the private sector would not be a big help as hospital staff deal with sick people so it is almost to be assumed that staff will be sick more often then an office worker in Google (or The Journal).

As stated above, this is nothing more than a management issue. Staff are liable for their sick days, if they are not genuine there should be some come back. However, if GP’s are signing people off, well, what can anyone do?

This is not a simple story of work-shy public sector staff.

But any chance to put the boot in, eh?

The thing that makes me sad is that people are crying out for the fat to be trimmed from the public sector but as soon as services are threatened with cuts or closures everyone is up in arms.

If you want to cut costs, I’m afraid services are going to be affected – waiting lists will and are currently getting longer. And the quick answer of cutting salaries is a false economy as all that will do is force frontline staff into bankruptcy or send then overseas. A pay freeze would be bad enough but it’s a lot less of a shock than a pay cut. And possibly lower salaries for new starters (not that there are many of those with the recruitment freeze). However, then you will struggle to attract new staff and will have to rely on foreign workers and then you will complain about the amount of Irish training here but going to work overseas.

It’s not an easy question to answer.

According to media reports, absenteeism rates across the HSE are 5% and 2.5% in private sector.

@David I’d imagine cost is something to do with providing replacement cover. Ie. Getting in (probably outrageously expensive) temps

Just a thought – where on earth do they get the rate for the private sector? No-one I know running a business reports attendance or sick days to anyone as far as I know.

I understand your point Pat, but do we really want genuinely sick hospital staff with chest infections and the like heading in to look after sick elderly patients? You may be well able to go to work sick and not affect others, but hospital staff going in to work sick would leave other patients open to further illness, thereby worsening the ailments of those patients attending hospital. Though something does indeed need to be done about it. Genuinely certified sick leave should be the only sick leave permitted. Perhaps have something like permitting 10 sick days, but only paying for the first 3 (due to the nature of the job, infections and the like are quite rampant in hospitals and a staff member in a hospital is more likely to fall ill than in other sectors). Let the other 6 sick days come out of the person’s own salary.

Well said Pat.
Its always softly softly when anything happens around the public service. Regardless of whether its HSE or County Council staff etc, the take the sick pay as glorified holidays, thats a fact.
Go out into towns around the country and its full of public servants who if they have a bit of a hangover can stay in bed and ring in sick. I don’t know how many times I have been out with them and get the “ah we can ring in sick in the morning”.
Living in a bubble, time it was burst and bring people into the real world.

@ Aidan – not all members of the public service are like that though. My partner is a member of the public service and has been for 4 years. She took 3 hours off one evening because she was very sick (about 2 years ago). Other than that, she has never taken any time off for sickness. 2 other colleagues of hers have taken about 2 or 3 days each in the same time period. There is,however, one other person who has taken more than 15 days sick leave every year for 4 years (and whatever else she took in the years before my partner joined the public service).

Sorry Brian I should have qualified that, there are plenty of good people working in the public service, but the % is much too high of those who pull the p**S of too many aspects of whats “normal” in the public service, sick pay been one of those.

@ Aidan – I have to say I agree with you there. It really annoys my partner when she sees people taking the piss. She, like many of her colleagues, ends up trying to take up the slack as a result of others’ laziness. She is constantly telling me about how she doesn’t mind taking pay cuts, she doesn’t mind taking on extra taxes (within a certain amount of course) but she is constantly telling me about how it’s those that do the least that are the very ones complaining about pay cuts and tax increases. Basically, those that are doing the least are the very ones that complain the most and are also the very ones most likely to take the p*ss when it comes to taking days off. Management never do anything about it, and are very reluctant to even consider workplace practice changes as it may affect their own cosy arrangements. This leads to those, such as my partner, ending up being demoralised, stressed and overworked. It’s a management issue basically. Get rid of half the managers, stop linking promotion with length of service and link it instead to performance, and get rid of the system which allows people take the p*ss (incl. not only excessive sick days, but also failure to meet targets or some other measure depending on industry). That would create a far more effective public sector, a cheaper public sector and deliver far more bang-for-your-buck (I hate terms like that, but it’s entirely accurate in this case).

Make sure to tar the entire public sector with the one brush anyway!

Until someone names individuals it is hard not to generalise.

Hi Eoghan, we haven’t been given that specific information, and are currently following up on whether more details are available. Of course, once we have them the story will be updated.
Aoife

thats your perrogative, to give away 5 hours of your labour for free. no one will thank you for that because it is exactly this kind of attitude that devalues the contribution of the average worker. why should anyone be happy to give free labour? also, half day christmas shopping was abolished 2 years ago. I can assure you the majority of the lower paid working force do not take advantage of the sick leave as ‘extra holidays.’ anyway, aside from all that, isnt higher sick leave than average in the healthcare system not a given since the work with sick people?

Gemma – everyone gets sick pay, see citizensinformation.ie “If you are not entitled to sick pay from work you may get Illness Benefit if you have enough (PRSI) social insurance contributions”.

Sean – healthcare costs more each year for a number of reason. Better (more expensive) technology, an ageing population probably being the biggest two – not sick days. Personally, I don’t think the government (of any party) negotiates hard enough with big pharma for better value.

The bigger cost savings are going to come from the top down (executives and pharma contracts).

They did make the point that the absenteeism was concentrated amongst support staff, and considering that I have a strong hatred of most HSE support staff, this article suits me fine.

Sean, what’s your beef with support staff?

Too many, protected by cosy agreements, surrounded by bureaucracy to make themselves feel important, oh and giving the genuinely-needed support staff a bad name.

P.S. Dodging responsibility too.