John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 7: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the steps he will take to reduce the number of sick days taken by officials in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30977/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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In 2004, the total number of sick days recorded in my Department, in respect of a total workforce of approximately 4,730, was 6.6% of the potential working days in the year. It was also 6.6% in 2003. The average number of sick days per employee was 13.5 working days, down from 13.6 days in 2003. Some 92.4% of the total number of sick days in 2004 were covered by medical certificates while 22.7% of the Department staff took no sick leave during the year and, overall, 38.8% took less than two days.

A considerable proportion of the total number of sick days in 2004 was accounted for by a small number of staff who were on long-term sick leave in the year. Some 22% of all the sick days were accounted for by 74 staff who were on sick leave for at least six months in 2004. When the sick leave for these staff members is factored out, the average number of sick days per employee was 10.5 working days, down from 10.7 days in 2003.

As a general rule, the cases of employees who have been on sick leave for approximately six to eight weeks are referred to the chief medical officer for the Civil Service for review. The CMO plays a crucial role in advising the Department on employee fitness for work from a medical perspective. In these situations, the employee is required to provide a detailed medical report for the CMO. In certain circumstances, the CMO may request the staff member to attend for medical examination.

My Department has identified the issue of addressing and minimising absenteeism as one of the priorities of its human resources strategy. This is of vital importance in ensuring that the Department provides a high quality service to its customers. It is also recognised that absenteeism increases the workloads of staff who have to provide cover for absent colleagues, particularly in areas working under considerable pressure.

My Department has developed, through its partnership process and in consultation with unions and staff associations, a comprehensive attendance management policy, aimed at addressing the issues arising in the context of sickness absence in an effective and balanced manner.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The policy was circulated to all members of staff in June 2005. The production of the policy fulfilled a key commitment in my Department's action plan under the Sustaining Progress national agreement. The policy re-states and clarifies the existing practices but also contains a range of initiatives, based on research and feedback, which, taken together, have the overall objective of managing attendance so as to foster an attendance culture.

A key principle of the policy is that everyone in the Department has both rights and responsibilities regarding attendance. It recognises that the vast majority of absences are entirely legitimate and that it is crucial that people who are ill should not feel under pressure to attend work. However, it also emphasises that both managers and staff have a responsibility to discuss attendance issues in a constructive and fair manner. The policy also recognises that good practice with regard to attendance is already in evidence in the organisation and it is important to build on this.

In its policy, the Department acknowledges that attendance is a multi-faceted issue and that to maximise attendance it is necessary to promote a positive working environment, to inform and advise staff on health and lifestyle issues and to minimise work-related stress. This is being done by implementing a diverse range of measures in areas such as health and safety, health promotion and stress management, provision of a wide range of work-life balance arrangements and improved communication and consultation methods across the organisation.

Progress on the implementation of the policy will be reviewed by the Department's management committee and the partnership steering committee and updates will be communicated to all staff. The management of attendance through the implementation of its attendance management policy will continue to be a key priority of the Department's human resource strategy.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I thank the Minister for his answer. Will he accept that the sick leave rate in his Department is relatively high within the public service outside of the Prison Service? One of the factors to explain this might be the fact that Department staff must deal with the public, who themselves are sometimes in distressed states, which would cause the staff a great deal of stress.

What support structures does the Minister feel confident exist already, and what structures is he considering putting in place which would help minimise worker stress levels which result in this level of sick leave in his Department? Is there any general discussion among his officials with regard to tackling the levels of sick leave, which seem to be static over the past few years?

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The sick leave figures in the Department are high when compared across the Civil Service. The best reason I can offer is that of the 4,730 staff, many of them are front-line staff dealing sometimes with very difficult situations in difficult areas geographically. That is one possible explanation though more work is needed to fully ascertain the situation.

The Department's management committee, the partnership steering committee and top management in the Department are involved in a range of measures dealing with health and safety, health promotion, stress management, provision of a wide range of work-life balance arrangements, improved communications and consultation methods right across the organisation. Much emphasis is being put on lifestyle issues to minimise work-related stress and there is discussion and communication with and among staff to reduce the sick leave figures.