Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 221: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the systems her Department has in place for tracking absences from work for various reasons, for benchmarking them against best standards and for estimating the cost of cover or lost input as a result of these absences; and if she will present data for the most recent years on this matter. [39181/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Department has an Attendance Management policy in place since 2005. As part of the process of preparing this policy, the Department researched examples of best practice available in Irish and UK organisations. The inclusion in the Policy of practices such as return to work interviews, a Health Promotion Policy and supports for staff who are returning to work after a long term illness reflects this research.

The Department prepares reports for managers on a quarterly and annual basis of all sick leave absences that occur in the Department in order to support them in the management of attendance. These reports contain information in relation to numbers, duration, lost work days etc arising from work absences.

In addition, the Department uses the Administrative Productivity Training (APT) method of work measurement which is used to identify, measure and quantify workloads and to determine staffing requirements. This provides for a core figure of staffing for each business unit in the Department. The measurement includes a set 14.3% absence reserve. This absence reserve covers all normal levels of annual, sick and special leave. The following table sets out details of absences for the years 2003 to 2007.