The absenteeism rate fell to 6.6% in 2021, according to Adecco

MADRID, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The rate of absenteeism from work fell in 2021 to 6.6%, the second highest figure in the historical series, after having skyrocketed to 7.1% in 2020 due to the pandemic, according to the Adecco Report on Healthy Company and Absenteeism Management, published this Wednesday.

However, throughout the first quarter of 2022, the absenteeism rate has risen 0.9 percentage points compared to the previous three months, to stand at 7.5%.

Absenteeism from work is difficult to quantify, as Adecco recalls, although it estimates that this rate of 6.6% in 2021 translated into the loss of 1,701 million working hours, among an average of 16.1 million employees. Therefore, throughout 2021, one of every 16 salaried people did not work.

In economic terms, work absenteeism in 2021 had a cost of 37,000 million euros per year, the equivalent of 3.1% of GDP, when multiplying the hours not worked by the total labor cost per hour.

Despite these figures, Adecco recalls that not all work absenteeism can be eliminated, since part of it is the result of people getting sick. The director of the Adecco Group Institute, Javier Blasco, points out that work absences also influence "hugely the motivation of people and the culture of organizations" and warns of the need for companies to favor work environments "of inclusion and diversity", especially in a post-pandemic environment, marked by "the challenges of mental health" and "the aging of the population".

"Although 75.5% of Spaniards assess their state of health as good or very good, this optimistic perception not only varies by sex, province or educational level, but also the figures for absenteeism and temporary disability for reasons other than work they say just the opposite," warns Blasco.

The Basque Country repeated for yet another year as the autonomous community with the most lost working hours, with 132 hours per employee, the equivalent of 16 and a half eight-hour days, and an absenteeism rate of 8.4%. Catalonia was in second place, with 116.6 hours of absenteeism per year (7.2%), and Asturias was in third place, with 108.7 hours per year (6.9%).

On the contrary, Andalusia registered the lowest loss of hours, with 71.9 hours per year, with a rate of 4.6%, followed by the Balearic Islands, with 77 hours and a rate of 4.9%, and Castilla-La Mancha , with 78.7 hours per worker.

In the case of Castilla-La Mancha, where the absenteeism rate was 5%, and Extremadura, 5.3%, Adecco specifies that both share "a particular situation", since they are the only ones in which the rate of absenteeism in 2021 is the highest recorded by statistics.

In total, the rate of work absenteeism was reduced in eight communities and registered increases in the remaining seven, according to the Adecco Report.

The main cause of absenteeism in Spain is temporary disability, which represented 76.1% of the hours lost in 2021. That is the highest percentage since 2007 and also registers an increase of almost two percentage points compared to the previous two.

The remaining 23.9% corresponded to hours not worked for other reasons. Therefore, in absolute terms, the hours lost due to temporary disability were 80.4 per year and employee, while the hours not worked for other reasons totaled 25.2 on average, per year and employee.

41% of the employees surveyed by Adecco for the preparation of this report defend the permanence of teleworking after the pandemic. Of this percentage, 26% have a positive view of this way of working in terms of productivity and 15% say it is very positive.

These figures show that the acceptance of teleworking so far this year has fallen compared to the responses recorded in 2021, when for 52% it was positive and for 11%, very positive. On the contrary, 11% have a negative view of telecommuting, compared to 9% last year.

From the point of view of companies, 45% rule out implementing teleworking once the crisis is completely over, despite the fact that a year ago only 29% were opposed. Now, only 29% consider applying it occasionally.

For 41% of companies, the acceptable proportion would be one day of telecommuting per week, while 27% advocate two days and 16% opted to work remotely between four and five days per week.

This year's survey also raises the new temporary disability due to painful menstruation. 54% of the responses reflect that this new temporary incapacity can generate more incidence of sick leave and absences from the job than before and generate conflicts over confidential information about the health of workers. On the contrary, 47% think that nothing will change or it will not have an impact on casualties.

The annual working day agreed in 2021 rose to 1,814 hours a year, the highest figure since 2011. Adecco considers that it is not "a particularly large increase", since it barely represents about 15 more minutes per week, but it shows an "incipient slightly upward trend.

The variables that influence the evolution of the agreed hours may correspond to "issues specific to the business world" or to "social factors". For Adecco, the rebound in the last two years, both in 2020 and 2021, may be due to the "irruption of teleworking and saving travel time" that would have led workers to "accept to work a little more".

As for the hours not worked, Adecco distinguishes between vacations and holidays, temporary employment regulation files (ERTE) and absenteeism. In the latter case, the evolution of the last 20 years has been marked by the level of economic activity, with a first stage of "uninterrupted growth" between 2000 and 2007, from 65 to 85 hours per worker per year, to later go on to about 67 hours per worker in 2013. In 2014, a period of economic recovery began, in such a way that the hours not worked due to absenteeism increased again, to just over 90 hours per year per worker in 2019.

With the pandemic, the historical maximum of absenteeism was reached, with 108 hours per employee in 2020 and 106 hours in 2021. Three quarters of the increase in absenteeism in 2020 is explained by the increase in temporary disability as a direct effect of the pandemic.

In addition, Adecco points out that in 2020 the hours of absenteeism for different reasons also grew, up to a maximum of 28 hours per year per worker. In this case, it is explained by preventive isolation and the increase in permits and licenses.

In 2021, that figure moderated to 25 hours per year, with a normalization of permits and licenses. However, the hours not worked due to maternity grew, up to 13 per year per worker, compared to 11 hours a year earlier, as a result of the extension of paternity leave.

Adecco includes in its report this year the estimates of the Association of Mutual Insurance Companies for Accidents at Work (AMAT), which indicate that sick leave due to Common Illness or Non-occupational Accident (ITCC) worsened in 2021 compared to 2020 in terms of the number of processes, cost and average incidence.

Thus, the total number of dismissal processes by ITCC for the Social Security System increased by 13.99%, with a derived cost of 106,302 million euros, 16.04%. The calculation in terms of goods and services that were no longer produced and provided reaches 87,439 million euros, 7.27% of GDP in 2021.