Dramatic rise in stress-related sickness recorded across the East of England’s public sector

Stress-related absence has risen by 70 per cent across public sector workers in the East of England, recent analysis by the BBC was able to reveal.

After going through data from more than 100 FOI (Freedom of Information requests), days lost by East of England Ambulance medical staff to stress-related sickness absence has grown from 1,948 in 2009 to 6,106 in 2013, or a 213 per cent increase.

Furthermore, the East Midlands Ambulance Service reported a 257 per cent rise from 2009 to 2013, while the rise for South Central Ambulance Service was 35 per cent. Last, but certainly not least, the Suffolk Fire Service saw the number of days lost rise by 696 per cent from 57 in 2009 to 454 in 2013.

Unions told the broadcaster that public sector cuts, which have led to thousands of job losses, are part of the reason for the increase, although the BBC report recognised that public sector employers said they were working to relieve pressure on staff.

Time & Attendance UK supplies an extensive range of solutions designed specifically to help employers thoroughly monitor and manage absence, with our flagship WinTA.NET integrated workforce management solution incorporating a dedicated Absence Planning and Entitlement Management feature.

Our comprehensive, yet user-friendly software comes pre-loaded with graphical calendar charts that provide a colourful way of viewing an individual’s or a department’s absence records.

Each employee can be allocated different entitlements for absence such as annual leave or allowed sickness. As absence is booked and taken, the remainder available for each entitlement is updated. Entitlement formulae are used to calculate more complex entitlements calculated on a rising scale based upon length of service.

WinTA.NET provides the relevant managers the required information on employee’s absences through warning email notifications or via hardcopy reports. After that, the system would rapidly identify missing employees that are expected to be at work and then informs you via automatic email reporting reports distributed by email.

If you’d like to find out more about the Time & Attendance UK workforce management solutions, just contact our team or Book a Demo, we’ll be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.