Absenteeism at work increases in Madrid: 2.7 billion hours lost

Absenteeism at work has become a headache for employers. This is how they see it at the Madrid Business Forum, which, in collaboration with the People and Companies Foundation, has just published a report on the subject, with a worrying conclusion: the data in Madrid have increased by almost two points in four years. , this situation represents more than 2,679 million hours lost, “which is the same, around 62,000 million euros for Spain”, denounces the association. For this reason, they have asked the Community of Madrid, in collaboration with the Association of Executives and Professionals of Labor Relations, to launch an observatory to study absenteeism at work in the region. The study reveals that, in the Community of Madrid, absenteeism at work has disappeared. from 13.82 percent to 15.18 percent in the last four years. They include more data, such as “health care activity has the highest absenteeism rate.” However, the sectors most affected are industry and services: they reached 7.51 and 7 percent respectively in 2023. executor of orders that come from above,” they warn, referring to La Moncloa. According to ABC of the Madrid Business Forum, unlike other European countries, “Spain does not have official statistical data on absenteeism at work.” To have them, they say, it would be necessary to have “an observatory responsible for seriously monitoring this issue.” Measures and effectivenessFor this reason, the Madrid Business Forum has signed a collaboration agreement with the Association of Managers and Professionals of. Labor Relations (ADiReLab), to promote the analysis, design and development of studies on the world of labor relations in the Community of Madrid. Both associations believe that, if this pioneering observatory is carried out in Madrid, it will be the seed of another at the national level that will allow obtaining reliable data to constantly monitor the situation and its evolution. In this way, the measures could also be implemented and their degree of effectiveness observed in real time. The observatory would also provide them with data on the reasons for absenteeism, having reference points on the effectiveness of the measures implemented by companies in this regard. In this sense, the development of measures that prevent occupational risks and reduce absenteeism or the study on its growth due to the lack of mental health, highlights the importance of a good diagnosis of this problem. increase the competitiveness of Spanish companies: “With this body, we propose to bring to the social debate that a territory that does not focus on the analysis of absenteeism will not increase its productivity. The observatory would serve, according to him, to “have data and new proposals to advance labor relations and generate pacts and agreements that allow us to propose new visions in the management of absenteeism, according to the data of the study carried out by it”. entity, in a comparison between what happened in 2019 and what happened in 2023, the main conclusion is that in the five communities analyzed –Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia, the Basque Country and the Valencian Community–, and in the national data, the percentage of absenteeism at work has increased. At the state level, going from 14.6 to 15.8; in the case of Madrid, from 13.8 to 15.1. And the one that reflects the most absenteeism is the Basque Country, where it goes from 18.4 to 19 percent. Andalusia goes from 13.2 to 14.6 percent; Catalonia, from 15.2 to 16.5 percent; and the Valencian Community, from 14.1 to 16.2, always comparing this period of 2019 to that of 2023. Savings The Confederation of Independent Enterprises of Madrid (CEIM) has published its own report on the subject, referring to the previous year. And its conclusion also gives food for thought: throughout Spain, more than 8 million work stoppages due to non-occupational illnesses and accidents, which represents a cost of more than 25.3 billion euros in economic benefits, an expense that has increased by 52 percent during the year. In their report, over the last four years, they highlight the role of mutual societies and estimate that with them it could be possible, in the Community of Madrid, to recover the worker – with medical discharge – 21 days earlier. This would represent a saving of around 316 million euros, they estimate, of which “around 192 are the responsibility of the public accounts of Social Security and another 124 are the responsibility of companies directly”. The withdrawal processes initiated by the mutual societies of Madrid were 655,775. in 2021, 861,994 in 2022 and 1,024,007 in 2003. Before the pandemic, in 2019, the figure recorded was 831,674, which means that this figure increased by 23 percent. SectorsRandstad, the temporary employment agency, also has a report on the subject, where the activities with the highest absenteeism are those related to construction services and gardening activities (10.7%), in addition to postal work (10.6%), while the lowest occurs in tasks related to employment (2.8%) and legal and accounting activities (3.1%).madrid_dia_0703By autonomous communities, the highest absenteeism was recorded in the Basque Country (8.5%), the Canary Islands (8.2%) and Galicia (7.5%), while the lowest rates were recorded in Madrid (5.5%), the Balearic Islands (5.6%) and La Rioja (5.5%). Their conclusion: 1.4 million people did not go to work on average daily in Spain and one million of them were on sick leave.

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