Almost half of 701 firms surveyed for a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment assessment of the impact that statutory sick leave (SSL) was having on companies offered better terms than the minimum ones required by law.
The results of the survey formed the basis for a report completed on October, but just published, which was intended to inform the Minister for Enterprise’s consideration of whether to extend the existing five days of SSL to seven this year as originally envisaged.
It found that while there were sectoral variations, most companies reported “no real noticeable impact since the introduction of the legislation” and that “a blanket pause on the continued roll-out of statutory sick leave is not necessarily required as many employers are already offering in excess of what is proposed under the scheme when fully rolled-out”.
Minister Peter Burke ordered the study last May as part of a wider review of legislative and regulatory change with cost implications for business.
He said last week that the level of paid sick leave available to an employee in a given year would remain unchanged.
“Five days’ sick leave strikes the right balance. It gives workers income protection for five days, after which lllness benefit is there to support them,” he said in a statement issued at the time.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions described the decision as “appalling”. Chambers Ireland, which represents the country’s chambers of commerce, welcomed it as recognition of the “challenges faced by businesses”.
In the same statement, the department said the research “found that firms in the retail, accommodation and food services sectors are likely to be more affected should the statutory sick leave entitlement increase from five days to seven days”.
It made no reference, however, to the wider finding that 47 per cent of employers surveyed offered terms better that those required by the legislation and would not therefore be affected.
It put the average cost of each additional sick day taken at 0.22 per cent of annual payroll where companies paid the maximum €110 a day provided for under the legislation, but it found most firms did not tend to require a direct replacement and when they did not there could be a saving on wages, albeit with the potential for a loss in productivity terms.
It also found there had been a 9 per cent drop in the number of illness benefit recipients during the period, suggesting a “substantial saving to the social insurance fund”, although it was too early, it acknowledged, to draw concrete conclusions.
Most firms did not report a noticeable impact from statutory sick leave obligations in terms of profitability, absenteeism or staff morale, although more businesses in the construction, accommodation and retail sector did indicate negative impacts.
