New numbers show a decrease in public servant sickies

Working from home has seen a dramatic drop in public servant sick days but they’ll still be pulled back to the CBD to bolster the economy.

Working from home has helped drive a drop in sickies in South Australia’s public service, with staff in major government departments taking off an average 1½ fewer days, new figures show.

The dramatic decrease has been attributed by Treasurer Rob Lucas to greater numbers of workers being able to continue working remotely.

However, the trend could be short-lived, with Mr Lucas urging public servants to get back to work in CBD offices as often as they can in 2021 in a bid to bolster the economy.

New statistics from the Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment show that total sick leave across SA’s more than 92 government departments or agencies dropped from an average of 10.1 days to 9.8 during the last financial year.

However, analysis of the state’s 14 government departments, which employ the lion’s share of workers, show they recorded a drop from 9.8 days to 8.3.

South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas said the government’s default position was to call workers back to the city when possible. Picture: David Mariuz

Mr Lucas said he was not surprised by the numbers as many workers who would have previously called in sick for fear of infecting their work mates had been able to stay working from home.

But despite the reduced levels of sick leave, Mr Lucas said it was still the government’s focus to get more people back into the CBD.

“The default position is for people to now come back to the office, while maintaining that vulnerable workers continue working from home,” he said.

“From our viewpoint, the CBD (relies) on a good percentage of people that work in the CBD still (being) in the CBD.

“We will see more people post-COVID working from home for part of the time, but it will not be driven from the policy viewpoint from us looking at sick leave numbers.

“It will be about work-life balance.

“Sick leave will be part of it, but it will also be about managing children, less travel time and a whole variety of other things as well.”

Only 21 of the 92 government departments or agencies recorded a rise in sick leave, including the Transport and Infrastructure Department, the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing and the SA Housing Authority.

SA Police workers, who have been at the frontline of the coronavirus response and were required to stay away from work if showing symptoms of the virus, recorded an increase of sick leave from an average of 8.9 days to 9.7.

The biggest drop was recorded in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, where sick leave fell from 11.7 days on average to just 5.9.

Total sick leave includes all absences due to illness, whether paid or unpaid, and those on account of family carer’s leave.

The report showed that on June 30, the number of employees working in the public sector was 107,434 – of those, 89,696 were employed on a full-time basis.

Last week, The Australian reported public servant sick leave days had declined by at least 20 per cent at major Commonwealth agencies during the pandemic.