Problems in managing absenteeism in the labor relations system
Fiabilis Consulting Group and the Spanish Association of Human Resources Directors (AEDRH) co-organized an event related to a highly relevant topic today: absenteeism, a figure that increases every year, as reflected by the annual absenteeism rate, which reached 6.96% in 2023 — that is, 1.37% higher than the level recorded before the pandemic.
Our colleague Manuel Cortés opened this round table by presenting data drawn from the “III Absenteeism Panel,” produced by the Madrid Foro Empresarial and the Fundación Personas y Empresas: almost 1.5 million workers do not show up for work over the course of a year. This figure represents a 6% increase compared with 2019 and mainly affects employees with full-time permanent contracts. Industry is the most affected sector, with a rate of 7.5%, closely followed by the Services sector at 7%, while the last place is occupied by Construction, which records a rate of 5.4%.
We were also joined by Juan Carlos Rivas Cano, HR Director at Saint-Gobain, and Juan Gómez Arbós, Labor and Social Security Inspector and associate professor at the UAM, who exchanged views on workplace absenteeism and discussed the main challenges in putting a cost on it. “The great debate centers on the management and intervention of the mutual insurance companies (mutuas). There has been reluctance on the part of public services, but the debate should focus on how the mutuas and public entities can collaborate to manage and treat certain conditions. However, there are areas that must remain under public healthcare,” said Juan Gómez.
In the opinion of Juan Carlos Rivas, “the mutuas can help reduce waiting lists and improve the management of absenteeism thanks to their specific knowledge of workers’ tasks. Improving their involvement could ease the burden on the public system.”
Several HR directors from large companies in the sector attended this event, including Saint-Gobain, Mediterráneo, Grupo Dia, Grupo Panel Sistemas & Polar Consultores, Atrevia, Grupo Aldesa, S.A., Yum (KFC), Digi, and Lener, given the great concern that workplace absenteeism generates in Spain.
You can watch the full video of the presentation on Fiabilis’s channel.
