Career employees earn 4 hours of sick leave for a full pay period (80 hours), or at a rate of 5 percent. Some career employees are currently taking sick leave at approximately the same rate, liquidating their leave bank. The Postal Service’s sick leave absence rate (absenteeism) was 4.3 percent in 2008. This seems high compared to the 1.1 percent rate the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports for employees in the private sector and 1.7 percent rate for employees in the federal sector. So why was the Postal Service’s rate higher? A 2007 private sector survey by CCH Incorporated indicates two thirds (66 percent) of U.S. workers who take unscheduled sick leave do so for reasons other than physical illness, such as personal and/or family issues, stress, or entitlement. Is the Postal Service’s sick leave rate higher because employees call in sick for reasons other than physical illness?
The Postal Service cannot ignore the $1.4 billion spent on sick leave last year and recognizes that the best person to do the job is the person hired for it rather than a replacement. The Postal Service identified approximately 35,000 employees in 2008 with 20 or more unscheduled absences. That means 5 percent of its employees have nearly one absence for every paycheck! What is the impact on morale to the other 640,026 career employees? Is there something the Postal Service can do to reduce the number of unscheduled absences? We’d like to know how you feel about these issues.
This blog topic is hosted by OIG Human Capital.
155 Comments
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Awesome post, I just found this site but Ill come back often for new posts! Keep up the great work!
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thanks really, this information is very important to me
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Why is this a disjointed unintelligible comment??
Is it a joke, way 2 sms?
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thank you ovvv very much:)
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Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it…
Thanks,
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Is this is the only blog you are maintaining or is their any other site you have?
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Great info.! I enjoyed the read. Thank you.
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Awesome info.! I enjoyed the read. Thank you.
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HI there,
Nice post. I’m bookmarking your site and I’ll be visiting your blog again.
Thanks,
Mark
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In my station the only way to get a day off is to call in. Others have asked only to get denied. So it is better to call in then to miss a family event or other special occassion. It is unfortunate that staffing or mis-management causes this. I can only speak over the last 15 years and if you do ask for a day they wait till the day before to approve or deny.
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interesting nice for share this information
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I think the reason you are seeing more sick calls as the years pass, is because the workload for the letter carrier has risen constantly. The latest FSS implementation has made the letter carrier route longer on the street. You may not think an extra 45 minutes hoofin it on the street is much of a big deal. But then again, if you think that, you have never carried mail. The increased “physical labor” part of our job, has greatly increased. We’re not complaining ( generally ), but when people get on our case for the occasional sick call, we are forced to defend our actions. Sometimes, all we need is an extra day off, to recover, rejuvenate, and get back on track. Small price to pay seeing as how by the time our 30 year career is over, most of us need knee/hip/shoulder surgery at least once.
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Does anyone ever even try to come up with an informative or constuructive post on blogs?
I am constantly amazed by the number of people who post nonsense or simply troll…
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Hey Nice Article! Thanks for the good information Keep up the good posting.
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Good post with good information. I’m not sure I agree with everything that was mentioned but it definitely has made me think.
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Very useful content, keep up the good work.
Awesome info, very useful will take into consideration..
I like this info you are providing here, keep up the good work..
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Thanks for the info.. Great insight
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Worthwhile read. I’m not sure I agree with everything that was mentioned but it definitely has given me something to consider.
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Are you willfully misreading the report on absenteeism? You didn’t use the absense rate numbers and your postal percentage is not a part of the report at all. It must be from another source entirely, with possibly an entirely different way of looking at things. Manipulating numbers is another way of lying.
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