Potential Work Time Lost Due to Sickness Absence and Presence Among Japanese Workers.

Abstract

The current study aimed to quantify the overall sickness absence and sickness presence in five Japanese companies. Two indicators were calculated: worktime lost rates and average working days lost per employee per annum. In total, 1.1% of working days per annum were lost due to sick leave. The average number of annual sick-leave days per employee was 2.58. Sickness presence accounted for a total worktime loss of 6.55% and an average of 15.36 work days lost per employee per annum. Overall, employees lost 7.65% of their total working days, or an average of 17.92 days were lost per employee per annum, due to sickness leave and sickness presence combined. Sickness-absence rate among Japanese workers is quite lower than other countries; however, sickness presence is more critical than absenteeism, which is in line with other countries.