Absence management in the public sector: An integrative model?

Workforce absence rates in Britain have been found to be higher in the publ ic sector than the private. The Government has set ambitious targets for th e reduction of public sector absence rates and published a range of recomme ndations. The authors look at the ways the two sectors manage long-term abs ence. Although many public sector organizations, as well as some large priv ate services ones, have systems in, place, this article shows that these of ten contain structural weaknesses, and frequently do not operate in an inte grated way. It is therefore concluded that many public organizations have s ome way to go to achieve the holistic approach to absence management advoca ted by the Government.