Stress is an increasing cause of absence

Stress is the second most common reason given for being off work amongst non-manual workers.

A report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development shows sickness levels are up on last year.

In Wales workers are off work for an average 10.7 days, with more time lost in the public than the private sector.

Organisational counsellor Ava Fine says there are particular factors which could affect public sector workers' sickness rates.

"They are dealing with the public, the resources are fairly limited, and the systems are bureaucratic and hierarchical".

Bosses are obviously not doing enough to protect workers from the dangers of over-work Brendan Barber, TUC

"People often don't feel in control of the work they are doing, and that will contribute to sickness factors," said Ms Fine.

London has the lowest absenteeism rates of 6.9 days per employee.

Nearly two-thirds of all sick leave is for fewer than five days - with the biggest cause being illnesses such as colds and the flu.

But stress is a growing problem. Heavy workloads, pressure to meet targets, and management style were said to be the main causes.

Stress-related absence

Half the 1,100 employers polled said that they had introduced staff surveys and were employing occupational health professionals to tackle stress.

Ben Willmott, the report's author, said: "Although it is worrying to see stress-related absence on the increase it is encouraging that employers are taking action to address this."

The survey also revealed concerns about the sick note system, with most employers believing that doctors issued them too easily.

In the UK, the cost of sickness absence has increased from �67 per worker to �88 during the last year.

The highest absence levels were among workers in the food, drink, tobacco, and transport industries (12 days a year), health (11.6 days) and central government (11.6 days).

The lowest absence levels were in consultancy (5.5 days), media, and publishing (six days) and telecommunications (seven days).

Felicity Williams, general secretary of the Wales TUC, said the higher sickness levels in Wales could be as a result of both the higher reliance on public sector work and the higher level of chronic ill health here.