Missing Persons When employees call in sick, it's your business that suffers.

I'm not feeling so good," your employee croaks over thephone, just a little too hoarsely. Most employers discount sickcalls, whether real or fake, as just one of those things. However,recent statistics show unscheduled absences have lingering effects,especially on small businesses.

A rise in employee absenteeism is coming on like a bad flu, andsmall businesses are feeling the symptoms. Companies with fewerthan 100 employees suffered from an 18 percent increase inabsenteeism this year over last year, according to a survey by CCHInc., a business materials publisher. This increase was far moresubstantial than the average 3.5 percent increase experienced bybusinesses in general.

Unfortunately, though small businesses may be the most affectedby absenteeism, they're also usually least likely to dosomething about it. "Most companies are beginning tounderstand that unscheduled absences and sick leaves pose asignificant cost," says Paul Gibson, an attorney with CCH."However, a lot of smaller companies can't focus full timeon implementing programs to get the situation undercontrol."

According to the survey, the maximum annual cost of absenteeismper employee for companies with fewer than 100 workers shot up likea fever, from $267 per person in 1994 to $622 in 1995. Though thismarked the highest rate of increase among businesses of all sizes,small companies reported feeling the pain less in obvious dollarfigures and more in indirect costs. "They know it'shappening," says Gibson. "They just can't measureit."

Still, those indirect costs are nothing to sneeze at. Accordingto the survey, the greatest casualty of unscheduled absenteeism isproductivity, followed by customer service, employee morale andability to meet deadlines.

Besides indulging in mental health days, more employees arerequesting days off just to run errands. According to Gibson,personal illness accounted for only 45 percent of totalabsenteeism, while dealing with family issues accounted for 27percent of unscheduled time off. Thirteen percent of businessessurveyed said their employees used sick days to take care ofpersonal needs, while 6 percent said employees were not so muchsick as they were sick and tired-they needed the break to escapestress.

"In a work/family context, people just need more time tomanage their obligations outside of work," Gibson says.

The prescription? Gibson recommends small businesses adopt theprinciples of the increasingly popular "paid leave bankprogram," which allots employees a group of days for vacation,sick or personal leave. That way, employees don't have to fakeillness to get a day off-and you get advance notice so you can planaround absences and staff more effectively. "The best thingsmall companies can do is give people the opportunity to managetheir time off as they see fit," says Gibson, "and notforce them to classify themselves as sick according to some companypolicy."

Contact Sources

CCH Inc., 2700 Lake Cook Rd., Riverwoods, IL 60015, (708)267-7000;

U.S. Department Of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2Massachusetts Ave. N.E., #3180, Washington, DC 20212-0001, (202)606-6175;