All Rights Reserved. In addition, the survey indicated that while many programs are viewed as effective in stemming the tide, few of those programs are in place.
More bad news is that small business expects the problems to get worse.
The 1998 CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey , conducted annually by CCH, is the most definitive survey on absenteeism in the workplace and the only one that measures costs associated with unscheduled absences. The survey polled employers of all sizes within eight industry sectors. The mean rate of unscheduled absenteeism within small businesses increased by 14 percent, from 2.85 in 1997 to 3.25 in 1998. This mean rate of 3.25 is the highest rate reported across all company sizes this year, and the highest reported by small businesses since 1994, when CCH first began surveying the small business group. In fact, since that time, absenteeism rates among small businesses have skyrocketed 46 percent, from 2.22 to 3.25.