5% of workers take long sick leaves in a year

One in 20 employees at the average workplace takes an extended sick leave in a year, according to a Statistics Canada study on long-term absenteeism.

And those people are off the job for an average of 11 weeks.

The federal agency found that long-term absenteeism can be costly for businesses, the employees themselves and their co-workers.

The average long-term absence costs $8,800 in wages, Statistics Canada said.

While poor health is blamed for many long leaves, others result from stress and even career stagnation.

People who are off the job for a long time are more likely to take an extended leave the next year.

As a result, Statistics Canada said, work is left undone. Or, it must be shared by co-workers or replacements.

In 2003, the prime study year, about 5.2 per cent of employees took more than two weeks off due to illness or disability.

That compared with 5.7 per cent of all employees in 1993.

More than one-quarter of the sick leaves were job-related in 2003. They lasted an average of about 13 weeks, compared to about 10 weeks on average for illness or disability not associated with work.

About one-quarter of the work-related absences lasted more than four months.

The study found that age, health, disability and stress are important predictors of long-term absences, and they become more frequent as the workforce ages and job-related stress rises.

Workers who are members of a union and have disability coverage tend to take more and longer leaves, possibly indicating that non-unionized employees fear reprisal, the loss of earnings or their job if they're absent for extended periods.

Permanent employees were 1.6 times more likely to take a long leave than those on temporary, term, contract or casual jobs.

The study did not include parental leaves.