Workplace absence cost British business £10.5 billion in 1999, an average of £438 per worker, according to an annual survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and PPP healthcare.

The survey, released today, shows that costs have risen slightly when compared to the previous year. In 1998, the average per worker was £426.

Employees take off an average of 7.8 days per year, which suggests that 187 million working days were lost in 1999, or 3.4% of working time.

The survey shows that small firms had lower absence rates than large firms. Around nine days were lost per employee among companies employing over 500 employees, which compares to just 4.8 days among smaller companies (less than 50 staff)

John Cridland, CBI’s Human Resources Policy Director, said: "Absence is a huge cost to business and the worst performing firms have twice the absence rates of the best ones. Most absence is caused by genuine minor illness, but it is important for firms to ensure

unnecessary absence is reduced – benchmarking performance against similar firms will reveal problem areas. One clear message from the survey is that absence needs to be actively managed at a senior level."

The survey also shows that many companies have reduced the amount of time employees take off by giving senior or HR managers responsibility for managing absence, rather than line managers.

Anna Lagerkvist