Feds look to reduce civil service absenteeism

Sweeping changes are expected to be announced today to reduce the growing numbers of sick days among federal civil servants.

According to the Harper government, the absentee rate for federal civil servants is 18.2 days a year, two and a half times the rate in the private sector. On any given day, 19,000 public servants are on sick leave, and that is costing the government over $5 billion a year.

Treasury Board president Tony Clement thinks that’s simply unacceptable and he says changes need to be made to the way sick leave and disability are managed in Canada. He says the aim of the changes is to get sick and injured workers back to work faster. This includes a new short-term disability plan that will replace the existing banked sick leave.

Clement says workers on disability leave sometimes get lost in the current system with no follow-up or rehabilitation. he says the new system will put more emphasis on tracking sick employees, as well as prevention and rehabilitation to get them back to work faster.

The changes are also expected to include a rating system that will help root out so-called “chronic travelers” who move from department to department when their work doesn’t measure up.

The federal government announced back in March that it would eliminate about 19,000 public sector jobs over the next three years. That will help cut government costs by about $5 billion. But Clement believes more needs to be done to weed out unproductive workers who he says are wasting taxpayers’ money. He announced that starting next April, there will be annual performance assessments for government employees that could lead to firings if a worker comes up short.

The changes expected to be outlined today will also include the elimination of voluntary severance packages, and the introduction of 50-50 cost-sharing for pensions. The government now contributes 85 per cent and employees pay the remaining 15 per cent. Executives get 100 per cent of their premiums paid.

Photos: Government of Canada