As a former public servant for both State and Commonwealth Governments, I remember it was acceptable practice in some agencies to take a “mental health day” off in response to a variety of circumstances, including breaking up with your boyfriend/girlfriend, fighting with a co-worker, and getting called out by your boss for slacking off. These absences are generally tolerated because a) public service management often lack the courage and genuine interest to discipline workers who are skiving off and b) public service regulations make it difficult to sack people. In the private sector, however, workers who abuse the system are typically dealt with because they affect the firm’s bottom line, and managers will hence take the necessary steps to resolve the situation.

I was reminded of the large difference in workplace cultures between the public and private sectors when I read the interesting piece buried on the bottom of page 24 of today’s Sunday Mail entitled “Public servant sick leave rate ‘chronic'”, which notes:

Public servants are taking more than twice as much sick leave as the average Aussie worker, costing the nation billions in lost productivity…The Australian Public Service Commission State of the Service Report revealed 30 per cent of federal agencies had an average absence rate above 12 days in 2009-10, while the average Australian took only 9.8 days in that period.

This is not a new problem, and the Australian Public Service Commission has previously issued Australian Government agencies a guide to Fostering an Attendance Culture, which apparently hasn’t had much of an impact. Nonetheless, it’s actually a good report which identifies the core problem – the public service’s entitlement culture. The report notes (p. 10):

A number of APS agencies have indicated that there is a strong entitlement culture in at least some sections of their organisation. Anecdotally, it appears that there are employees who use all their sick leave, with the view that it is their right to do so.

The solutions are obvious: reforms to industrial relations and public service regulations, as well as greater contracting out of public services.