More than one in three employers report that absence levels have increased because their staff are struggling to cope with their caring responsibilities outside of work. But, new figures from the CIPD/Simplyhealth Absence Management survey, show that just one in six organisations have policies in place to help achieve a better balance between their home and working lives. Although only one in six employers say they have organisation wide policies or guidelines in place for carers, an additional two fifths report that they do offer support to individuals on an ad hoc basis. The CIPD is now calling on more businesses to adopt a formal policy to support workers, and ultimately benefit business.  Other findings from the survey show that overall absence levels have dropped from 7.6 days per year to 6.6 (public sector: 7.9, private sector: 5.5, voluntary sector: 7.4). However, findings also show that there has been a significant rise in the number of employees still attending work whilst sick, a trend called ‘presenteeism,’ with a third of employers revealing employees have been struggling in to work whilst sick. 

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