Deputy concerned over sickness in civil service

A Guernsey politician has raised concerns that increasing staff sickness in Guernsey's civil service is having an impact on morale.

Deputy Andy Cameron asked questions under rule 14 of the States' Rules of Procedure about absenteeism across the civil service and the measures in place to reduce it.

States of Guernsey figures, based on 5887 staff, show that in 2025 an average of 67,000 sick days were taken, compared to 60,000 two years earlier. In December, there were 117 employees off work due to long-term sickness.

In response, the Policy and Resources Committee said: "Extensive support is available to employees experiencing ill health, with a focus on remaining at, or returning to work."

Deputy Cameron said the States needed to improve the wellbeing of its staff to reduce sickness, but also for employees covering their work.

"I think we need to look at how we can improve things. I've got several friends that work in a civil service and they're proud of what they do," he said.

"They're getting significantly more stressed because of absenteeism with colleagues and their team.

"So, we need to look at that kind of holistically over the civil service and see how we actually improve that working environment for them."

He also suggested looking at health insurance, what other countries with less absenteeism were doing, and individual departments to assess which faced the greatest amount of pressure.

The committee said that there were multiple reasons for sickness absence recorded in the system, including non-work-related stress which accounted for about 20% of sickness absence and 25% of long-term sickness absence.

It also said that work-related stress accounted for about 11% of sickness absence overall, and approximately 17% of long-term sickness absence.

Other trends reflected seasonal issues, such as short-term absences across the winter period relating to coughs, colds or flu.

In response to Cameron's questions, the committee said: "Regular contact between the line manager and employee during any period of absence, access to the Employee Assistance Programme (including referrals to counselling), and referral to the occupational health service where appropriate.

"Managers hold return-to-work discussions following periods of sickness absence, giving employees the opportunity to raise concerns and discuss whether adjustments to their role or working environment may support recovery and sustained attendance at work."

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