The Spanish large-scale distribution allocates 240 million euros each year to address the cost of absenteeism, a figure that is equivalent to 21% of its entire annual investment and that starkly portrays the magnitude of a problem that can no longer be treated as something temporary. Absences from work have thus become a major burden for a sector that, unlike others, cannot sustain its activity remotely or postpone work, because it depends on having people in the stores, in the warehouses and in front of the customer every day for the business to continue running.
This is the x-ray drawn by the Absenteeism in Retail and Large Distribution report, published this Wednesday by Anged and The Adecco Group, which already places the sector's absenteeism rate at around 8%, even above the 7.6% national average, which already marks the highest level in the entire historical series. And the curve continues to rise: more than 80% of Anged companies, such as El Corte Inglés, Ikea, Carrefour, Alcampo, Eroski or Leroy Merlin, claim that absenteeism has grown in the last three years. The impact is also multiplied in a sector that completely depends on the physical presence of its staff, where each unforeseen absence disrupts shifts, delays replacement, complicates logistics and puts the continuity of the service at risk.
The problem is concentrated in the stores, especially in operational and customer service positions, while logistics and central services remain more controlled. "Absenteeism is not just a rate, it is a symptom," summarizes the president of the association, Matilde García Duarte and compares it to fever, "it does not indicate what is wrong, but it warns that something is not working."
Common contingencies are the main source of pressure. 91% of companies consider their incidence high or very high, and they explain around 75% of the hours not worked. In retail trade as a whole, 734,522 temporary disability processes were initiated last year due to common contingencies, 60% more than in 2018, with an average duration of 45.33 days. They are equivalent to 158,805 people who do not go to work a single day throughout the year, 19,000 of them in Anged companies.
Leaves due to mental health already represent 20% of the total and have doubled in recent years. Direct dealings with the public are associated with anxiety and stress. Furthermore, these sick leave are longer and more recurrent, and their average duration increased in one year from 99 to 136 days, as explained in the presentation.
Another piece of data revealed by the report is that those under 30 years of age are the most affected group. "There is already a social, educational and cultural problem that ends up having an impact on companies," says Calos Arcas, director of The Adecco Group. Some companies already incorporate psychologists who serve workers and families, in person or online.
Companies also point to other factors, such as work-life balance difficulties, minor health problems, the Monday effect and long weekends, as well as absences that are difficult to justify. The speakers referred to voluntary absenteeism, linked to a lack of commitment to the company.
To cover absences, companies reorganize teams or resort to temporary hiring. But in many cases the replacement does not arrive on time, because it is impossible to anticipate the loss. Spreading the load also has "a perverse effect", since those who take on the absentee's work are "the future workers who end up taking sick leave", warns Arcas. That is why the sector insists on taking measures. It proposes reviewing temporary disability supplements in common contingencies, to adjust the economic incentives associated with sick leave. It also asks that mutual insurance companies be able to carry out tests that public health cannot carry out and give discharge in certain cases, with all the guarantees for workers.
Anged also calls for strengthening public-private collaboration, advancing the digitalization of health information and going from covering sick leave to planning the real availability of the workforce, intervening before they become chronic.
"It is not about anyone returning to work before being cured," they concluded. "It is about whoever is sick being diagnosed earlier, treated earlier and able to return to work sooner."
