Unscheduled absence results from the State of the Service report 2014–15

Attendance management remains a challenge for the APS. Work is underway to investigate the causes of poor attendance and possible solutions for improving attendance. The Australian Public Service Commission monitors unscheduled absence in the Australian Public Service (APS) and reports this data in the annual State of the Service Report. In 2015, two types of absence were reported:

► Personal leave—a combination of sick leave, and carer’s leave;
► and Miscellaneous leave.

For comparison purposes, the rates of each of these leave types is shown below in an aggregated form for different agency functions and the size of the agency. Rates for each individual agency are shown here.

Absence rates by agency functional cluster, 2014–15

Agency Function	Sick Leave	Carer’s Leave	Miscellaneous Leave	Total Personal and Miscellaneous leave
Large Operational	10.3	2.2	0.4	12.9
Policy	9.2	2.3	0.4	11.9
Regulatory	9	2.1	0.3	11.5
Smaller Operational	10.2	1.8	0.8	12.8
Specialist	8.3	1.9	0.5	10.7
APS overall	9	2	0.5	11.6

Absence rates by agency size, 2014–15

Agency Size	Sick Leave	Carer’s Leave	Miscellaneous Leave	Total Personal and Miscellaneous leave
Small (250 or less)	8.4	1.9	0.4	10.7
Medium (251-1000)	9.5	2.1	0.6	12.2
Large (1001 or more)	9.7	2.3	0.4	12.4
APS overall	9	2	0.5	11.6