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The first winter without strict COVID guidelines has left professional firms feeling the pinch, says MYOB.
Small and medium-sized businesses have been hit by an epidemic of sick leave, carers and personal leave, according to figures from MYOB.
Chief employee experience officer at MYOB, Helen Lea, said that SMEs had been squeezed by the sheer volume of absentees.
“It has been a difficult winter for many small businesses and we continue to see them dealing with leave requirements brought on by COVID and other illnesses,” said Ms Lea.
“After a brief drop in the amount of sick, carers and personal leave taken by small business employees in June, MYOB data shows the July peak reached 44 per cent above the long-term average.
“This is a similar level to what we saw in April and May, although thankfully not as high as January where SMEs were grappling with more than 100 per cent increase in employees taking this leave.”
MYOB said that the increased level of sick leave taken could be attributed to businesses facing the first winter with relaxed COVID guidelines along with the spread of colds and flu through the community.
Victoria had the highest rate of personal leave at 47 per cent above the pre-COVID baseline in July, followed by Tasmania and South Australia at 46 per cent and 43 per cent respectively.
The professional, scientific and technical services sector was harder hit than many with sick leave 50 per cent above pre-pandemic levels although that was put in the shade by arts and recreation, which experienced a 74 per cent increase.
The healthcare and social assistance sector was impacted least, with an increase of just 29 per cent.
Ms Lea said the increased levels of leave would probably continue beyond the end of winter.
“With some experts predicting the COVID peak will hit in mid-August, it may be another month until COVID cases subside and warmer weather provides some relief from the uptake of sick, carers and personal leave on small businesses,” she said.
The firm determined its index by using anonymised data from more than 1 million small-business employees, calculating the number of workers who received personal leave, sick leave or carers leave for a pay cycle and then dividing by the total number of employees paid during that period.
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