Alfonso Rojo, president of Pimeef: “Ibiza businesses are suffering a silent pandemic: workplace absenteeism”

The labour market in Ibiza is changing. The housing crisis affecting the Pityusic Islands has reduced the number of available workers. Doing a season in Ibiza is no longer as profitable as it once was. Many seasonal workers who used to arrive on the island have chosen new destinations. This has significantly reduced the available workforce.

The law of supply and demand also applies to the labour market: there is a smaller supply of workers and more are needed each year. It is also true that wages are no longer those paid before the 2008 crisis. The tourism offer is shifting towards the luxury sector. Every year, new hotels, restaurants and bars open. Tourism increasingly requires more specialised workers.

During the latest General Assembly of the Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Ibiza and Formentera, Pimeef, one issue came up repeatedly: employee absenteeism. Many of those present highlighted it as one of the biggest obstacles when it comes to running a business. The president of the business organisation, Alfonso Rojo, said: “Unfortunately, we have suffered a health pandemic, but right now businesses are suffering a silent pandemic, and that is workplace absenteeism”.

Unjustified sick leave

Rojo distinguishes between justified sick leave due to illness, absences caused by the job itself and those that cannot be justified. “The human body has its weaknesses; someone can catch a cold, of course”, he said.

“You can also have sick leave because the reality of your work is poorly planned or because you are not providing your employees with good tools, and that leads to more injuries”. However, the president of the Federation wanted to focus on absences based on “common contingencies”, a euphemism that would indicate that employees simply do not turn up for work using excuses that are not grounded in reality.

“Many of the cases of sick leave are not linked to the type of work being carried out”, he stressed. As for medically justified sick leave, Rojo highlighted the waiting times for appointments with public health specialists: “If one of your employees is off sick and asks for an appointment with a specialist because they do not feel well, and that appointment takes one or two weeks, then you are already knocked out”, Rojo lamented.

A critical problem with tight staffing levels

The president of Pimeef provided figures to put the problem caused by absenteeism into context. “If you have oversized workforces, that is, around 10% or 20% above your needs, then it is less noticeable”, he explained.

“But if a company that has 70% of its workforce then adds sick leave which, as a rule, can easily reach 10% or 20% of staff, it becomes a very serious problem”, he added.

He insisted that the issue affects all kinds of businesses, from restaurants to goods distribution companies. But he placed particular emphasis on companies that require skilled labour. He gave the example of the nautical mechanics sector, where it is more difficult to find qualified staff capable of meeting the daily demands of the business. “It is a problem that businesses do not know how to tackle”, he admitted.

More pressure and a worse working atmosphere

He also spoke about how absenteeism affects the morale of the rest of the workforce. “It undermines colleagues’ trust. If the team is already very tight and you have colleagues who do not turn up for work that day, in the end this puts extra pressure on everyone else”.

From the employers’ point of view, he acknowledges that what they are looking for is for workers to be “committed” and for a good working atmosphere to prevail. “You notice when there is not a good working atmosphere, and in the end the absence of a colleague means the workload falls on others”.

He recognises that this extra burden creates friction among staff and contributes to a poor atmosphere at work, something the whole team ultimately suffers.