Public servants in NSW are taking 10 per cent more unscheduled days off work than four years ago, a new report has found, with managers registering among the largest increases.
Rates of leave, most of which are sick days, have grown nearly 10 per cent since 2012 or more than 1.5 million additional hours a year across the government sector, according to an annual report into employment issues from the public sector oversight body.
The average public servant takes 67.1 hours of paid unscheduled leave each year, or about nine days. Annual growth in leave reached 3.7 per cent last year, the report, from the Public Service Commissioner, found.
"The NSW Public Service Commissioner has acknowledged in the State of the NSW Public Sector Report 2016 that the trend in unscheduled leave is heading in the wrong direction," a spokeswoman said.
The Commissioner will spend more time investigating underlying causes of the growth and potential solutions, the spokeswoman said.
Stewart Little, the general secretary of the Public Sector Association, a union, said the increase in leave was an unavoidable consequence of greater pressure upon public sector employees.
"They keep cutting the budget every year," he said. "What we say is that's nonsensical when you're trying to deliver services.
"You've got incessant restructures. The staff are under incredible pressure, obviously sick leave goes up."
About 10 per cent of all people employed in NSW, or 390,000 people, are public sector employees.
Public service numbers have decreased slightly since 2012 and the Coalition taking power.
State government agencies are obliged to shave their budgets by 1.5 per cent each year, an "efficiency dividend" worth nearly $1.5 billion to the state's coffers. Frontline education and health services are exempt.
The report finds that an employee's age and length of service influence the amount of leave they take.
Salary and job type also correlate with different leave patterns.
People who earn less than $100,000 a year take 10 days' leave on average, while those who make more take 7.5 days off.
Managers, who take on average the least leave of any group, took nearly 7 per cent more leave last year, the largest growth in any cohort except sales staff.
