The mayor of Calpe, Ana Sala, has sent a directive to the Human Resources department to draft technical and administrative specifications for hiring a service to monitor and track sick leave recorded at the Calpe City Council. The document also establishes that the service will be for two years, with the possibility of extension.
The aim of this measure is to reduce absenteeism in the local administration as much as possible. The document states that the Human Resources department has found that the level of absenteeism in the Calpe Town Council is 10%, which is above the average for the sector. For this reason, the mayor's office has considered it necessary to improve the management of the sick leave monitoring process. The council has a workforce of around 500 employees. The mayor, Ana Sala, has pointed out that "we have been aware for some time, thanks to the reports provided by the Mutual Insurance Company, that the level of absenteeism exceeds the average for the public administration sector and that there is no way to reduce these rates.
The time has come to remedy this situation. Obviously, there will be justified absences and there will be those that are not justified, but all we want to do is monitor and check that these absences are real and effective. We need to optimise the Council's resources; we cannot afford this level of absenteeism. I have tried, through the Mutual Insurance Company, to monitor and verify that these absences are genuine, but the Mutual Insurance Company is doing what it can, the Social Security does not have the necessary mechanisms to prevent this, and a public administration, which manages public money and resources, cannot afford these levels of absenteeism".