Key facts
- 49% of non-casual employees across the overall public sector workforce took 5 days or less of personal leave
- 9% of non-casual employees across the overall public sector workforce took more than 20 days of personal leave, which made up 37% of all leave taken
- 9.9 days per employee is the average time taken as personal leave across the overall public sector workforce
- personal leave usage increased for all industries returning to pre-pandemic (COVID-19) levels.
Personal leave
We define personal leave as paid sick or carer’s leave. It doesn’t include additional leave taken under Special COVID leave arrangements.
The average time taken by non-casual employees for personal leave, such as sick and carer’s leave, is a standard workforce measure.
We use it in the public sector to report on time lost to unscheduled absences.
Average personal leave taken per year, by industry
Personal leave usage across the public sector increased to pre-pandemic (COVID-19) years. An average of 9.9 personal leave days were taken by each non-casual employee between July 2021 and June 2020 (excluding special COVID leave).
In some industry groups, employees took more personal leave compared to the pre-pandemic average. Employees in these industry groups regularly engage with the public. This is true for:
- Police and emergency services
- TAFE and other education
- Government schools.
In some industry groups, a significant number of employees continued to work from home between July 2021 and June 2022. In those industry groups, more employees took personal leave, but the average number of days taken was lower compared to the pre-pandemic average. This is true for:
- Victorian Public Service
- Water and land management
- Creative industries, finance transport and other.
Personal leave days taken per year
From July 2021 to June 2022, 9% of non-casual employees took more than 20 days of personal leave. These employees account for 37% of all leave taken which is consistent with pre-pandemic (COVID-19) years.
For some industries, the number of employees who took between 10 and 40 days of personal leave was higher compared to pre-pandemic years. These employees accounted for a larger proportion of all leave taken compared to pre-pandemic years. This is true for:
- Police and emergency services
- TAFE and other education
- government schools.
In 2021-22, the percentage of employees in police and emergency services who took 10 to 40 days of leave was 41% compared to 35% in pre-pandemic years.
Data set
This data set covers June 2018 to June 2022.
We source this data from our annual workforce and executive data collections that cover over 1,800 Victorian public sector employers.
Personal leave use
This file has Victorian public sector personal leave usage for non-casual employees over the past 5 financial years by industry group.
The following measures are shown:
- annual personal leave usage as days per full-time equivalent employee
- volume of personal leave usage each year by frequency.