The cost of staff sickness for property companies rose by almost £10,000 in 2007.

Calculations from www.costofabsence.com, an online calculator created by BUPA UK Health Insurance, drew upon the latest sickness absence data from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s absence management report 2007.

It was compared with figures in the same report, published a year earlier.

It showed that the average property firm with 100 employees spent £60,600 on sickness absence. In 2006 the figure was £50,400.

Last year, the average number of days lost through absence in the real estate industry increased to 7.3 days per employee compared with 6.2 days in 2006.

Building firms fared worse, however. In 2007, construction firms with 100 employees spent an average of £103,600 on sickness absence, having lost 8.3 days per employee.

The figures are based on replies from 819 UK-based HR professionals in organisations employing a total of more than 1.6 million people.